UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 SCHOOL OF LAW 
 LIBRARY
 
 
 e Postal Penal Code 
 
 ilackstone Legal Training Lecture 
 
 Blackstone Institute, Chicago
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY H. JNGERSOLL, M.A., LL.D. 
 
 LATE DEAN, LAW SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE 
 
 One of a Series of Lectures Especially Prepared 
 for the Blackstone Institute 
 
 BLACKSTONE INSTITUTE 
 CHICAGO 
 
 Copyright, 1919, by Blackstone Institute
 
 T 
 
 In 454 
 
 HENRY H. INGERSOLL
 
 , 
 
 HENRY H. INGERSOLL 
 
 The recent death of Mr. Ingersoll deprived the 
 American Bar of one of its most brilliant members 
 and the state of Tennessee of one of her fore- 
 most citizens. His long career as a lawyer, states- 
 man and educator has made his name familiar 
 throughout the United States. 
 
 He was born in Oberlin, Ohio, January 20, 1844. 
 He attended Oberlin College and graduated from 
 Yale University in 1863. He studied law in Cin- 
 cinnati and was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 
 1865. 
 
 For a number of years Mr. Ingersoll was Assist- 
 ant Attorney General of the State of Tennessee and 
 in 1879 was appointed a judge of the Supreme 
 Court of the state, serving in that capacity until 
 1880. In 1884 he was appointed a special judge of 
 the Supreme Court. He acted as Dean of the Law 
 Faculty of the University of Tennessee from 1891 
 up to the time of his death and his faithful service 
 and scholarly mind made the school one of the fore- 
 most educational institutions in the South. 
 
 Mr. Ingersoll has occupied many positions of 
 honor and trust. In 1887 and 1888 he was Presi- 
 dent of the Tennessee State Bar Association, and 
 from 1907 to 1912 was Vice-President of the 
 American Bar Association. Besides acting as Dean 
 of the University of Tennessee Law School, he was 
 appointed a Trustee of Emory and Henry College 
 and the University of the South. 
 
 Probably Mr. Ingersoll will be best remembered 
 as an author. He edited "Barton's Suits in 
 Equity"; was the author of "Ingersoll on Public 
 Corporations"; "Municipal Corporations" and 
 "Towns" in Cyc and "Municipal Corporations" 
 in Modern American Law. 
 
 An experience of fifty years in the legal profes- 
 sion makes Mr. Ingersoll 's writings of intense inter- 
 est to the student of law. His untarnished reputa- 
 tion on the bench, his scholarly accomplishments, 
 and his devotion to the profession which he made 
 his life 's work furnish an illustrious example to the 
 student who aspires to the highest standards of 
 citizenship.
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE 
 
 By 
 HENBY H. INGEESOLL, M.A., LL.D. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The sovereign power of the United States ,is no- 
 where more manifest, more pervasive, and more com- 
 plete than in the control of the postal service of 
 our country, supreme as it is not only in the great 
 post offices of the important business centers, and 
 in the big postal railway cars that handle every day 
 millions of letters, cards, and parcels, but also in the 
 smaller post offices of the lesser cities and country 
 towns, in the rural free deliveries to villages and 
 remote settlements, and even. in the horseback mail 
 routes over the mountains and plains. Here we see 
 the importance, the efficiency, and the ubiquity of 
 this omnipresent Federal power! 
 
 The postal service of the United States reaches 
 to the farthest boundaries thereof, and is intended 
 to serve, and does serve, potentially, every one of 
 the inhabitants. It operates in every state and 
 county and district and town, on the great railway 
 lines, three hundred and sixty-five days in the year, 
 days and nights together, without ceasing, and also 
 in the lesser cities and towns, and through the rural 
 districts every day, Sunday only excepted. Not 
 only does it carry your letters and cards, your little 
 
 5
 
 6 BLACKSTONE LEGAL TRAINING LECTURE 
 
 parcels and books, your newspapers, pamphlets and 
 magazines, but, recently, in addition to things writ- 
 ten, printed and pictured, the Parcel Post has 
 extended the service into a new field, and so effect- 
 ually is it fulfilling its promises, that old express 
 companies which have been serving us for fifty years 
 or more have closed their offices and published to 
 the world that they cannot compete with Uncle Sam. 
 Undoubtedly the outcome of this new business ven- 
 ture by the Federal Government is to be the absorp- 
 tion by the postal service of the express business 
 of the United States. For even now post offices and 
 post roads handle not only the letters, cards, news- 
 papers, magazines, and other written and printed 
 matter, as for a full century they have been doing, 
 but also innumerable small parcels weighing not 
 over fifty pounds and of convenient bulk which 
 people wish to ship short distances to one another; 
 and the great department stores of the cities, in com- 
 pany with many others, already send goods, wares, 
 and merchandise in parcels of twenty pounds to any 
 state of the Union. 
 
 WHAT IS THE POSTAL PENAL CODE? 
 
