Dunlop v. United States

Citations

• 165 U.S. 486
• 17 S. Ct. 375
• 41 L. Ed. 799
• 1897 U.S. LEXIS 1990

Syllabus

<p>There was ho error in overruling the motion of the .defendant, made prior-t'o the trip.1, to require the District Attorney to tile the' printed matter alleged.in'the indic-tm'ent to be obscene, lewd, lascivious and indecent.</p> <p>There was no error -in the admission of the advertisements of proprietorship ' , of. the' Dispatch as it is difficult to see lio.W the identity of the papef,, which the indictment averred that the defendant deposited in the post office for mailing, could have been more conclusively proved than by the production of a newspaper called the Dispatch, and purporting to be the official paper of the city of Chicago.</p> <p>There was no error in permitting government officers in the Post Office Department to testify as to the course of business in the respective offices with which'they were connected, with a view of proving the customs of the post office, the course of business therein, and the duties of the employés connected with it.</p> <p>Where a question is made whether a certain paper or other document has reached the hand of the person for whom it is intended, proof of a usage to deliver such papers at the house, or of the duty of a certain messenger to deliver such papers, creates a presumption that the paper in question was actually so delivered.</p> <p>There was no error in permitting.the government to prove that during the three years preceding the trial, and also .during the period covered by the dates of the papers, admitted in evidence, namely, July 6 to October 19, 1895, a newspaper, purporting to be the Chicago Dispatch, was regularly on each day, except Sunday, received in great quantities at the Chicago post office for mailing and delivery.</p> <p>Whether the matter is too obscene to be set forth in the record is a matter primarily to be considered by the District Attorney in preparing the indictment ; and, in any event, it is within the discretion of the court to say whether it is fit to be spread upon the records or not; an