conviction of larceny, where the property stolen is under the value of five dollars, or upon a second conviction of receiving stolen goods, knowing them to be stolen, where the property stolen is under the value of five dollars, shall be sentenced to suffer imprisonment and labour for a period not less than one year nor more than three years.
Capital crimes not specially provided for.Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, That all capital felonies and crimes in the District of Columbia, not herein specially provided for, except murder, treason, and piracy, shall hereafter be punished by imprisonment and labour in the penitentiary of said district, for a period not less than seven nor more than twenty years.
Other offences.Sec. 15. And be it further enacted, That every other felony, misdemeanor, or offence not provided for by this act, may and shall be punished as heretofore, except that, in all cases where whipping is part or the whole of the punishment, except, in the cases of slaves, the court shall substitute therefor imprisonment in the county jail, for a period not exceeding six months.
Former provisions, &c. to remain in force.Sec. 16. And be it further enacted, That all definitions and descriptions of crimes: all fines, forfeitures, and incapacities, the restitution of property, or the payment of the value thereof; and every other matter not provided for in this act, be and the same shall remain, as heretofore.
Abduction of free negroes, &c.Sec. 17. And be it further enacted, That if any free person shall, in the said district, unlawfully, by force and violence, take and carry away, or cause to be taken and carried away, or shall, by fraud, unlawfully seduce, or cause to be seduced, any free negro or mulatto, from any part of the said district to any other part of the said district, or to any other place, with design, or intention to sell or dispose of such negro or mulatto, or to cause him or her to be kept and detained as a slave for life, or servant for years, every such person so offending, his or her counsellors, aiders, and abettors, shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by fine, not exceeding five thousand dollars, and imprisonment and confinement to hard labour, in the penitentiary, for any time not exceeding twelve years, according to the enormity of the offence.
This law not applicable to slaves.Sec. 18. And be it further enacted, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to apply to slaves not residents of the District of Columbia; but such slaves shall, for all offences committed in said district, be punished agreeably to the laws as they now exist: Provided, That this act shall not be construed to extend to slaves.
Approved, March 2, 1831.
Statute ⅠⅠ.
[Obsolete.]
Chap. XXXVIII.—An Act making appropriations for certain fortifications during the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, to be paid out of any unappropriated money in the treasury, for certain fortifications, viz:
George’s Island.For the preservation of George’s island, Boston harbour, five thousand dollars.
Fort Adams.For fort Adams, Rhode Island, one hundred thousand dollars.
Ft. Hamilton.Fort the completion of fort Hamilton, New York, ten thousand dollars.
Ft. Columbus.For repairing fort Columbus and Castle Williams, New York, twenty-five thousand dollars.
Fort Monroe.For fort Monroe, Virginia, eighty thousand dollars.
Fort Calhoun.For fort Calhoun, Virginia, eighty thousand dollars.
Fort Macon.For the completion of fort Macon, seventy thousand dollars.
Oak Island.For the completion of the fort on Oak island, North Carolina, ninety-five thousand dollars.