 This great postal system, a service pervasive and 
 perpetual, operated for the public welfare, the Fed- 
 eral Government regulates and protects by a Postal 
 Penal Code, which is Chapter 8 of the United States 
 Penal Code, approved March 4, 1909, and embracing 
 said Code from sections 179 to 231, inclusive. The 
 drawing up of this Postal Penal Code was the last 
 of the measures of President Roosevelt's very active
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE 7 
 
 administration, and served the purpose of bringing 
 together, revising and codifying the various and 
 complex criminal postal laws of th.e United States, 
 compiling them for the convenient and ready refer- 
 ence of the courts and the legal profession. 
 
 To a greater extent than any other department 
 of our diversified system of government, the Federal 
 branch is centralized and efficient. It is therefore 
 more generally respected and obeyed. It is the firm 
 conviction of the Federal Government and its officers 
 (and the same should be true of all other branches of 
 government, municipal and state as well as Federal) 
 that laws are enacted to be obeyed and enforced. 
 As a result, the Federal Government commands the 
 especial respect of the people because of its unyield- 
 ing policy in the enforcement, by its officers, of its 
 revenue and postal laws. 
 
 Comparatively few persons come into personal 
 relation with the revenue laws of the United States, 
 but it is not saying too much to assert that in every 
 year fully one-half the people in the United States, 
 in one way or another, use the postal service. Yet 
 it is probable that not one person in a hundred ever 
 saw or read the Postal Penal Code of the United 
 States, or has any other than the most general 
 notions of what is or might be an offense against the 
 postal service. 
 
 Knowledge of the Code Important. 
 An American citizen does not require a printed 
 statute to know that it would be unlawful for him 
 to rob a mail carrier, to break into and enter a post
 
 8 BLACKSTONE LEGAL TRAINING LECTURE 
 
 office, to hold up a postal car, to steal a letter or any 
 matter intrusted to the postal service for carriage 
 and delivery. All these things, and other similar 
 unlawful acts, were offenses at the common law 
 which we have been taught from our childhood to 
 respect and obey. For in a general way it is safe 
 to say that if, by state law, an act is a crime against 
 a fellow citizen's person or property, the same act, 
 if committed against a postal employee, postal prop- 
 erty, or the postal service, is a crime under the 
 Federal law, and anyone who commits such a crime 
 will, inevitably, come into intimate association with 
 a Federal marshal or his deputies. 
 
 But Uncle Sam protects his postal service by many 
 statutory provisions which are not commonly known 
 and are not within the purview of the common law ; 
 yet a violation of these statutory provisions will 
 subject the offender, whether he knows them or not, 
 to prosecution and consequent acquaintance with the 
 aforesaid Federal marshals. Therefore, it is highly 
 important that all citizens shall have some knowledge 
 of these special laws and of the grounds upon which 
 they rest, lest unintentionally they violate some of 
 these statutory rules which are made for the protec- 
 tion of the great postal service of their country. 
 
 PROVISIONS AS TO OBSCENE MATTER. 
 
 Section 211 of the Postal Penal Code is intended to 
 prohibit obscenity in whatever form or method it 
 may be introduced into the mails. Therefore, it for- 
 bids the mailing or conveyance by post or delivery
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE S 
 
 by any carrier or from any post office of all printed 
 matter and publications which are obscene or cal- 
 culated to encourage, stimulate or excite sexual im- 
 propriety or excess. Such prohibited matter is, by 
 said section of the Code, classified as follows: 
 
 1. Any obscene, lewd or lascivious writing, print 
 or other publication, and every vile book, pamphlet, 
 picture, paper or letter of an indecent character, 
 and every article or thing designed to prevent con- 
 ception or produce abortion or for any indecent or 
 immoral use; 
 
 2. Every article, instrument, substance, drug, or 
 medicine advertised in a manner calculated to invite 
 its use for preventing conception, or producing abor- 
 tion, or for any indecent or Immoral purpose; 
 
 3. Every written or printed card, letter, circular, 
 pamphlet or book, telling where or how or from 
 whom or by what means any of these forbidden 
 things or articles may be obtained, or where or by 
 whom an abortion will be performed or attempted, 
 or conception prevented, whether the same is sealed 
 or unsealed; 
 
 4. Any letter, packet or package containing any 
 filthy, vile or indecent thing, device or substance; 
 
 5. Every paper, writing, advertisement or repre- 
 sentation that any particular instrument or drug 
 may be used or applied to prevent conception or pro- 
 duce abortion; 
 
 6. Every description, written or printed, which is 
 calculated to induce or incite a person to use such 
 instrument, drug or medicine so as to effect either of 
 these purposes.
 
 10 BLACKSTONE LEGAL TRAINING LECTURE 
 Purpose of the Provisions. 
 
 The obvious purpose of all these provisions is to 
 prevent the use of the United States mails in dis- 
 seminating matter designed to corrupt the public 
 morals, or to encourage sexual immorality. Matter 
 has been declared by the courts to be obscene if it 
 even tends toward sexual immorality or licentious 
 conduct. The Federal courts have pronounced a 
 publication obscene although there was but a single 
 sentence of that character in the whole book; also, 
 although there was not even a single sentence or 
 passage of that character, if the general effect and 
 tendency was to excite the sexual desire. 
 
 Presence of Seal No Defense. 
 
