Rufus Wheeler Peckham

“ No one denies that there are degrees of obscenity, any more than that two and two make four; but, when a book is stated to be so obscene that it would be offensive if set forth in full in an indictment, such allegation imports a sufficient degree of obscenity to render the production nonmailable and obscene under the statute.
This indictment is sufficient, because it does, in fact, contain a charge that the book was obscene, to the knowledge of the defendant, who knowingly and willfully, with such knowledge, deposited it in the mail, and thus violated the statute. ”

“ The further ground is taken that there is in truth no allegation that the matter was obscene or lewd or lascivious, but the indictment contains nothing more than a mere expression of the opinion of the pleader that it was so obscene as to be unfit for repetition in the indictment.
We think there is no force in either contention. The plain meaning of the indictment is that the defendant deposited in the mails a book which he knew to be obscene, and that in truth it was obscene, and so much so as to render it improper and offensive to place the same upon the public record of the court. ”

“ After his conviction of the offense stated in the third and fifth counts, the defendant moved in arrest of judgment, on the ground, among other things, that it was nowhere in either of these counts alleged that the book or pamphlets, or either of them, were in fact obscene, lewd, or lascivious, or of an indecent character, and that they were nonmailable matter. The motion was overruled, and the defendant sentenced as above stated. ”