108
Persons rob-bing the mail&c. 3 to sufferdeath.
demand, or any part thereof, or any copy of any record of any judgment,or decree, in any court of law, or chancery, or any execution which mayhave issued thereon ; or any copy of any other record, or any other articleof value, or any writing representing the same ; or if any such person,employed as aforesaid, shall steal, or take, any of the same out of anyletter, packet, bag, or mail of letters, that shall come to his or her posses-sion, such person shall, on conviction for any such offence, be imprisonednot less than ten years, nor exceeding twenty-one years ; and if anyperson who shall have taken charge of the mails of the United States ,shall quit or desert the same before such person delivers it into the post-office kept at the termination of the route, or some known mail-carrier,or agent of the general post-office, authorized to receive the same, everysuch person, so offending, shall forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding fivehundred dollars, for every such offence ; and if any person concerned incarrying the mail of the United States , shall collect, receive, or carry anyletter, or packet, or shall cause or procure the-same to be done, contraryto this act, every such offender shall forfeit and pay for every such offencea sum not exceeding fifty dollars, (a)
Sec. 22. And be. it further enacted, That if any person shall rob anycarrier of the mail of the United States , or other person intrusted there-with, of such mail, or of part thereof, such offender or offenders shall,on conviction, be imprisoned not less than five years, nor exceeding tenyears; and, if convicted a second time of a like offence, he or they shallsuffer death; or if, in effecting such robbery of the mail the first time,the offender shall wound the person having custody thereof, or put hislife in jeopardy, by the use of dangerous weapons, such offender oroffenders shall suffer death.(6) And if any person shall attempt to robthe mail of the United States , by assaulting the person having custodythereof, shooting at him, or his horse or mule, or threatening him with
(a) The 25th section of the post-office law of 1825, which prescribes a penalty for the detention of aletter, refers to a letter or packet detained before it reaches its destination. The United States v.Pearce, .2 M’Lean’s C. C. R. 14.
(6) The defendant was indicted upon the 24th section of the act of Congress of March 3, 1825,entitled “ An act to reduce into one, the several acts establishing and regulating the post-office depart-ment,” for advising, procuring and assisting one Joseph Straughan, a mail carrier, to rob the mail;and was found guilty. Upon this finding, the judges of the circuit court of North Carolina were dividedin opinion on the question, whether an indictment founded on the statute for advising, &c., a mailcarrier to rob the mail, ought to set forth or aver that the said carrier did, in fact, commit the offenceof robbing the mail ? By the Supreme Court —The answer to this, as an abstract proposition, must bein the affirmative. But if the question intended to be put, is, whether there must be a distinct sub-stantive averment of that fact, it is not necessary. The indictment in this case sufficiently sets out thatthe offence had been committed by the mail carrier. United States v. Mills, 7 Peters, 138.
The offence charged in this indictment is a misdemeanor, where all are principals.; and the doc-trine applicable to the principal and accessary in cases of felony does not apply. The offence, how-ever charged against the defendant, is secondary in its character; and there can be no doubt that itmust sufficiently appear upon the indictment, that the offence alleged against the chief actor had beencommitted. Ibid.
Upon an indictment for robbing the mail, and putting the life of the person having the custody of it injeopardy, under the 19th section of the act of April 30th, 1810, ch. 262, a sword, &c. in the hand of therobber, by terror of which the robbery is effected, is a dangerous weapon within the act, putting thelife in jeopardy; though it be not drawn or pointed at the carrier. So a pistol in his hands, by meansof which the robbery is effected, is a dangerous weapon; and it is not necessary to prove that it wascharged ; it is presumed to be so until the contrary is proved. The United States v. Wood, 3 Wash.C. C. R. 440.
It is not necessary to a conviction, under the 22d section, that the carrier of the mail should havetaken the oath prescribed by the 2d section of the act of 1825, or that the whole mail be taken. TheUnited States v. Wilson et al. 1 Baldwin’s C. C. R. 102.
All persons present at the commission of a crime, consenting thereto, aiding, or assisting and abet-ting therein, or in doing any act which is a constituent of the offence, are principals. Ibid.
The word “ rob,” in the act of Congress of 1825, sec. 22, is used in the common law sense.Ibid. 93.
“ Jeopardy,” as used in the section, means a well-grounded apprehension of danger to life, in case ofrefusal to yield to threats, or resistance. Ibid.
A mail carrier is within the 18th section of the “Act regulating the post-office establishment,” sub-jecting to a penalty in certain cases, “ persons employed in any of the departments of the generalpost-office.” United States v. Belew, 2 Brock. 280*