 It is to be noted that it is unlawful to mail or 
 convey any obscene matter, whether printed or writ- 
 ten, and whether sealed or unsealed. No amount 
 of sealing wax or of postage prepaid can make it 
 lawful to carry obscene matter in the mails. It is 
 also to be observed that it is equally unlawful know- 
 ingly to mail such an article, or knowingly to carry 
 it or convey it in the mails, or knowingly to deli ver 
 or receive it. The person guilty of doing any of 
 these acts is subject to a fine of five thousand dollars, 
 or imprisonment for five years, or both, in the dis- 
 cretion of the court. 
 
 Grimm's Case, which was tried in St. Louis over 
 twenty years ago and may be found in 156 U. S. 64, 
 well illustrates the danger to any citizen of trifling 
 with these postal statutes intended to prevent the 
 abuse of the mails. Grimm was a photographer
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE 11 
 
 who advertised fancy pictures for sale at two dollars 
 a dozen, or twelve dollars a hundred. He was in- 
 dicted for placing letters in the post office written to 
 a person at Richmond, Indiana, who had addressed 
 him under an assumed name asking for information 
 about these fancy photographs. This person was a 
 Government detective. When Grimm was indicted 
 he made strenuous defense that his letter did not 
 contain in itself any obscene, lewd or lascivious mat- 
 ter. This was conceded by the court; but, said 
 Justice Brewer, it was intended to convey, and did 
 convey, information as to where fancy pictures could 
 be found and obtained, and for that Grimm was 
 indicted, although the special name or obscene char- 
 acter of the fancy picture was not specified in the 
 letter. 
 
 As a final defense it was objected that Grimm was 
 induced by the Government, through its detective 
 agent, to write this letter, that he addressed it to a 
 fictitious person, and that a fictitious person could 
 give no information to anyone. The answer of Jus- 
 tice Brewer is in these words: "The law was act- 
 ually violated by the defendant. He placed letters 
 in the post office which conveyed information where 
 obscene matter could be obtained; and he placed 
 them there with a view to give said information to 
 the person who should actually receive those letters, 
 no matter what his name, and the fact that the person 
 who wrote under these assumed names and received 
 his letters was a Government detective in no manner 
 detracts from his guilt." 
 
 This Grimm Case may well be called a test case
 
 12 BLACKSTONE LEGAL TRAINING LECTURE 
 
 on this subject of obscenity in the mails, for it has 
 been followed in nearly all the District Courts of the 
 United States during the past twenty years. It 
 shows very plainly the resolution of the Federal 
 courts to enforce this Federal statute according to 
 its plain terms and thus prevent the abuse of the 
 mails by sending through them anything obscene, 
 lewd or lascivious, or, as well defined in one case, 
 " anything having a tendency to excite lustful 
 thoughts and desires." 
 
 In a Virginia case, one Martin was held guilty, 
 under this statute, for writing a letter to an unmar- 
 ried woman, proposing a clandestine trip to a neigh- 
 boring town to return the following morning, he to 
 pay her expenses and five dollars besides this being 
 an obscene letter within the meaning of the statute 
 because of its obvious purpose to purchase sexual 
 intercourse. 
 
 There are decisions of the United States courts, 
 rendered more than twenty-five years ago, declaring 
 that no person can be indicted for sending obscene 
 written matter in a sealed envelope. But in the 
 Grimm Case, above referred to, and in the Andrews 
 Case, 162 U. S. 420, the meaning of the Act of Con- 
 gress of 1888 is declared unequivocally by the courts 
 to be that "the mailing of a private, sealed letter" 
 containing obscene matter, in an envelope on which 
 nothing appears but the name and address, is an 
 offense within this statute. In other words, carrying 
 any vile, filthy or obscene matter, whether printed or 
 written, sealed or unsealed, whether plainly ex- 
 pressed or obviously implied, is a criminal act under
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE 13 
 
 the laws of the United States as now construed and 
 applied, and will subject the guilty person to severe 
 punishment. 
 
 What Is Considered Obscene? 
 
 Illustrations of the application of this statute are 
 found in many cases in the Federal Reporter, which 
 show the undoubted tendency of Federal courts to 
 exclude from the mails all filthy and obscene matter, 
 whether sealed or unsealed. Thus in the James Case 
 from the Southern District of California, James was 
 indicted for mailing a newspaper in which was 
 printed an article entitled "Ripe and Unripe 
 Women. " This article described the physical ap- 
 pearance of the "ripe woman " and set forth the 
 writer's expression of the thoughts and passions 
 excited by beholding her; it contained also a descrip- 
 tion in coarse, rude terms of the "unripe woman," 
 referring to unnatural practices and crimes which 
 had caused her immaturity and repulsiveness. The 
 same newspaper also published a drug store's adver- 
 tisements, one of which extolled the merits of a cer- 
 tain remedy for venereal diseases, while another, 
 praising a certain line of goods, was addressed "To 
 the Ladies of the Tenderloin District." This paper 
 was held by the court to contain obscene matter such 
 as was excluded from the mails by the Postal Penal 
 Code, and such as rendered the publisher liable to 
 the penalty of the statute. 
 
