Chapter VIII. *to amend an Act entitled “An Act to regulate the Carriage of Passengers in Steamships and other Vessels,” approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, for the better Protection of Female Passengers, and other Purposes.* March 24, 1860. 1855, ch. 213
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Chap. VIII.— An Act *to amend an Act entitled “An Act to regulate the Carriage of Passengers in Steamships and other Vessels,” approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, for the better Protection of Female Passengers, and other Purposes.* March 24, 1860. 1855, ch. 213. Vol. x. p. 715. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That every master or other Seduction and illicit connection with female passenger on any vessel of the United States, how punished.officer, seaman or other person employed on board of any ship or vessel of the United States, who shall, during the voyage of such ship or vessel, under promise of marriage, or by threats, or by the exercise of his authority, or by solicitation, or the making of gifts or presents, seduce and have illicit connexion with any female passenger, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars: *Provided,* That the subsequent intermarriage of the Proviso.parties seducing and seduced may be pleaded in bar of a conviction.
Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* That neither the officers, seamen, The frequenting without permission the part of such vessel assigned to emigrant passengers, to work forfeiture of wages.or other persons employed on board of any ship or vessel bringing emigrant passengers to the United States, or any of them, shall visit or frequent any part of such ship or vessel assigned to emigrant passengers, except by the direction or permission of the master or commander of such ship or vessel first made or given for such purpose; and every officer, seaman, or other person employed on board of such ship or vessel, who shall violate the provisions of this section shall be deemed 4 THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS.
Sess. I. Ch. 8, 9, 10. 1860.guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall forfeit to the said ship or vessel his wages for the voyage of the said ship or vessel A master permitting persons to frequent such part or such vessel to be fined.during which the said offence has been committed. Any master or commander who shall direct or permit any officer or seaman or other person employed on board of such ship or vessel, to visit or frequent any part of said ship or vessel assigned to emigrant passengers, except for the purpose of doing or performing some necessary act or duty as an officer, seaman, or person employed on board of said ship or vessel, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of fifty dollars for each occasion on which he shall so direct or permit the provisions of this section to be violated by any officer, seaman, or other person employed on board of such ship or vessel.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted,* That it shall be the duty of the master or commander of every ship or vessel bringing emigrant passengers Notices hereof, in different languages to be posted. Penalty on master for neglect.to the United States to post a written or printed notice in the English, French, and German languages containing the provisions of the second section of this act in a conspicuous place on the forecastle, and in the several parts of the said ship or vessel assigned to emigrant passengers, and to keep the same so posted during the voyage; and upon neglect so to do, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars.
Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted,* That, in case of the conviction of Fine under the first section may be paid to the female seduced, &c.any person under the provisions of the first section of this act, and the imposition of a fine, the court sentencing the person so convicted may, in its discretion, by an order to be entered on its minutes, direct the amount of the fine when collected, to be paid for the use or benefit of the female seduced, or her child or children, if any.
Testimony of the female must be corroborated, and indictment found within one year. Sec. 5. *And be it further enacted,* That no conviction shall be bad under the provisions of this act on the testimony of the female seduced uncorroborated by other evidence, nor unless the indictment shall be found within one year after the arrival of the ship or vessel at the port for which she was destined when the offence was committed. Approved, March 24, 1860.