48 Stat. 781: Acts of 18 May 1934 on extortion threats (ch. 300) and amending the federal kidnaping act (ch. 301)

Statutes at Large page 781: the end of chapter 299, chapter 300 making it a federal crime to send ransom or extortion threats in interstate commerce, and the start of chapter 301 amending the Act of 22 June 1932 on interstate kidnaping.

Date: 1934-05-18
Kind: case-file
Source: govinfo, United States Statutes at Large, vol. 48
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Rights: An Act of Congress printed in the United States Statutes at Large. A United States government work, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The page is served by govinfo.

Page 781 of volume 48 carries three pieces of the May 18, 1934 legislation. It ends chapter 299, the act on killing or assaulting federal officers. It prints chapter 300 (S. 2249, Public No. 231), which makes it a federal crime to transmit in interstate commerce a demand for ransom or a threat to injure a person or property with intent to extort. It begins chapter 301 (S. 2252, Public No. 232), which amends the Act of June 22, 1932 so that knowingly transporting in interstate commerce a person kidnaped and held “for ransom or reward or otherwise” is punishable by death if the jury so recommends; the amendment continues on page 782.

The Urschel defendants were tried in 1933 under the 1932 act as it then stood; the Tenth Circuit’s opinion in Bailey v. United States applies that act. This page is the statute only.

itemAct of 18 May 1934, ch. 299, 48 Stat. 780: punishment for killing or assaulting federal officersThe first of the May 1934 federal crime laws: "An Act to provide punishment for killing or assaulting Federal officers." The National Archives ties John Paul Chase's conviction for the killing at Barrington to this act.itemAct of 18 May 1934, ch. 304, 48 Stat. 783: the federal bank robbery actThe May 1934 act making robbery of a national bank or a Federal Reserve member bank a federal crime, with higher penalties for assault, use of a dangerous weapon, and killing or kidnaping in the course of the robbery.itemBailey v. United States, 74 F.2d 451 (10th Cir. 1934)The Tenth Circuit's affirmance of Harvey J. Bailey's conviction and life sentence for conspiracy under the federal kidnaping act of 22 June 1932 in the Urschel case.