Ex parte Henry

Decision Date21 November 1887
PartiesEx parte HENRY
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus.

Isaac M. Bryan, for motion.

No counsel in opposition.

WAITE, C. J.

This is a motion for a rule to show cause why a writ of habeas corpus should not issue as prayed for. The case made by the petition is this:

Section 5480 of the Revised Statutes is as follows: 'If any person having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or be effected by either opening or intending to open correspondence or communication with any other person, whether resident within or outside of the United States, by means of the post-office establishment of the United States, or by inciting such other person to open communication with the person so devising or intending, shall, in and for executing such scheme or artifice, or attempting so to do, place any letter or packet in any post-office of the United States, or take or receive any therefrom, such person, so misusing the post-office establishment, shall be punishable by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, and by imprisonment for not more than eighteen months, or by both such punishments. The indictment, information, or complaint may severally charge offenses to the number of three when committed within the same six calendar months; but the court thereupon shall give a single sentence, and shall proportion the punishment especially to the degree in which the abuse of the post-office establishment enters as an instrument into such fraudulent scheme and device.'

Henry, the petitioner, was indicted in the district court of the United States for the western district of South Carolina, on the eleventh of September, 1886, for a violation of this statute. The indictment charged three separate and distinct offenses, all alleged to have been committed within the same six calendar months. Under this indictment he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to imprisonment in the South Carolina penitentiary at Columbia for the term of 12 months. Afterwards, at the same term of the court, but on a different day, he was indicted for three other and different offenses, under the same statute, committed within the same six calendar months. To this indictment he pleaded his conviction upon the first indictment in bar. This plea was overruled, and upon a trial he was convicted, and sentenced to imprisonment in the Albany penitentiary, New York, for the term of 15 months, upon the termination of his...

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66 cases
  • U.S. v. Anderson
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit
    • 18 July 1995
    ...a conditional status. Compare In Re Snow, 120 U.S. 274, 281, 7 S.Ct. 556, 559, 30 L.Ed. 658 (1887) with In re Henry, 123 U.S. 372, 374, 8 S.Ct. 142, 143, 31 L.Ed. 174 (1887); see dissent at 1337. But the mail fraud statute interpreted in In re Henry makes it a crime to "place any letter or ......
  • United States v. Schall
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania
    • 1 February 1974
    ...into the postoffice a separate offense. Ebeling v. Morgan, 237 U.S. 625, 35 Sup.Ct.Rep. 710, 59 L.Ed. 1151; Re Henry, 123 U.S. 372, 374, 8 Sup.Ct.Rep. 142, 31 L.Ed. 174, 175. And there is no ground for declaring the punishment unconstitutional. Howard v. Fleming, 191 U.S. 126, 135, 24 Sup.C......
  • United States v. Bogy
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Tennessee
    • 15 September 1936
    ...of a letter into the postoffice a separate offense. Ebeling v. Morgan, 237 U.S. 625, 35 S.Ct. 710, 59 L.Ed. 1151; In re Henry, 123 U.S. 372, 374, 8 S.Ct. 142, 31 L.Ed. 174, 175. And there is no ground for declaring the punishment unconstitutional. Howard v. Fleming, 191 U.S. 126, 135, 24 S.......
  • U.S. v. Craig
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit
    • 21 March 1978
    ...as soon as the mailing occurs. Badders v. United States, 240 U.S. 391, 394, 36 S.Ct. 367, 60 L.Ed. 706 (1916); In re Henry, 123 U.S. 372, 374, 88 S.Ct. 142, 31 L.Ed. 174 (1887). Cf. Ebeling v. Morgan, 237 U.S. 625, 35 S.Ct. 710, 59 L.Ed. 1151 (1915). The point is obvious. If prevention of s......
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