 Another illustrative case of obscenity is presented 
 by the indictment of one Chesman for depositing in 
 the mail a pamphlet entitled "Prof. Harris' New Dis-
 
 14 BLACKSTONE LEGAL TRAINING LECTURE 
 
 covery for the Radical Cure of Spermatorrhea and 
 Impotency, with the Anatomy and Physiology of the 
 Generative Organs Illustrated and the Science of a 
 Radical Cure." This publication was declared in 
 the indictment to be so indecent that it would be 
 offensive to the court and improper to be placed on 
 the records thereof. Construing a motion to quash 
 this indictment, Judge McCrary said, in responding 
 to the insistence of counsel that the publication was 
 of a medical character and consisted chiefly of ex- 
 tracts from standard medical works: "There are 
 many things contained in standard works which, 
 printed in pamphlet form and spread broadcast in 
 the community by being sent through mails to per- 
 sons of all classes, including boys and girls, would 
 be highly indecent and obscene. " A recent case on 
 what is considered obscene is U. S. v. Kennerly, 209 
 Fed. Rep. 119. 
 
 What Is Considered Indecent? 
 
 In the Davis Case, found in the Federal Reporter, 
 volume 38, page 326, Judge Hammond sustained the 
 verdict of a jury finding a defendant guilty because 
 of his using vulgar language " which shocks the ear 
 and common sense of men as an indecency." At 
 the same time the judge says that the defendant is 
 not guilty under this statute for using the words, 
 "You can order car back, and be damned," for this 
 is only profanity. But still he was inclined to the 
 opinion that the two sentences, "You are sharp, all 
 of you are on the beat," and "Tell that Radical to 
 send my book back as he agreed," were, in this con- 
 nection, opprobrious, scurrilous and defamatory.
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE 15 
 
 In a similar case there were written upon a postal 
 card the following words: "Mr. Editor: I thought 
 that you was publishing a paper for the Wheel, but 
 I see nothing but rotten democracy. I am a repub- 
 lican and a Wheeler, and you can take your paper 
 and your democracy and go to Hell with it." Judge 
 Hammond declined to instruct the jury peremptorily 
 that this writing was scurrilous, but he left that ques- 
 tion to the jury to decide. The jury found the de- 
 fendant guilty and the verdict was not disturbed by 
 the court. However, it had been previously held 
 by this court that in political campaigns it was not 
 indictable under this Act to use, in regard to per- 
 sons, either in writing or print, the words, "Aboli- 
 tionist," "Black Republican," "Copperhead," " Car- 
 pet-Bagger, " "Scalawag," "Rebel Democracy," 
 "Bourbon," "Mugwump," and "Tariff Robber." 
 
 In Kentucky, Judge Barr quashed an information 
 under this statute for mailing a postal card contain- 
 ing the following words: "Dear Sir: Your postal 
 card has fully developed you to me as a damned 
 scoundrel and rascal, and I beg that all transactions 
 in a business manner cease between us and no further 
 business relations ever exist." The substance of 
 Judge Barr's decision was that while this postal 
 card might be held as possibly profane, it was cer- 
 tainly not indecent or obscene. 
 
 PROVISION AS TO DEFAMATORY MATTER. 
 
 By the same section of the Postal Penal Code 
 which forbids the mailing of obscene matter is also
 
 16 BLACKSTONE LEGAL TRAINING LECTURE 
 
 forbidden the mailing of matter "defamatory or 
 threatening in its 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. " This offense seems to have 
 given the courts more trouble than the offenses of 
 obscenity and indecency. 
 
 Purpose of This Provision 
 
 The postal service is not to be used for the purpose 
 of defaming or slandering or libeling a citizen. It 
 is not to be a vehicle of the hatred, malice or ill-will 
 of any citizen ; and whoever violates this prohibitory 
 clause of the postal laws is punished, just as in the 
 case of mailing obscene matter, by imprisonment for 
 five years, or a fine of five thousand dollars, or both, 
 in the discretion of the court. 
 
 What Is Not Considered Defamatory? 
 
 Two cases are illustrative of what the courts con- 
 sider not to be within the provisions of this law. 
 They are the Doran Case, in Minnesota, and the Jar- 
 vis Case, in Washington, reported respectively in 
 32 and 59 Federal Reporter. Now, the plain purpose 
 of the statute is to forbid only the use of postal cards 
 or envelopes for any defamatory purpose. There 
 is no reference in it to enclosed matter, which has 
 been sealed up. In the Doran Case, the defendant 
 was charged with having deposited in the mail en- 
 velopes and a postal card upon which were the fol- 
 lowing endorsements :
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE 
 
 17 
 
 (Envelope.) 
 
 Carry me back in due 
 time to The Regu- 
 lator, for publication, 
 32 South Washington, 
 Minneapolis, Minn. 
 
 Exhibit A. 
 
 Persons who want us 
 to collect from Dead 
 Beats should send their 
 accounts to 32 Wash- 
 ington avenue, South, 
 Minneapolis, Minn. 
 
 Send five cents to in- 
 sure postage for a large 
 letter to the critter. 
 
