ment of stock in the funds,Penalty on detaining or secreting letters. letters of attorney for receiving annuities or dividends, or for selling stock in the funds, or for receiving the interest thereof, or any letter of credit, or note for, or relating to the payment of money, or any bond or warrant, draft, bill or promissory note, whatsoever, for the payment of money; or if any such person, employed as aforesaid, shall steal or take any of the same, out of any letter, packet, bag or mail of letters, that shall come to his possession, he shall, on conviction for any such offence, suffer death. And if any person, who shall have taken charge of the mail of the United States, shall quit or desert the same, before his arrival at the next post-office, every such person so offending shall forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, for every such offence. And if any person, concerned in carrying the mail of the United States, shall collect, receive or carry any letter or packet, or shall cause or procure the same to be done, contrary to this act, every such offender shall forfeit and pay, for every such offence, a sum not exceeding fifty dollars.
On persons robbing the mail.Sec. 17. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall rob any carrier of the mail of the United States, of such mail, or any part thereof, such offender or offenders shall, on conviction thereof, suffer death. And if any person shall steal the mail, or shall steal and take from or out of the mail, or from or out of any post-office, any letter or packet, such person shall, upon conviction, for every such offence, be fined not exceeding three hundred dollars, or imprisoned not exceeding six months, or both, according to the circumstances and aggravations of the offence.
Deputies to publish every three months a list of letters then on hand, &c.Sec. 18. And be it further enacted, That the deputy-postmasters shall, respectively, publish at the expiration of every three months, or oftener when the Postmaster General shall so direct, in one of the newspapers published at or nearest the place of his residence, for three successive weeks, a list of all the letters remaining in their respective offices, or instead thereof, shall make out a number of such lists, and cause them to be posted at such public places in their vicinity, as shall appear to them best adapted for the information of the parties concerned; and at the expiration of the next three months, shall send such of the said letters as then remain on hand, as dead letters to the general post-office, where the same shall be opened and inspected; and if any valuable papers or matter of consequence shall be found therein, it shall be the duty of the Postmaster General to cause a descriptive list thereof to be inserted in one of the newspapers published at the place most convenient to the supposed residence of the owner, if within the United States; and such letter, and the contents, shall be preserved, to be delivered to the person to whom the same shall be addressed, upon payment of the postage and the expense of publication. And if such letter, with its contents, be not demanded by the person to whom it is addressed, or the owner thereof, or his lawful agent, within two years after the advertisement thereof, as aforesaid, the said contents shall be applied to the use of the United States, until the same shall be reclaimed by the proprietor thereof. The manner of such application to be specially stated by the Postmaster General to the Secretary of the Treasury.
Certain letters to be conveyed free of postage.Sec. 19. And be it further enacted, That the following letters and packets, and no other, shall be received and conveyed by post free of postage, under such restrictions as are herein after provided; that is to say; all letters and packets, to or from the President or Vice President of the United States, and all letters and packets, not exceeding two ounces in weight, to or from any member of the Senate or House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Senate or Clerk of the House of Representatives, during their actual attendance in any session of Congress, and twenty days after such session; all letters to and from the Secretary of the Treasury, Comptroller, Register and Auditor of the
