[CHAPTER 133-1ST SESSION] AN ACT To amend the statutes providing punishment for transmitting threatening communications. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That sections 1 and 2 of the Act of July 8, 1932 (47 Stat. 649), as amended (U. S. C., title 18, secs. 338a and 338b), be, and the same are hereby, further amended to read as follows: "SECTION 1. (a) Whoever shall knowingly deposit or cause to be deposited in any post office or station thereof, or in any authorized depository for mail matter, to be sent or delivered by the Post Office Establishment of the United States, or shall knowingly cause to be delivered by the Post Office Establishment of the United States according to the direction thereon, any written or printed letter or other communication, with or without a name or designating mark subscribed thereto, addressed to any other person, and containing any demand or request for ransom or reward for the release of any kidnaped person; or whoever, with intent to extort from any person any money or other thing of value, shall deposit, cause to be deposited, or cause to be delivered, as aforesaid, any letter or other communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of the addressee or of another, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both. "(b) Whoever shall knowingly deposit or cause to be deposited in any post office or station thereof, or in any authorized depository for mail matter, to be sent or delivered by the Post Office Establishment of the United States, or shall knowingly cause to be delivered by the Post Office Establishment of the United States according to the direction thereon, any written or printed letter or other communication with or without a name or designating mark subscribed thereto, addressed to any other person and containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of the addressee or of another shall be fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. (c) Whoever, with intent to extort from any person any money or other thing of value, shall knowingly deposit or cause to be deposited in any post office or station thereof, or in any authorized depository for mail matter, to be sent or delivered by the Post Office Establishment of the United States, or shall knowingly cause to be delivered by the Post Office Establishment of the United States according to the direction thereon, any written or printed letter or other communication, with or without a name or designating mark subscribed thereto, addressed to any other person and containing any threat to injure the property or reputation of the addressee or of another, or the reputation of a deceased person, or any threat to accuse the addressee or any other person of a crime shall be fined not more than $500, or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. "(d) Any person violating this section may be prosecuted in the judicial district in which such letter or other communication is deposited in such post office, station, or authorized depository for mail matter, or in the judicial district into which such letter or other communication was carried by the United States mail for delivery according to the direction thereon: Provided, That any defendant in an indictment hereunder, relating to communications originating in the United States, shall, upon motion duly made, be entitled as a matter of right to be tried in the district court of the United States in which the matter mailed or otherwise transmitted was first set in motion; that is, in the mails or in commerce between the States. "SEC. 2. (a) Whoever shall knowingly deposit or cause to be deposited in any post office or station thereof, or in any authorized depository for mail matter, of any foreign country any written or printed letter or other communication addressed to any person within the United States, for the purpose of having such communication delivered by the Post Office Establishment of such foreign country to the Post Office Establishment of the United States and by it delivered to such addressee in the United States, and as a result thereof such communication is delivered by the Post Office Establishment of such foreign country to the Post Office Establishment of the United States and by it delivered to the address to which it is directed in the United States, and containing any demand or request for ransom or reward for the release of any kidnaped person; or whoever, with intent to extort from any person any money or other thing of value, shall deposit or cause to be deposited, as aforesaid, any letter or other communication for the purpose aforesaid, containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of the addressee or of another, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both. "(b) Whoever shall knowingly deposit or cause to be deposited in any post office or station thereof, or in any authorized depository for mail matter, of any foreign country any written or printed letter or other communication addressed to any person within the United States, for the purpose of having such communication delivered by the Post Office Establishment of such foreign country to the Post Office Establishment of the United States and by it delivered to such addressee in the United States, and as a result thereof such communication is delivered by the Post Office Establishment of such foreign country to the Post Office Establishment of the United States and by it delivered to the address to which it is directed in the United States, and containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of the addressee or of another, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. "(c) Whoever, with intent to extort from any person any money or other thing of value, shall knowingly deposit or cause to be deposited in any post office or station thereof, or in any authorized depository for mail matter, of any foreign country any written or printed letter or other communication, addressed to any person within the United States for the purpose of