§789.  Immediate dispatch of messages of public officers; penalty

All telegraph and telephone companies shall be bound on application of any officer of this state, or of the United States, in the event of any war, insurrection or resistance of public authority, or whenever it may be necessary for the prevention of crime, or the arrest of persons accused of crime or fleeing from justice, to give their communications immediate dispatch.

Whoever refuses or intentionally omits to transmit such communications, or designedly alters or falsifies the same shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than one year.