1264 ARTICLE. 27

road, or: the Baltimore and Potomac railroad, or the Western Maryland
railroad, or any other railroad running out of Baltimore City, or in any of
the cars or depots, or at any of the stations on said roads, or on any ferry
boat employed to carry passengers over any part of said roads and within
the limits of this State, charged with being a common thief or pickpocket,
such person may be taken before any justice of the peace of the county in
which said place, or depot or station may be situated; or if such person
be arrested in any car or on any ferry boat, before any justice of the peace
of the nearest convenient county or of the city of Baltimore;¹ and such
justice shall on proof as provided in the preceding section commit or bail
such person for trial before the circuit court for the county, or the criminal
court of Baltimore, as the case may be; and all police officers of Baltimore
City, and all conductors of trains and police employed by any of said rail-
way companies, and all constables and bailiffs of any county or city on the
lines of said roads shall arrest all such persons at any of the places aforesaid
on the same knowledge and proof of their being common thieves or pick-
pockets as provided in the preceding section, and the sai'd justice shall com-
mit or bail such persons on the same knowledge or proof Any person con-
victed in any county on the line of said roads with being a common pick-
pocket shall be punished by fine or imprisonment in the jail of the county
for the same time and in the same amount as provided in the preceding
section; and all the provisions of the preceding sections shall apply to all
cases under this section, except so far as altered by this section.
See note to sec. 581.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 494. 1912, sec. 446. 1904, sec. 394. 1888, sec. 257. 1864, ch. 38.

583. Any person convicted in any county of this State of the offense
of being a common thief or common pickpocket shall be fined and im-
prisoned in the county jail for the same amount or time as provided in
section 581, and the provisions of said section shall apply to this section,
except so far as altered by this section.

See note to sec. 581.

Threats and Threatening Letters.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 495. 1912, sec. 447. 1904, sec. 395. 1896, ch. 396, sec. 257A.

584. Every person who shall knowingly send or deliver, or shall make,
and, for the purpose of being delivered or sent, shall part with the pos-
session of any letter or writing with or without a name subscribed thereto,
or signed with a fictitious name, or with any letter, mark or other designa-
tion, threatening therein to accuse any person of any crime of an indictable
nature under the laws of this State, or of anything, which, if true, would
bring such person into contempt or disrepute or to do any injury to the
person or property of anyone, with a view or intent to extort or gain any
money, goods or chattels or other valuable thing shall be guilty of felony,
and being convicted thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the
penitentiary for not less than two nor more than ten years.

Indictment under this section need not set out name of the person to whom the
threatening letter was sent. The sentence of traverser to ten years in the penitentiary
under this section is not a cruel and unusual punishment. Several counts in an indict-
ment relating to same transaction, upheld. A variance denied. A confession held
voluntary. Alleged objectionable argument of state's attorney. Instruction to jury
at their request after they have retired to their room. Toomer v. State, 112 Md. 285.

¹ Station house justice.