 Mr. D. L. Comly, 8th 
 & Jackson Sts., City. 
 
 (Envelope.) Exhibit B. 
 Return in 10 days to 
 
 The Collector of 
 
 Bad Debts, 32 Wash- 
 ington Av., S., Minne- 
 apolis, Minn. 
 
 I am looking for an 
 Old Bill. 
 
 The Dead-Beat Col- 
 lector hires me to look 
 them up. 
 
 (Postal Card.) 
 
 ( Stamp. ) 
 ( St. Paul, Minn. ) 
 ( July 18, '87. ) 
 ( 3 P. M. ) 
 D. L. Comly, 
 
 Cor. 8th & Jackson, 
 9 Corlies, Chapman & 
 Drake. 
 City. 
 
 Exhibit C. 
 
 July 18, 1887. 
 
 Sir: Considering how near you can come to fill 
 the bill, I have decided to post you on all the Dead- 
 Beat lists I know of in the city, and have accordingly 
 given the different agencies a chance at you. 
 
 F. B. Doran.
 
 18 BLACKSTONE LEGAL TRAINING LECTURE 
 
 It is not easy for a lawyer, or even an unprofes- 
 sional person, to see how this matter was not calcu- 
 lated, or obviously intended, to reflect injuriously 
 upon the character of the addressee. But Judge 
 Nelson of the Minnesota District heard a petition 
 for habeas corpus which admitted the writing and 
 sending of this card and these envelopes, and dis- 
 charged the petitioner upon the ground that the 
 mailing of these things afforded no ground for crim- 
 inal prosecution ! 
 
 Must Be Intended to Reflect Injuriously. In 
 the Jarvis Case, the charge was that an envelope 
 was addressed to a certain person and put into 
 the mails upon which, following the name of the 
 person, were the following words: "Room 32, Pease 
 House, Front St., City, The Notorious." A demurrer 
 to the indictment was sustained by Judge Hanford, 
 upon the ground that these words were not obviously 
 intended to reflect injuriously upon the character 
 or conduct of another; for, while " notorious" might 
 possibly have been applied to the addressee, it might 
 also refer to the Pease House or to the city; but 
 even if intended to apply to the addressee, it was 
 still not defamatory, but, on the contrary, might be 
 complimentary, as a "notorious" wit or a "notori- 
 ous" orator or actor. Therefore, the indictment 
 was quashed. 
 
 In the Elliott Case, 51 Fed. Rep. 807, it was held 
 that a postal card containing a notice that rent was 
 due and unpaid, and, if it was not paid by a certain 
 date the matter would be placed in the hands of an 
 officer, is not defamatory or threatening.
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE 19 
 
 What Is Considered Defamatory? 
 
 Yet, in the Vermont District, it was held that it 
 was unlawful to mail a letter enclosed in an envelope 
 on which the words "Excelsior Collection Agency" 
 were printed in very large, full-faced, capital let- 
 ters, occupying more than half the envelope. Also, 
 in the Connecticut District, it was held unlawful to 
 mail a postal card containing the allegations: "You 
 have promised and do not perform. I see very 
 plainly you do not intend to pay any attention to 
 my letters or your debts." 
 
 It was likewise held unlawful for a collection 
 agency to issue a paper containing on its first page 
 a motto showing that its purpose was to collect 
 debts, and containing a notice warning the public 
 against persons alleged to have failed to pay their 
 debts or asking for information as to such persons. 
 Unlawful also was a postal card mailed by a creditor 
 to his debtor which demanded payment of a note, 
 and added: "You have been fighting time all along. 
 I will garnishee and foreclose. But I dislike to do 
 this if you will be only half -white." Similarity it 
 was held unlawful to mail a postal card demanding 
 payment of a debt, and stating that "if it is not 
 paid at once we shall place the same with our lawyer 
 for collection." 
 
 These last two rulings were made in Missouri. In 
 Pennsylvania the Federal District Court held that 
 the sending by a collection agency of dunning letters 
 enclosed in black envelopes addressed in white let- 
 ters, the purpose of which was universally known 
 to post office employees, was a violation of this law.
 
 20 BLACKSTONE LEGAL TRAINING LECTURE 
 
 But it was held in Wisconsin that it was not unlaw- 
 ful to send a dunning letter in an unsealed envelope 
 on which were printed the words, "Mercantile Pro- 
 tection and Collection Bureau," in long primer, 
 French Clarendon type. 
 
 The gist of this offense seems to be placing upon 
 the outside of envelopes or on postal cards matter 
 calculated and intended to reflect injuriously upon 
 the character of another. The reported cases show 
 that nearly all violations of the law have been in 
 connection with the efforts of creditors to collect 
 from delinquents. 
 
 PROVISION AS TO FRAUDULENT MATTER. 
 