having such communication delivered by the Post Office Establishment of such foreign country to to such addressee in the United States, and as a result thereof such communication is delivered by the Post Office Establishment of such foreign country to the Post Office Establishment of the United States and by it delivered to the address to which it is directed in the United States, and containing any threat to injure the property or reputation of the addressee or of another, or the reputation of a deceased person, or any threat to accuse the addressee or any other person of a crime, shall be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. "(d) Any person violating this section may be prosecuted either in the district into which such letter or other communication was carried by the United States mail for delivery according to the direction thereon, or in which it was caused to be delivered by the United States mail to the person to whom it was addressed: Provided, That any defendant in an indictment hereunder, relating to communications originating in the United States, shall, upon motion duly made, be entitled as a matter of right to be tried in the district court of the United States in which the matter mailed or otherwise transmitted was set first in motion; that is, in the mails or in commerce between the States." SEC. 2. That the Act of May 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 781; U. S. C., title 18, sec. 408d), be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows: "(a) Whoever shall transmit in interstate commerce, by any means whatsoever, any communication containing any demand or request for a ransom or reward for the release of any kidnaped person; or whoever, with intent to extort from any person, firm, association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value, shall transmit, as aforesaid, any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both. "(b) Whoever shall transmit in interstate commerce by any means whatsoever any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. "(c) Whoever, with intent to extort from any person, firm, association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value, shall transmit in interstate commerce by any means whatsoever any communication containing any threat to injure the property or reputation of the addressee or of another or the reputation of a deceased person or any threat to accuse the addressee or any other person of a crime shall be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. "(d) Any person violating the provisions of this section may be prosecuted in the judicial district from or into which such threat is transmitted, as aforesaid: Provided, That any defendant in an indictment hereunder, relating to communications originating in the United States, shall, upon motion duly made, be entitled as a matter of right to be tried in the district court of the United States in which the matter mailed or otherwise transmitted was set first in motion; that is, in the mails or in commerce between the States. The term 'interstate commerce,' as used in this section, shall include communication from one State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, to another State, Territory, or the District of Columbia." [CHAPTER 140-1ST SESSION] [S. 198] AN ACT To provide that records certified by the Court of Claims to the Supreme Court, in response to writs of certiorari, may include material portions of the evidence, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 3, subsection b, of the Act of February 13, 1925 (43 Stat. 936, 939, c. 229; U. S. Code, title 28, sec. 288 b), be amended so as to read as follows: "(b) In any case in the Court of Claims, including those begun under section 180 of the Judicial Code, it shall be competent for the Supreme Court, upon the petition of either party, whether Government or claimant, to require, by certiorari, that the cause be certified to it for review and determination of all errors assigned, with the same power and authority, and with like effect, as if the cause had been brought there by appeal. In such event, the Court of Claims shall include in the papers certified by it the findings of fact, the conclusions of law, and the judgment or decree, as well as such other parts of the record as are material to the errors assigned, to be settled by the Court. "The Court of Claims shall promulgate rules to govern the preparation of such record in accordance with the provisions of this section. "In such cases the Supreme Court shall have authority to review, in addition to other questions of law, errors assigned to the effect that there is a lack of substantial evidence to sustain a finding of fact; that an ultimate finding or findings are not sustained by the findings of evidentiary or primary facts; or that there is a failure to make any finding of fact on a material issue." Approved, May 22, 1939. [CHAPTER 141-1ST SESSION] [S. 1281] AN ACT To prohibit reproductions of omcial badges, identification cards, and other insignia. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1 of the Act entitled "An Act to prohibit the misuse of official insignia", approved on June 29, 1932 (47 Stat. 342; U. S. C., title 18, sec. 76a), be amended to read as follows: "That hereafter the manufacture, sale, or possession of any badge, identification card, or other insignia, of the design prescribed by the head of any department or independent office of the United States for use by any officer or subordinate thereof, or of any colorable imitation thereof, or the photographing, printing, or in any other manner making or executing any engraving, photograph, print, or impression in the likeness of any such badge, identification card, or other insignia, or of any colorable imitation thereof, is prohibited, except when and as authorized under such regulations as may be prescribed by the head of the department or independent office of which such insignia indicates the wearer is an officer or subordinate." Approved, May 22, 1939. |