Chapter 394. relating to postal crimes, and amendatory of the statutes therein mentioned
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CHAP. 394.— An Act relating to postal crimes, and amendatory of the statutes therein mentioned.June 18, 1888. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Postal service. That section thirteen of an act approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, entitled “An act making appropriations for the serviceVol. 20. p. 859. amended. of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty, and for other purposes,” be. and the same is hereby, so amended as to read, as follows:
" “Sec. 13. That any person who shall submit, or cause to be submittedSecond-class mail matter.Penalty for submitting false evidence. to any postmaster or to the Post-Office Department or any officer of the postal service any false evidence, relative to the character of any publication, for the purpose of securing the admission thereof at the second-class rate for transportation in the mails, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and for every such offense, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars.
” " Sec. 2. That any person who shall, with intent to defraud, falselyCounterfeiting money-orders, etc. forge or counterfeit the signature of any postmaster, assistant postmaster, chief clerk, or clerk upon or to any money-order or postal-note, or blank therefor provided or issued by or under the direction of the Post-Office Department of the United States, or of any foreign country, and payable in the United States, or any material signature or indorsement thereon, or any material signature to any receipt or certificate of identification thereon; any person who shall falsely alter, or cause or procure to be falsely altered in any material respect, or knowingly aid or assist in falselyAltering, etc. so altering any such money-order or postal-note; any person who shall, with intent to defraud, pass, utter, or publish any such forged or altered money-order or postal-note knowing any material signature or indorsement thereon to be false, forged, or counterfeited, or any material alteration therein to have been falsely made; any postmaster,Fraudulently issuing orders, etc. assistant postmaster, or clerk employed in any post-office or branch post-office who shall issue any money-order or postal-note, without having previously received or paid the full amount of money payable therefor, with the purpose of fraudulently obtaining or receiving, or fraudulently enabling any other person, either directly or indirectly, to obtain or receive from the United States, or any officer or agent thereof, the sum of money specified in suchUttering false notes, etc. money-order or postal-note; any person who, with intent to defraud the United States, transmits, or presents to. or causes or procures to be transmitted to or presented to any officer, or at any office of the Government of the United States any money-order or postal-note, knowing the same to contain any forged or counterfeited signature to the same or to any material endorsement, receipt, or certificate thereon, or material alteration therein unlawfully made, or to have been unlawfully issued without previous payment of the amount required to be paid upon 188FIFTIETH CONGRESS.
Sess. I. Chs. 394– 396. 1888. such issue, shall, upon conviction, be punishable by fine of not morePunishment. than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment at hard labor for notObscene, libelous, etc., matter nonmailable. less than one year and not more than five years. And all matter otherwise mailable by law upon the envelope or outside cover or wrapper of which, or postal card, upon which indecent, lewd, lascivious. obscene, libelous, scurrilous, or threatening delineations, epithets, terms, or language, or reflecting injuriously upon the character or conduct of another, may be written or printed, 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 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 Punishment.of the same, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, for each and every offense, be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned at hard labor not less than one year nor more than ten years, or both, *Post*. p. 406.at the discretion of the court.
Approved, June 18, 1888.