 Another section of the Postal Penal Code is 
 directed specially against the use of the mails for the 
 purpose of obtaining money by what is commonly 
 called the "sawdust swindle" or "counterfeit money 
 fraud" or the "green goods business," or by any 
 similar scheme or artifice contrived to defraud per- 
 sons by correspondence. Anyone who operates any 
 of these swindles through the mails by the use of 
 postal card, letter, package, writing, pamphlet, ad- 
 vertisement, or circular, on conviction, may be fined 
 one thousand dollars, or imprisoned for five years, 
 or both. The cases in which persons have been con- 
 victed for this abuse of the postal service are numer- 
 ous, and are scattered far and wide over the United 
 States. Naturally this kind of work is done in the 
 great centers of population, like New York, Chicago, 
 St. Louis, but the cases are not confined to these
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE 21 
 
 places. A hundred of them at least have found their 
 way into the courts, but a few must suffice for illus- 
 tration. 
 
 Convictions Under This Provision. 
 
 Henry's Case was a conviction in South Carolina 
 for violating the statute, and in that case it was 
 decided that every separate letter mailed for this 
 fraudulent business was a distinct offense, and ac- 
 cordingly Henry was convicted and sentenced twice 
 at a single term of court. 
 
 The next case was a conviction in New York of 
 a fellow calling himself Sigismund Hess, for devis- 
 ing and operating a scheme to defraud, in the course 
 of which he received, through the mail in the city 
 of New York, the following suspicious letter : 
 
 "Bonilla, D. T., 2,25, '87. 
 
 "Dr Sir: If there is any money to be made at 
 it, then count me in. Send on all the confidential 
 terms you have, and you will never be betrayed by 
 "Yours truly, 
 
 " J. M. Davis. 
 
 "Return this letter." 
 
 This communication was enclosed in an envelope 
 having the following even more suspicious address : 
 
 "S. Brunk, Esq., 270 West 40th St., New York City, 
 New York, c/o Boot-Black." 
 
 Elements of the Crime. Alabama furnishes us 
 with the case of Stokes and eight others, who were 
 found guilty under this section of the Code. It
 
 22 BLACKSTONE LEGAL TRAINING LECTURE 
 
 was there held that the elements of the crime were 
 (1) a scheme or artifice to defraud, (2) operating 
 the scheme by correspondence through the postal 
 service, and (3) either depositing in or receiving 
 from the mails a letter or packet in furtherance of 
 the scheme. 
 
 In Durland's Case, which occurred in Pennsyl- 
 vania, were disclosed the scheme and methods of the 
 Provident Bond and Investment Co., whose circulars 
 propounded "a nut for lottery cranks to crack," and 
 showed an -elaborate scheme, to be advertised and 
 disseminated through the mails, to catch " suckers'* 
 who were on the lookout for profit by such methods 
 as this. In that case Justice Brewer declared for 
 the Supreme Court of the United States that this 
 section of the Penal Code was enacted "to protect 
 the public against all intentional efforts to despoil, 
 and to prevent the post office from being used to 
 carry them into effect." 
 
 These illustrative cases suffice to show the utter 
 abhorrence of the Federal Government for these 
 fraudulent schemes of whatever nature, form and 
 name, and the determination of the courts in enforc- 
 ing the statute to protect the public against all 
 scheming and designing crooks. There is little or 
 no danger of any innocent persons being convicted 
 under this statute, for one could scarcely enter into 
 correspondence with these lottery or "green goods" 
 or counterfeit money crooks without in some degree 
 at least participating in their fraudulent designs to 
 get money from somebody by unfair and rascally 
 means.
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE 23 
 
 Lotteries. 
 
 A century ago lotteries were regarded as a very 
 interesting and appropriate means of "taking your 
 chances," and they were operated in nearly every 
 state of the Union. In 1835, General Jackson called 
 the attention of Congress to inflammatory appeals 
 by circulars addressed to the patrons of the slave in 
 the South, tending to incite men to insurrection. It 
 was suggested that Congress pass some act to pre- 
 vent the circulation of such literature through the 
 mails. It is a singular and interesting bit of political 
 history that this suggestion was opposed by Mr. 
 Calhoun in the Senate so vigorously that the act 
 framed for that purpose did not pass that body. The 
 ground of Mr. Calhoun 's opposition was that it was 
 beyond the constitutional power of Congress, of its 
 own discretion or will, to pass such an act as that; 
 that it could only become a part of the Federal 
 law upon the petition or request of some sovereign 
 state ! 
 
 This history is related and commented upon in 
 Ex parte Jackson, reported in 96 U. S. Reports, in 
 which the decision of the Supreme Court, pronounced 
 by Justice Field, was that "Congress may designate 
 what shall be carried in the mail and what excluded. " 
 This was the beginning of contention which grew in 
 interest and importance during the next fifteen 
 years. During this time the operations of the Louisi- 
 ana Lottery were widely discussed through the press. 
 Finally, in 1890, Congress passed the act forbidding 
 the carriage, by mail, of any letter, circular, card, 
 or print concerning any lottery. It was the mani-
 
 24 BLACKSTONE LEGAL TRAINING LECTURE 
 
 fest intention of the Government to prevent the 
 Louisiana Lottery or any other scheme of the kind 
 from using the United States mails for the purpose 
 of carrying on its business. 
 
 Constitutionality of These Code Provisions. 
 
