Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 3.djvu/119



any matters or things in respect whereof a duty is payable as aforesaid, at a distance from the stamps or marks impressed upon the said vellum, parchment, or paper, with intent again to use the said stamp, vellum, parchment, or paper, or with intent fraudulently to evade the duties imposed by this act; or shall write or print or cause to be written or printed any matters or things in respect whereof a duty is payable on any piece of stamped vellum, parchment, or paper whereon there shall have been before written or printed any other matter or thing in respect whereof a duty is payable by this act, before such vellum, parchment, or paper shall have been again duly marked or stamped according to this act, such person so offending shall for every such offence forfeit the sum of one hundred dollars; and in case any clerk, officer, or person who, in respect of any public office or employment, is or shall be authorized or instructed to make, write, or print any instruments or writings by this act charged to pay a duty as aforesaid, shall be guilty of any fraud, or practice to defraud or deprive the United States of any duty by this act payable, by making, writing, or printing any such instrument or writing, or causing the same to be made, written, or printed upon vellum, parchment, or paper, not marked or stamped according to this act, (or upon vellum, parchment, or paper marked or stamped with any mark or stamp which he shall know to be counterfeited,) or by writing or printing any such instrument or other writing upon vellum, parchment, or paper that shall be marked or stamped for a lower duty as aforesaid, every such clerk, officer, or person so guilty, and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall, instead of the penalty aforesaid, forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred dollars; and, if an officer of the United States, shall, in addition thereto, forfeit his office, and be disabled to hold or enjoy the same for the future.

. And be it further enacted, That no instrument or writing whatsoever, charged by this act with the payment of a duty as aforesaid, shall be pleaded or given in evidence in any court, or admitted in any court to be available in law or equity, unless the same shall be stamped or marked as aforesaid: Provided, That if any such instrument or writing shall have been written or printed upon vellum, parchment, or paper, not marked or stamped according to this act, or upon vellum, parchment, stamps may marked or stamped for a lower duty than ought to be paid upon the same, then and in such case, it shall be lawful for the person or persons holding such instrument or writing, to pay to the collector within whose collection district such person or persons shall reside, the duty chargeable by law on such instrument or writing, together with ten dollars in addition thereto, which duty and additional sum of ten dollars such collector is hereby authorized and required to receive, and without fee or reward to endorse a receipt therefor under his hand, upon some part of such instrument or writing, after which endorsement and not otherwise, such instrument or writing shall be to all intents and purposes as valid and available, as if the same had been or were stamped or marked, as by this act required. The sums thus received by each collector in virtue of this section shall be accounted for and paid over in the same manner as other moneys received for stamp duties, and in such form and under such regulations as shall be prescribed by the Treasury Department. And if any persons with intent to defraud the United States of any sum of moneys, directed to be paid by this act, shall counterfeit or forge, or cause or procure to be counterfeited or forged, any receipt or endorsement provided for and directed by this section, or shall utter, pass away, vend or offer in evidence in any court of justice, any such forged or counterfeit receipt or endorsement, knowing the same to be forged or counterfeit, then every person so offending and being thereof convicted in due form of law, shall be adjudged to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be subject to be fined in any sum not exceeding one