Chapter 1039.
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CHAP. 1039.— An act amendatory of “An act relating to postal crimes and amendatory of the statutes therein mentioned,” approved June eighteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, and for other purposes.September 26, 1888. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Postal crimes.*Ante*, p. 187. That the last clause of the second section of “An act relating to postal crimes, and amendatory of the statutes therein mentioned,” approved June eighteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight be, and the same is hereby, so amended as to read as follows, and constitute the third section of said act:
" “Sec. 3. Indecent, libelous, etc., matter on wrappers, etc., nonmailable.That all matter otherwise mailable by law, upon the envelope or outside cover or wrapper of which, or any postal-card upon which, any delineations, epithets, terms, or language of an indecent, lewd, lascivious, obscene, libelous, scurrilous, defamatory, or threatening character, or calculated by the terms or manner or style of display and obviously intended to reflect injuriously upon the character or conduct of another may be written or printed, or otherwise impressed or apparent, are hereby declared nonmailable matter, and shall not be conveyed in the mails, nor delivered from any post-office nor by any letter-carrier, and shall be withdrawn from the mails under such regulations as the Postmaster-General shall prescribe; and any person who shall knowingly deposit, or cause to be deposited, for mailing or delivery, anything declared by this section to be nonmailable matter, and any person who shall knowingly take the same or cause the same to be taken from the mails, for the purpose of circulating or disposing of, or of aiding in the circulation or disposition of the same, shall, for each and every offense, upon Punishment for mailing.conviction thereof, be lined not more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned at hard labor not more than five years, or both, at the discretion of the court.
” " Sec. 2. That section thirty-eight hundred and ninety-three of the Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of July twelfth, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, is hereby so amended as to read as follows: " “Sec. 3893. Obscene, etc., matter declared non-mailable.[R. S., sec. 3893, p. 758, amended](/us/rs/s3893/p758).Letters added.Every obscene, lewd, or lascivious book, pamphlet, picture, paper, letter, writing, print, or other publication of an indecent character, and every article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion, and every article or thing intended or adapted for any indecent or immoral use, and every written or printed card, letter, circular, book, pamphlet, advertisement or notice of any kind giving information, directly or indirectly, where or how, or of whom, or by what means any of the hereinbefore mentioned matters, articles, or things may be obtained or made, whether sealed as first-class matter or not, are hereby declared to be nonmailable matter, and shall not be conveyed in the mails nor delivered from any post-office nor by any letter-carrier; and any person who shall knowingly deposit, or cause to be deposited, for mailing or delivery, anything declared by this section to be nonmailable matter, and any person who shall knowingly take the same, FIFTIETH CONGRESS.
Sess. I. Ch. 1039–1041. 1888.497 or cause the same to be taken, from the mails for the purpose of circulating or disposing of, or of aiding in the circulation or disposition of the same, shall, for each and every offense, be lined upon conviction thereof not more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned at hard labor not more than five years, or both, at the discretion of the court. And all offenses committed under the section of which this is amendatory, prior to the approval of this act, may be prosecuted and punished under the same in the same manner and with the same effect as if this act had not been passed: *Provided*, That nothing in*Proviso*.First-class matter. this act shall authorize any person to open any letter or sealed matter of the first-class not addressed to himself.
” " Approved, September 26, 1888. Chapter 1040: to change the time of the sessions of the circuit and district courts for the Western Division of the Western District of Missouri. Chapter 1040 25 Stat. 497 1888-09-26 United States Government Publishing Office text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Digitization Vendor 2026-02-23 50 1 public
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