exertions to prevent duel.

Libel defined, and punishment therefor.

Truth of libel may be given in evidence.

tion on the part of any two persons to fight with any deadly weapon or weapons, and such officer shall not use and exert his official authority to arrest the parties and prevent the duel, every such officer shall be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars.

SEC. 120. A libel is a malicious defamation, expressed either by printing or by signs or pictures or the like, tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue, or reputation, or publish the natural defects of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him or her to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule every person, whether the writer or publisher, convicted of the offence, shall be fined in a sum not exceeding five thousand dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year. In all prosecutions for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury. and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libellous is true, and was published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted, and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact.

Bigamy defined,

therefor

prescribed.

ELEVENTH DIVISION.

OFFENCES AGAINST PUBLIC MORALITY, HEALTH, AND POLICE.

SECTION 121. Bigamy consists in the having of two wives or two and punishment husbands at one and the same time, knowing that the former husband or wife is still alive. If any person or persons within this state, being married, or who shall hereafter marry, do at any time marry any person or persons, the former husband or wife being alive, the person so offending shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and be imprisoned in the county jail not more than two years. It shall not be necessary to prove either of the said marriages by the register or certificate thereof, or other record evidence, but the same may be proved by such evidence as is admissible to prove a marriage in other cases, and when such second marriage shall have taken place without this state, cohabitation in this state, after such second marriage, shall be deemed the commission of the crime of bigamy. Nothing herein contained shall extend to any person or persons whose husband or wife shall have been continually absent from such person or persons for the space of five years together, prior to the said second marriage, and he or she not knowing such husband or wife to be living within that time. Also, nothing herein contained shall extend to any person that is, or shall be at the time of such second marriage, divorced by lawful authority from the bonds of such former marriage, or to any person where the former marriage hath been, by lawful authority, declared void.

To what cases not to apply.

marrying a

SEC. 122. If any man or woman, being unmarried, shall knowing- Knowingly ly marry the husband or wife of another, such man or woman shall, married person. on conviction, be fined not less than one thousand dollars, or impris oned in the county jail not more than two years.

marriage or

SEC. 123. Persons being within the degrees of consanguinity, Incestuous within which marriages are declared by law to be incestuous and void, adultery. who shall intermarry with each other, or who shall commit fornication or adultery with each other, shall, on conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding ten years.

injuring public

navigable stream.

SEC. 124. If any person shall obstruct or injure, or cause or pro- obstructing or cure to be obstructed or injured, any public road or highway, or com- highway or mon street or alley of any city, town, or village, or any public bridge or causeway, or public river or stream declared navigable by law, or shall continue such obstruction so as to render the same inconvenient or dangerous to pass, or shall erect or establish any offensive trade, manufacture, or business, or continue the same after it has been erected or established, or shall in any wise pollute or obstruct any water course, lake, pond, marsh, or common sewer, or continue such obstruction or pollution so as to render the same offensive or unwholesome to the county, city, town, village, or neighborhood thereabouts: every person so offending shall, upon conviction, be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars; and every such nuisance may, by order of the court before whom the conviction may take place, or of the district court, be removed and abated by the sheriff of the county.

some provisions.

SEC. 125. If any person or persons shall knowingly sell any flesh Selling unwholeof any diseased animal, or other unwholesome provisions, or any poisonous or adulterated drink or liquors, every person so offending shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not more than six months.

ing down any

etc.

SEC. 126. If any person shall intentionally deface, obliterate, tear Defacing or teardown or destroy, in whole or in part, any copy or transcript, or ex- proclamation, tract from or of any law of the United States, or of this state, or any proclamation, advertisement, or notification, set up at any place in this state by authority of any law of the United States or of this state, or by order of any court, such person, on conviction, shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars nor less than twenty dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail not more than one month: Provided, that this section shall not extend to defacing, tearing down, obliterating or destroying any law, proclamation, publication, notification, advertisement, or order, after the time for which the same was by law to remain set up, shall have expired.

SEC. 127. If any person shall be found having upon him or her any Having posses

sion of any instrument with

a burglary, etc.

picklock, crow, key, bitt, or other instrument or tool, with intent felointent to commit niously to break and enter into any dwelling house, store, shop, warehouse, or other building containing valuable property, or shall be found in any of the aforesaid buildings with intent to steal any money, goods, and chattels, every person so offending shall, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned in the county jail not more than two years; and if any person shall have upon him any pistol, gun, knife, dirk, bludgeon, or other offensive weapon, with intent to assault any person, every such person, on conviction, shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars or imprisoned in the county jail not more than three months.

Refusing to join the posse comitatus, etc.

SEC. 128. Every male person above eighteen years of age who shall neglect or refuse to join the posse comitatus or power of the county, by neglecting or refusing to aid and assist in taking or arresting any person or persons against whom there may be issued any process, or by neglecting to aid and assist in retaking any person or persons, who, after being arrested or confined, may have escaped from such arrest or imprisonment, or by neglecting or refusing to aid and assist in preventing any breach of the peace, or the commission of any criminal offence, being thereto lawfully required by any sheriff, deputy sheriff, coroner, constable, judge, or justice of the peace or other officer concerned in the administration of justice, shall, upon conviction, be fined in any sum not less than fifty nor more than one thousand dollars.

