United States v. Clark
| Decision Date | 27 September 1890 |
| Citation | 43 F. 574 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. CLARK. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Iowa |
Lewis Miles, Dist. Atty., for the United States.
W. F Sapp, for defendant.
The indictment in this case is based upon section 3893 of the Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of September 26 1888, and which enacts that 'every obscene, lewd, or lascivious book, pamphlet, picture, paper, letter, writing print, or other publication of an indecent character, * * * are hereby declared to be non-mailable matter;' and further declares that parties who knowingly mail any such matter are liable to punishment. The charge in the indictment is that the defendant knowingly deposited in the post-office to be forwarded and delivered to a party named, a letter of an indecent character, the contents being set forth in the indictment. The demurrer presents the question whether a letter of an indecent character is within the terms of the statute. As set forth in the indictment, the letter contains threats against the party to whom it is addressed, and also contains indecent epithets, the whole production being of a highly reprehensible character, clearly bringing it within the description given it in the indictment; that is, a letter of indecent character. There is, however, nothing of an obscene, lewd, or lascivious nature contained in the letter. In support of the demurrer it is urged that the words, 'or other publication of an indecent character,' do not provide a further or distinct class of non-mailable matter, but that these words are intended to be a further limitation upon the obscene, lewd, or lascivious publications named in the first part of the sentence; and that to come within the statute the book, writing, letter, or other matter must be obscene, lewd, or lascivious, and of an indecent character.
On behalf of the government it is contended that these words 'or other publication of an indecent character,' are intended to define a new or additional class of non-mailable matter; and that if the publication is of an indecent character it falls within the prohibition of the statute, although it may not be obscene, lewd, or lascivious. It is not necessary in this case to decide which of these views of the section is correct. If it be admitted that the words named do define a further class of non-mailable matter, as is claimed by the district attorney, nevertheless the class thus...
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Duncan v. United States
...to excite anger and condemn and repel rather than excite feelings of an impure, lascivious, or unchaste character. See, also, U. S. v. Clark (D. C.) 43 F. 574; Griffin v. U. S. (C. C. A.) 248 F. 6; Knowles v. U. S. (C. C. A.) 170 F. 409; Dysart v. U. S. (C. C. A.) 4 F.(2d) 765; Krause v. U.......
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United States v. Males
...'lascivious,' with which it is associated, it implies something tending to suggest libidinous thoughts, or excite impure desires. In U.S. v. Clark, 43 F. 574, it held that a letter containing indecent epithets, and matter of a highly reprehensible character,--that is, a letter of indecent c......
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United States v. Wilson
...rules of construction for an original statute with an amendment before it that would come within such rules. In the case of U.S. v. Clark, 43 F. 574, these rules were accordingly construed as applicable to amended statute as they were to the statute before amended. On the other hand, in the......
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United States v. Ling
... ... every offense, be fined.' ... Counsel ... for the accused claims that a private letter in a sealed ... envelope is not within the prohibition of the statute, and ... cites U.S. v. Warner, 59 F. 355, and U.S. v. Jarvis, ... Id. 357. The decisions in U.S. v. Clark, 43 ... F. 574, and U.S. v. Wilson, 58 F. 769, also sustain ... this view. The contrary is held in Re Wahll, 42 F ... 822; U.S. v. Martin, 50 F. 918; and U.S. v ... Andrews, 58 F. 861. The statute in question differs from ... the former statute in the insertion of the word ... 'letter' ... ...