J. MILLARD TAWES, GOVERNOR                                977

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 pickpocket 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] Municipal Court judge 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 con-
viction or charge of or for being a common thief or pickpocket shall
prevent any such person from being tried and convicted for any
particular act of larcency he may have committed.

Sec. 19. And be it further enacted, That Article 27 of the Anno-
tated Code of Maryland (1957 Edition), title "Crimes and Punish-
ments," Section 559, be and it is hereby repealed and reenacted,
with amendments, to read as follows:

§ 559. On railroads.

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 Cen-
tral Railroad, or on the line of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and
Baltimore Railroad, 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] before
any judge of the Municipal Court of Baltimore City; and such
justice or judge shall on proof as provided in § 558 of this article
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 railway 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 pickpockets as provided in § 558, and the said justice or judge
shall commit or bail such persons on the same knowledge or proof.
Any person convicted in any county on the line of said roads with
being a common pickpocket 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 § 558; and all the provisions of § 558 shall apply to
all cases under this section, except so far as altered by this section.