Mailable matter not to be conveyed over any regular mail route otherwise than in the mail.Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any stage-coach, railroad car, steamboat, packet boat, or other vehicle or vessel, nor any of the owners, managers, servants, or crews of either, which regularly performs trips at stated periods on a post route, or between two or more cities, towns, or other places, from one to the other of which the United States mail is regularly conveyed under the authority of the Post Office Department, to transport or convey, otherwise than in the mail, any letter or letters, packet or packages of letters, or other mailable matter whatsoever,Exceptions. except such as may have relation to some part of the cargo of such steamboat, packet boat, or other vessel, or to some article at the same time conveyed by the same stage-coach, railroad car, or other vehicle, and excepting also, newspapers, pamphlets, magazines, and periodicals; and for every such offence, the owner or owners of the stage-coach, railroad car, steamboat, packet boat, or other vehicle or vessel, shall forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred dollars;Penalty. and the driver, captain, conductor, or person having charge of any such stage-coach, railroad car, steamboat, packet boat, or other vehicle or vessel, at the time of the commission of any such offence, and who shall not at that time be the owner thereof, in whole nor in part, shall, in like manner, forfeit and pay, in every such case of offence, the sum of fifty dollars.
Penalty for transporting persons engaged in carrying mail matter over any mail route.Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That the owner or owners of every stage-coach, railroad car, steamboat, or other vehicle or vessel, which shall, with the knowledge of any of any owner or owners, in whole or in part, or with the knowledge or connivance of the driver, conductor, captain, or other person having charge of any such stage-coach, railroad car, steamboat, or other vessel or vehicle, convey or transport any person or persons acting or employed as a private express for the conveyance of letters, packets, or packages of letters, or other mailable matter, and actually in possession of such mailable matter, for the purpose of transportation, contrary to the spirit, true intent, and meaning of the preceding sections of this law, shall be subject to the like fines and penalties as are hereinbefore provided and directed in the case of persons acting as such private expresses, and of persons employing the same; but nothing in this act containedCarrying of letters, &c. by private hands, without compensation, not prohibited. shall be construed to prohibit the conveyance or transmission of letters, packets, or packages, or other matter, to any part of the United States, by private hands, no compensation being tendered or received therefor in any way, or by a special messenger employed only for the single particular occasion.
Penalty for transmitting, by private express, matter forbidden by this act.Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That all persons whatsoever who shall, after the passage of this act, transmit by any private express, or other means by this act declared to be unlawful, any letter or letters, package or packages, or other mailable matter, excepting newspapers, pamphlets, magazines, and periodicals, or who shall place or cause to be deposited at any appointed place, for the purpose of being transported by such unlawful means, any matter or thing properly transmittable, by mail, excepting newspapers, pamphlets, magazines and periodicals, or who shall deliver any such matter, excepting newspapers, pamphlets, magazines and periodicals for transmission to any agent or agents of such unlawful expresses, shall for each and every offence forfeit and pay the sum of fifty dollars.
Transmission of letters by steamboats, under act of 3d March 1825, ch. 64, secs. 5, 6, not prohibited.Proviso: requirements of 6th sec. act of 3d March 1825, ch. 64, to be complied with.Sec. 13. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act contained shall have the effect, or be construed to prohibit the conveyance or transportation of letters by steamboats, as authorized by the sixth section of the act entitled “An act to reduce into one the several acts for establishing and regulating the Post Office Department, approved the third of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five:” Provided, That the requirements of said sixth section of said act be strictly complied with, by the delivery, within the time specified by said act, of all