 Under this statute Dupre was convicted in Louisi- 
 ana, and Rapier in Alabama ; and to test the consti- 
 tutionality of such legislation three distinguished 
 lawyers were employed to bring the cases before the 
 Supreme Court of the United States directly by 
 petition for habeas corpus. They were Mr. James C. 
 Carter, Mr. Thomas Semmes, and Mr. Hamis Taylor. 
 In the Rapier Case, reported in 143 U. S. 110, are 
 found the masterly argument of Mr. Carter against 
 the exercise of this power by Congress, and the force- 
 ful response of Mr. Maury, Assistant Attorney Gen- 
 eral, which is summarized in the following sentence : 
 " Shall Louisiana dominate the Union with this lot- 
 tery? Power to prevent it must exist somewhere. 
 It does exist in the United States, the Government 
 of all, with powers delegated by all, representing 
 all." 
 
 The preparation of the opinion in this very im- 
 portant case had been committed to Justice Bradley, 
 and had he lived he would doubtless have handed 
 down one of the great constitutional opinions of the 
 Supreme Court of the United States as to the 
 measure of Federal power ; but his illness and death 
 intervened, and as a result there was but a brief 
 announcement, by Chief Justice Fuller, of the con- 
 clusion of the court. Two sentences of its conclu-
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE 25 
 
 sion are significant in this connection: "We cannot 
 regard the right to operate a lottery as a funda- 
 mental right infringed by the legislation in question ; 
 nor are we able to see that Congress can be held, in 
 its enactment, to have abridged the freedom of the 
 press. The circulation of newspapers is not pro- 
 hibited, but the Government declines itself to become 
 an agent in the circulation of printed matter which 
 it regards as injurious to the people." 
 
 In the noted Homer Case, which came before the 
 Supreme Court of the United States twice on a peti- 
 tion for habeas corpus (143 U. S. 570), and on an 
 indictment for abuse of the postal service by send- 
 ing a lottery letter and circular through the mails 
 (147 U. S. 449), defendant was a Wall Street broker, 
 who undertook to obtain in America subscriptions 
 to a loan by the Austrian government. The scheme 
 was peculiar and designed to be attractive and invit- 
 ing to the citizens of the United States, who were to 
 be induced thereby to invest their money in these 
 foreign securities. But the -Supreme Court declared 
 it was nothing more or less than a lottery scheme and 
 therefore was prohibited by our Postal Penal Code. 
 To quote the words of the Court, Austria "under- 
 took to assist her credit by an appeal to the cupidity 
 of those who had money, and offered to each holder 
 of a bond a chance of obtaining a prize dependent 
 upon the law of chance." Therefore the scheme was 
 a lottery, although promoted by a great foreign 
 empire; and no more consideration could be given 
 to it than to the lottery of the state of Louisiana. 
 So Homer, the Wall Street broker, was mulcted in
 
 26 BLACKSTONE LEGAL TRAINING LECTURE 
 
 a fine of one hundred dollars for engaging in this 
 international lottery. 
 
 The Code Is Authoritative and Effectively En- 
 forced. From these cases and other similar ones it 
 may be seen that the authority of the United States 
 to prevent contamination of its postal service by 
 the introduction of immoral, obscene and unlawful 
 circulars or letters is unquestioned. It is simply 
 the exercise of the police power of the sovereign 
 in the all-important governmental function of the 
 postal service. That which Uncle Sam says shall 
 not be carried through the mails then must be trans- 
 ported by some kind of private service. 
 
 It will not be a difficult matter, of course, to ship 
 circulars or pamphlets or advertisements as freight 
 in bulk ; but the distribution of them to individuals 
 will be found a matter of no little difficulty, since no 
 branch or feature of the postal service may be used 
 for that purpose. Furthermore the Postal Penal 
 Code forbids any person to establish any private 
 express service for the conveyance of letters or books 
 by regular trips or at stated periods. Under this 
 statute the Hussey Express, which maintained a 
 corps of messengers employed to collect letters 
 daily from its customers (who had been provided 
 with private stamps sold beforehand for that pur- 
 pose) and to take the letters, as collected, to the cen- 
 tral office, where they were sorted and distributed 
 to the addresses, was engaged in an unlawful postal 
 service, and one of its carriers was convicted in 
 New York of a breach of this part of the postal 
 laws.
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE 27 
 
 PROVISION AGAINST OBSTRUCTION OF MAIL SERVICE. 
 
 Another offense against the postal service is ob- 
 structing the mail or any mail carrier, whether he 
 be on foot or horseback, in buggy, boat or car. This 
 offense may be punished by imprisonment, or fine, 
 or both. The cases upon this subject which are re- 
 ported are interesting and varied in their character. 
 The earliest one to be noticed comes from the state 
 of Kentucky, wherein one Kirby, a sheriff of Gallatin 
 County, in 1866, was indicted, together with his 
 posse, for going upon the steamboat, "General 
 Buell," then carrying mail between Louisville and 
 Cincinnati, and there arresting one Farris, a carrier 
 of the mail, upon a bench warrant charging him with 
 murder in the first degree ! 
 
