Protection of monuments, etc.

If any person shall, except by permission of the Secretary of the Interior, destroy, mutilate, deface, injure, or remove any monument, column, statues, memorial structures, or work of art that shall be erected or placed upon the grounds of the battlefield by lawful authority, or shall destroy or remove any fence, railing, inclosure, or other work for the protection or ornament of said battlefield, or any portion thereof, or shall destroy, cut, hack, bark, break down, or otherwise injure any tree, bush, or shrubbery that may be growing upon said battlefield, or shall cut down or fell or remove any timber, battle relic, tree or trees growing or being upon said battlefield, or hunt within the limits of the battlefield, or shall remove or destroy any breastworks, earthworks, walls, or other defenses or shelter or any part thereof constructed by the armies formerly engaged in the battles on the lands or approaches to the battlefield, any person so offending and found guilty thereof, before any United States magistrate judge or court, justice of the peace of the county in which the offense may be committed, or any other court of competent jurisdiction, shall for each and every such offense forfeit and pay a fine, in the discretion of the said United States magistrate judge or court, justice of the peace or other court, according to the aggravation of the offense, of not less than $5 nor more than $500, one-half for the use of the battlefield and the other half to the informant, to be enforced and recovered before such United States magistrate judge or court, justice of the peace or other court, in like manner as debts of like nature were, on July 3, 1926, by law recoverable in the several counties where the offense may be committed.