Long v. State

Fowler, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellant was indicted in the Criminal Court of Baltimore City for violating section 185, Article 27, of ⁵²⁸ the Code of Public G-eneral 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, or the offer of the same, any scheme or device by way of gift enterprises of any kind or character whatsoever. ” 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, chapter 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 stor.e at No. 1131 Pennsylvania avenue, known as the ‘Northern Central Supply Store;’ that on the 19th day of September, 1890, the witness Reilly purchased at said