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SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assem-
bly of Maryland, That in all cases hereafter, where
free negroes shall be convicted of the crime of
simple larceny, to the value of five dollars and
upwards, or as accessory thereto before the fact,
they shall be sentenced to be sold at public sale
as slaves for the period of not less than two nor
more than five years. First, and every free ne-
gro who shall be convicted of robbery, may in
the discretion of the court, be either sentenced
to confinement in the penitentiary, as now pro-
vided by law, or be sold either within or be-
yond the limits of the State, as a slave for the
period of ten years. Second, and if any free ne-
gro shall hereafter be convicted of feloniously
stealing, taking or carrying away any horse,
mare, colt or gelding, ass or mule, or being ac-
cessory thereto, before or after the fact, shall in
the discretion of the court before whom he shall
be convicted, be sentenced to be sold, either
within or beyond the limits of the State, for a
period not less than two nor more than fourteen
years. Third, and every free negro who shall
be hereafter convicted of wilfully and maliciously
stabbing, killing, wounding or destroying any
horse, mare, colt, gelding, ass or mule, not the
property of such free negro, and not in the act
of trespassing on his enclosures, shall be sen-
tenced to be sold as a slave for a period of not
less than two years, nor more than four years.
Fourth, and every free negro who shall here-
after be convicted of stealing any vessel, out of
any place within the borders of any county or
on the Chesapeake bay, and within the jurisdic-
tion of the State of Maryland, or of the crime
of feloniously taking and carrying away any ne-
gro or other slave, or of the crime of counsel-
ling, hiring, aiding or abetting, any person or
persons to commit either of said offences, or of
the crime of being accessory thereto, shall be
sentenced to be sold in the discretion of the court,
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Free negroes
convicted of
crime how pun-
ished.
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