 In these days it would be astonishing that a grand 
 jury could be empaneled in any part of our coun- 
 try who had no better sense than to indict an officer 
 for the performance of his sworn public duty ! But 
 the event referred to occurred back in the days 
 when sectional feeling ran high, when they were 
 passing the Freedmen's Bureau Bill and Civil Rights 
 Bills and Military State Government Bills, and when 
 the more radical members of Congress impeached 
 President Johnson for exercising his lawful powers 
 and authority as President of the United States ! 
 
 The case was certified to the Supreme Court upon 
 the question whether the arrest, under the circum- 
 stances, was an obstruction of the mail. Justice 
 Field delivered the opinion of the court as follows: 
 " There can be but one answer, in our judgment, to
 
 28 BLACKSTONE LEGAL TRAINING LECTURE 
 
 the question certified to us. The Act of Congress 
 which punishes the obstruction or retarding of the 
 passage of the mail or of the mail carrier does not 
 apply to a case of temporary detention of the mail 
 caused by the arrest of the carrier upon an indict- 
 ment for murder." 
 
 What Constitutes Obstruction? 
 
 The next case was an indictment against two 
 twelve-year-old boys who had obstructed the track 
 of the Wheeling Railway running along the streets 
 and down the river to Benwood. It seems that a 
 strike of laborers was on at the time, and these boys, 
 in answer to the demonstrations of the citizens 
 against their obstructing the track, said: "We want 
 to win the strike." To aid further in accomplishing 
 this purpose, they had thrown stones and clubs and 
 missiles at employees when they were removing the 
 obstructions. These boys, though but twelve years 
 old, were convicted because of their intelligent ex- 
 pression of conditions and their resolution to sup- 
 port the workmen who were carrying on the strike. 
 
 The Debs Case. Another case in point is one of 
 national interest, occurring twenty years ago, and 
 known as the Debs Case, in which the petitioner 
 Debs was represented by Judge Lyman Trumbull of 
 Chicago, a statesman and lawyer of national repute, 
 and the United States by Attorney General Olney, 
 also a lawyer of rare ability and distinction. The 
 case arose not upon an indictment or information, 
 but under a bill in equity with an injunction obtained 
 by the United States, upon petition of its Attorney
 
 THE POSTAL PENAL CODE 29 
 
 General to prevent the defendants, being a combina- 
 tion and conspiracy therefor, from obstructing and 
 preventing the interstate transportation of persons 
 and property and the carriage of the mails. The 
 strikers refused to obey the injunction and main- 
 tained their attitude of defiance toward the court 
 and the United States. Thereupon, under an order 
 to show cause why they should not be punished for 
 violation and defiance of the injunction, Debs and 
 his associates were arrested, and failing to show any 
 sufficient cause to the contrary, they were sentenced 
 to jail for six months as a punishment for their 
 defiance of the authority of the court. They there- 
 upon brought a petition for habeas corpus, alleging 
 their unlawful arrest and confinement, and the mat- 
 ter was considered by the Supreme Court after 
 elaborate arguments. 
 
 Jurisdiction of Federal Government Extends Over 
 Every Foot of Soil. Mr. Justice Brewer pronounced 
 the opinion of the court to the effect that the Govern- 
 ment of the United States has jurisdiction over every 
 foot of soil within its territory and acts directly upon 
 every citizen within the limits of its powers, which 
 include regulation of interstate commerce and trans- 
 mission of the mails; that in the exercise of those 
 powers the United States may remove obstructions 
 put upon highways, natural or artificial, to block 
 the passage of interstate commerce or the carrying 
 of the mails; and that, consequently, the court had 
 the right to punish those who, in disobedience of its 
 power and defiance of its process, undertook to stop 
 or obstruct the carriage of the mails.
 
 30 BLACKSTONE LEGAL TRAINING LECTURE 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 It is not within the scope of this Talk to give all 
 the regulations of the Post Office Department in 
 relation to the mails. The Code provisions and other 
 department rules as to the manner in which any par- 
 ticular matter must be shipped, also full information 
 concerning any questions confronting any individual, 
 can easily be secured by application to postmasters 
 or their assistants. Nor is it intended to assist in 
 any way those who may desire to trespass as far as 
 possible without being convicted. 
 
 It has, how r ever, been attempted to discuss the 
 authority of the Federal Government over the mail 
 service, and the penal provisions which have been 
 passed in regard to this service, and how these are 
 construed and enforced. The cases cited point out 
 the principal matters to keep in mind, such as: the 
 danger of interfering with the mails during strikes 
 and labor disturbances, the inadvisability of sending 
 duns on postal cards, the care which must be exer- 
 cised not to express one's opinion too freely through 
 the mails, and the absolute prohibition against post- 
 ing anything of an immoral nature even under seal. 
 
 These are rules which it is evident are usually 
 very poorly understood. A knowledge of them is 
 imperative to a proper compliance with the Postal 
 Penal Code, and to avoidance of too intimate asso- 
 ciation with Federal marshals and their deputies.

 
 \y*y /<>// 
 
 I GAYlAMOUNflT" 
 '.PAMPHLET BINDER 
 
 Syracuse, N.Y. I 
 Stockton, Calif. I