528 CITY OF BALTIMORE. [ART. 4.

convicted in the criminal court of Baltimore, of being a common
thief or common pickpocket, shall be imprisoned in jail not more
than two years nor less than six months, and be fined not more
than one hundred dollars; but if any person is arrested a second
time, or more, for such offence, he shall be convicted only on
proof that he has continued to be a common thief or pickpocket
for at least one month 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 evi-
dence 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 discre-
tion in any police officer or justice of the peace to discharge or
release any person who is by such proof before them, or knowl-
edge 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 con-
victed for any particular act of larceny he may have committed.
World v. State, 50 Md. 49.

1864, ch. 38.

759t 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 railroad, or on the line of the Philadelphia, Wilmington
and Baltimore railroad, 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 road, 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
any station house justice of the city of Baltimore; and such justice
shall, on proof, as provided in the preceding section, commit or
bail such person for trial before the circuit court of 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 railway companies, and all con-