Long v. State
| Decision Date | 24 March 1891 |
| Citation | 21 A. 683,73 Md. 527 |
| Parties | LONG v. STATE. |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Appeal from criminal court of Baltimore city.
Argued before ALVEY, C.J., and IRVING, ROBINSON, BRYAN, BRISCOE MILLER, MCSHERRY, and FOWLER, JJ.
Benjamin Kurtz, for appellant.
Atty. Gen. Whyte and Charles G. Kerr, for the State.
The appellant was indicted in the criminal court of Baltimore city for violating section 185, art. 27, of the Code of Public General Laws, which provides "that no person or body corporate shall be permitted, either directly or indirectly, by agent or otherwise, to barter, sell, or trade or to offer for barter, sale, or trade, by any publication or in any way, any wares, goods, or merchandise of any description in package or bulk, holding out as an inducement for any such barter, sale, or trade any scheme or device by way of gift enterprise of any kind or character whatever." The indictment contained two counts. In the first the appellant was charged with unlawfully selling merchandise in a package, to-wit, coffee, holding out as an inducement for such sale a certain scheme or device by way of a gift enterprise; and the second count charges him with keeping a certain place or house for selling lottery tickets. To this indictment the appellant demurred, upon the ground that the act of 1886, c. 480, upon which the said indictment is based, is unconstitutional and void, and, the court having overruled this demurrer, the appellee abandoned the second count, which related to the sale of lottery tickets, and elected to stand upon the first count. The case was tried before the court without a jury, and the appellant was found guilty on the first count; but as appears by the record no final judgment has been entered and, the demurrer not being before us, the only question presented is as to the admissibility of the testimony excepted to, which is as follows: "That the defendant, Long, kept a general grocery store at No. 1731 Pennsylvania avenue, known as the 'Northern Central Supply Store;' that on the 19th day of September, 1890, the witness Reilly purchased at said store from the witness Clark, [the latter being a clerk in the employ of the defendant,] for the sum of twenty-five cents each, three one-pound packages of ground coffee, called the 'Big Bonanza Coffee;' that on each of said packages so purchased was pasted a blue slip of paper, about three-quarters of an inch wide, and...
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