MAIL. This word, derived from the French malle, a trunk, signifies the bag,
valise, or other contrivance used in conveying through the post office,
letters, packets, newspapers, pamphlets, and the like, from place to place,
under the authority of the United States. The things thus carried are also
called the mail.
2. The laws of the United States have provided for the punishment of
robberies or willful injuries to the mail; the act of March 3, 1825, 3
Story's Laws U. S. 1985, provides:
Sec. 22. That if any person shall rob any carrier of the mail of the
United States, or other person entrusted, therewith, of such mail, or of
part thereof, such offender or offenders shall, on conviction, be imprisoned
not less than five years, nor exceeding ten years; and, if convicted a
second time of a like offence, he or they shall suffer death; or if, in
effecting such robbery of the mail, the first time, the offender shall wound
the person having the custody thereof, or put his life in jeopardy, by the
use of dangerous weapons, such offender or offenders shall suffer death. And
if any person shall attempt to rob the mail of the United States, by
assaulting the person having custody thereof, shooting at him, or his horse
or mule, or, threatening him with dangerous weapons, and the robbery is not
effected, every such offender, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by
imprisonment, not less than two years, nor exceeding ten years. And, if any
person shall steal the mail, or shall steal or take from, or out of, any
mail, or from, or out of, any post office, any letter or packet; or, if any
person shall take the mail, or any letter or packet therefrom, or from any
post office, whether with or without the consent of the person having
custody thereof, and shall open, embezzle, or destroy any such; mail,
letter, or packet, the same containing any articles of value, or evidence of
any debt, due, demand, right, or claim, or any release, receipt,
acquittance, or discharge, or any other articles, paper, or thing, mentioned
and described in the twenty-first section of this act; or, if any person
shall, by fraud or deception, obtain from any person having custody thereof,
any mail, letter, or packet, containing any article of value, or evidence
thereof, or either of the writings referred to, or next above mentioned,
such offender, or offenders, on conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned not
less than two, nor exceeding ten years. And if any person shall take any
letter, or packet, not containing any article of value, or. evidence
thereof, out of a post office, or shall open any letter or packet, which
shall have been in a post office, or in custody of a mail carrier, before it
shall have been delivered to the person to whom it is directed, with a
design to obstruct the correspondence, to pry into another's business or
secrets; or shall secrete, embezzle, or destroy, any such mall, letter, or
packet, such offender, upon conviction, shall pay, for every such offence, a
sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, and be imprisoned not exceeding
twelve months.
3.-Sec. 23. That, if any person shall rip, cut, tear, burn, or
otherwise injure, any valise, portmanteau, or other bag used, or designed to
be used, by any person acting under the authority of the postmaster general,
or any person in whom his powers are vested in a conveyance of any mail,
letter packet, or newspaper, or pamphlet, or shall draw or break any staple,
or loosen any part of any lock, chain, or strap, attached to, or belonging
to any such valise, portmanteau, or bag, with an intent to rob, or steal any
mail, letter, packet, newspaper, or pamphlet, or to render either of the
same insecure, every such offender, upon conviction, shall, for every such
offence, pay a sum, not less than one hundred dollars, nor exceeding five
hundred-dollars, or be imprisoned not less than one year, nor exceeding
three years, at the discretion of the court before whom such conviction is
had.
4.-Sec. 24. That every person who, from and after the passage of this
act, shall procure, and advise, or assist, in the doing or perpetration of
any of the acts or crimes by this act forbidden, shall be subject to the
same penalties and punishments as the persons are subject to, who shall
actually do or perpetrate any of the said acts or crimes, according, to the
provision of this act.
5.- Sec. 25. That every person who shall be imprisoned by a judgment of
court, under and by virtue of the twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third,
or, twenty-fourth sections of this act, shall be kept at hard labor during
the period of such imprisonment.
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