Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall pre-sume to bargain for, purchase, or receive in pledge, or as a gift, or cause or procure to be bargained for, purchased, or received in pledge or as a gift, on any pretence whatever, all or any part of the public arms, ammunition, clothing or accoutrements pertaining to any non-commissioned officer or private soldier in the service aforesaid (knowing him to be such) he or she so offending, shall on conviction, forfeit and pay for the first offence treble the value of the articles so purchased or recieved, the same to be recovered with costs, by action of debt or information, in any court of record, one half to the informer, and the other half to the United States, or the whole to the United States, where prosecution shall be first instituted on the public behalf alone; and for every repitition of the like offence by the same person, he or she so offending again, shall forfeit and pay in like manner treble the value of the articles purchased or received as aforesaid, together with costs, and shall moreover suffer imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month.