CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS 1263

months, or shall be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, or both, in the
discretion of the court.

This section referred to in discussing admissibility in a criminal case of evidence
obtained by tapping telephone wires. Olmstead v. United States, 277 U. S. 479, 72
L. Ed. 957.

Thieves and Pickpockets.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 492. 1912, sec. 444. 1904, sec. 392. 1888, sec. 255. 1864, ch. 38.

1916, ch. 652, sec. 444.

581. It shall be the duty of all police officers and detectives, in Baltimore
City to arrest and take before some one of the station house justices in Balti-
more City all persons whom they shall find in Baltimore City or upon any
train, boat, car or other vehicle commonly used for the transportation of
passengers which may be bound to or from Baltimore City whom they shall
know or have good reason to believe are.common thieves or pickpockets, and
said police justices shall commit or bail such persons for trial before the
Criminal Court of Baltimore; and if any person in Baltimore City shall
be charged on oath before any station house justice in Baltimore City or
before the judge of the Criminal Court of Baltimore with being a common
thief or pickpocket, such justice or judge shall issue a warrant for the
arrest of such person and commit or bail him for trial; and any person con-
victed in the Criminal Court of Baltimore of being a common thief or com-
mon pickpocket shall be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars or be
imprisoned in jail or in the House of Correction or in the penitentiary for a
period not exceeding five years, or be both fined and imprisoned within the
limits above prescribed in the discretion of the court; but if any person is
arrested or indicted a second time or more for such offense, he shall be
convicted only on proof that he has continued to be a common thief or pick-
pocket since his last conviction or acquittal, and it shall be necessary to
charge in the indictment only that the person is a common thief or common
pickpocket, and any evidence, either of facts or reputation, proving that
such person is habitually and by practice a thief Or pickpocket, shall be
sufficient for his conviction if satisfactorily establishing the fact to the
court or jury by whom he is tried, and there shall be no discretion in any
police officer or police justice to discharge or release any person who is by
such proof before them or knowledge on their part shown to be a thief or
pickpocket as aforesaid, but such person shall be bailed or committed for
trial; and no conviction or charge of or for being a common thief or pick-
pocket shall prevent any such person from being tried and convicted for
any particular act of larceny he may have committed.

To justify a conviction under this section, there must be proof either of fact or
reputation sufficient to satisfy jury that traverser is by practice and habit a thief.
The offense prohibited by this section is a misdemeanor and must be prosecuted within
one year. The record of traverser's conviction of the larceny of a watch within a year
before the prosecution was begun is a link in the chain tending to prove the issue;
its legal effect is for jury. Evidence of reputation of accused commencing more than a
year before indictment is admissible, but would not justify a conviction unless followed
up by proof that such reputation was borne within a year before indictment. Character
and reputation are synonymous terms. A conviction of the accused for winning a watch
by a fraudulent trick at cards, held not evidence. This section strictly construed.
World v. State, 50 Md. 54.

As to larceny, see sec. 387, et seq.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 493. 1912, sec. 445. 1904, sec. 393. 1888, sec. 256. 1864, ch. 38.

582. If any person shall be arrested at any place on the line of the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad, or on the line of the Northern Central rail-
road, or on the line of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore rail-