Fraudulent conveyances to hinder or

defraud creditors.

TWELFTH DIVISION.

OFFENCES COMMITTED BY CHEATS, SWINDLERS, AND OTHER FRAUDULENT
PERSONS.

SECTION 129. All and every person who shall be a party to any fraudulent conveyance of any lands, tenements or hereditaments, goods or chattels, or any right or interest issuing out of the same, or to any bond, suit, judgment or execution, contract or conveyance had, made or contrived with intent to deceive and defraud others, or to defeat, hinder, or delay creditors or others of their just debts, damages, or demands; or who, being parties as aforesaid, at any time shall wittingly and willingly put in, use, avow, maintain, justify, or defend the same or any of them as true and done, had or made in good faith, or upon good consideration, or shall alien, assign, or sell any of the lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods, chattels, or other things before mentioned, to him, her, or them conveyed as aforesaid, or any part thereof, he, she, or they so offending shall, on conviction, be fined in any sum not exceeding one thousand dollars.

or defrauding by

tions.

SEC. 130. If any person, by false representations of his own wealth Obtaining credit or mercantile correspondence and connexions, shall obtain a credit false representathereby, and defraud any person or persons of money, goods, chattels, or any valuable thing; or if any person shall cause or procure others to report falsely of his wealth or mercantile character, and by thus imposing upon any person or persons obtain credit and thereby fraudulently get into possession of goods, wares or merchandise, or other valuable thing, every such offender shall be deemed a swindler, and on conviction, shall be sentenced to return the property so fraudulently obtained, if it can be done, and shall be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars and imprisoned in the county jail not more than six months.

or goods, etc., by

SEC. 131. If any person or persons shall knowingly and designedly, Obtaining money by any false pretence or pretences, obtain from any other person or false pretences. persons any chose in action, money, goods, wares, chattels, effects, or other valuable thing, with intent to cheat or defraud any such person or persons of the same, every person so offending shall be deemed a cheat, and on conviction shall be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars and imprisoned in the county jail not more than one year, and be sentenced to restore the property so fraudulently obtained, if it can be done. (1)

selling the same

more than once.

SEC. 132. Any person or persons, after once selling, bartering, or Fraudulent disposing of any tract or tracts of land, town lot or lots, or executing piece of land any bond or agreement for the sale of any lands, or town lot or lots, who shall again knowingly and fraudulently sell, barter, or dispose of the same tract or tracts of land, or town lot or lots, or any part thereof, or shall knowingly and fraudulently execute any bond or agreement to sell or barter or dispose of the same land, or lot or lots, or any part thereof, to any other person or persons for a valuable consideration, every such offender, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison not less than one nor more than ten years.

using false

measures.

SEC. 133. If any person shall knowingly sell any goods, wares, Selling by or merchandise, or any valuable thing, by false weights or measures, or weights or shall knowingly use false measures at any mill in taking toll for grinding corn, wheat, rye, or other grain, he or she shall be deemed a common cheat, and on conviction shall be fined not exceeding two hundred dollars and imprisoned in the county jail not more than three months.

(1) See ante, Chap. 121, Sec. 376.

Removing

SEC. 134. If any debtor shall fraudulently remove his property or defraud or delay effects out of this state, or shall fraudulently sell, convey, or assign,

property to

ereditors.

Concealing or disposing of property to defraud judgment creditor.

or conceal his property or effects, with intent to defraud, hinder, or delay his creditors of their just rights, claims, or demands, he shall, on conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for any term not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

SEC. 135. Any person against whom an action is pending, or against whom a judgment has been rendered for the recovery of any personal property or effects, who shall fraudulently conceal, sell, or dispose of such property or effects, with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud the person bringing such action or recovering such judgment, or shall with such intent remove such property or effects beyond the limits of the county in which it may be at the time of the commencement of such action or the rendering of such judgment, shall, on conviction, be punished as provided in the next preceding section.

Wilfully administering poison to cattle.

Maliciously killing or wounding cattle.

Maliciously

destroying doors, windows, or

inclosures or trees.

THIRTEENTH DIVISION.

FRAUDULENT AND MALICIOUS MISCHIEF.

SECTION 136. Every person who shall wilfully administer any poison to any cattle, or maliciously expose any poisonous substance with the intent that the same shall be taken or swallowed by any cattle, shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding three years, or by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

SEC. 137. Every person who shall maliciously kill, maim, or wound any horse, ox, or other cattle, or any sheep, belonging to another, or shall maliciously or cruelly beat or torture any such animal, whether belonging to himself or another, shall, upon conviction, be punished by fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months.

SEC. 138. Every person who shall wilfully, unlawfully, and maliciously break, destroy, or injure the door or window of any dwellinghouse, shop, store, or other house or building, or sever therefrom, or from any gate, fence, or inclosure, or any part thereof, or any material of which it is formed, or sever from the freehold any produce thereof, or anything attached thereto, or pull down, injure, or destroy any gate, post, railing, or fence, or any part thereof, or cut down, lap, girdle, or otherwise injure or destroy any fruit or ornamental or shade tree, being the property of another, shall, on conviction, be fined not more than two hundred dollars or imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding three months.