128 INJURY TO TREES AS A CRIME 



$5,000, or imprisonment for not over two years, or both 

 such fine and imprisonment, for the offense of wilfully and 

 maliciously setting a fire or carelessly or negligently leaving 

 one to burn unattended near any timber, underbrush, grass 

 or other inflammable material upon the public domain of the 

 United States. The act also fixed a fine of not ever $1,000 

 or imprisonment for not over one year, or both fine and im- 

 prisonment, for the offense of building a camp fire or other 

 fire in or near any forest, timber, or other inflammable ma- 

 terial upon the public domain and failing to totally extin- 

 guish the same before leaving it. On May 5, 1900 (31 Stat. 

 L., 169) this act was amended by omitting the words "care- 

 lessly or negligently" from section one and the specific ref- 

 erence to camp fires from section two. In the act of March 

 4, 1909 (35 Stat. L., 1088, 1098) codifying and amending 

 the penal laws of the United States, the provisions of the 

 act of May 5, 1900, were reenacted in sections 52 and 53, 

 with the omission of the word "maliciously" from the first 

 section. By section 6 of an act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 

 L., 855, 857), section 53 of the act of March 4, 1909, was 

 amended so as to make its penalties applicable to the leaving 

 of fires on Indian tribal lands or on Indian allotments while 

 the same were held under restricted or trust patents. 



Numerous successful prosecutions have been made under 

 the Federal law, mostly in the United States District Courts; 

 but few, if any, of these cases have been reported and thus 

 citations to decisions are not available. 



