The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-02-28
HARD TO BE LAW ABIDING.

IuSIe are lnlngS tnat one may not own
or have IN his or her possession, how
ever innocent may be the intents,
says the Chicago Tribune, Posses
sion frequently may mean legal en-
tanglement and State or National
Government must be reckoued with.
! For instance, garden full of Can
ada thistles is calculated to make a
deal of trouble for the owner of the
| ground, even though he may not
know Canada thistle from currant
bush. These thistles are persona non
g'rafa in the United States generally,
and substantial fine awaits the per-
son who allows the weed to grow
upon ground under his control. The
hopelessness of ever growing figs off
them has put them beyond the pale
Of federation.
A mocking bird in a cage anywhere
IN Illinois is trouble maker for the
average citizen; likewise the scarlet
most any other of the wild birds
which do not come within the limits
of the "open season" law regulating
the hunting of game birds. You may
have in your possession, alive or dead,
crow, crow blackbird and any vari-
ETY. of hawk but the owls are pro-
tected at all seasons and all the other
non game birds.
Squirrels may not be imprisoned in
cages, however entertaining they may
be in their little treadmills. In many
ways the birds and the small beasts
of the Illinois woods and prairies have
been protected, and the possession of
most of them at any season of the
year is distinct violation of the stat
utes.
1t is not good thing for the citi-
zen to make a collection of burglars
tools, however scientific may be this
study of the criminal classes, for in
the mere possession of them the law
comedies that the holder has ulterior
motives regarding them. At any
rate, it requires a good round sum to
make such collection, as frequently
a single tool out of kit may cost
$25. If some burglar should be scar
ed out of your house, leaving his kit
or any portion of it, a safe place in
which to put it is the nearest police
station.
+ If you are smoker and buy cigars
It without breaking the stamp with
which it is sealed. If you are deal
er, too, it is bad for you to make a
sale by lifting the cigars out of the
box in your fingers, for the United
States Government wishes it to be
known of all men when a revenue
stamp is or is not broken, and in the
lifting out of the box it has guaran-
tee that the stamp has been destroyed.
The United States Government will
make trouble for you if you have any
portions of brewing or distilling
| plant. Beer vats and distilling ket-
ties may not be used for any other
purpose than brewing and distilling,
and if a person should go only so far
as to make bathtub out of one or
the other of them he would be incur
ring the displeasure of his Govern
ment.
Possession of counterfeit money is
a felony. 1t is presumed that man,
woman or child should be able to de-
termine whether a coin or bill is gen.
uine, and the attempt to pass it may
be followed by extreme consequences.
In case of doubt on the part of the
possessor he may present the coin or
bill at the redemption window in the
Sub Treasury, where, if it proves to
be counterfeit, the clerk will stamp
the word counterfeit deep into the
coin and clearly through the bill, and
you who have brought it there will
have not one word to say against it.
If you should be at a country rail-
road station and see mail pouch ly-
ing on a rail where the incoming
train would cut it in two you would
better let it lie. Touching a pouch
of the United States mail with even
foot is technical crime, and it is
altogether owing to the disposition of
the postmaster and the United States
Marshal of the district how much
trouble may be made for you.
Fifteen years ago, in town not
many miles from Chicago, the mes
senger from the station to the post
Office was notoriously lax in his work,
and the postmaster showed no dispo-
sition to improve the service. Two
citizens unfamiliar with the postal
laws undertook to teach the two of
them a lesson. One winter evening,
when a o'clock train had dropped
pouch on the platform and gone on,
these two men picked up the pouch
and carried it around the corner of
the station building, where it was not
found for an hour. They were ar
rested next day and brought before
the postal authorities, where, after a
stern lecture, they were let go.
Altogether the Postal Department
has some stringent regulations. If
you receive letter from friend on
which the stamp is not Cancelled it is
against specific statue for you to pluck
off the stamp and use it again. There
are several kinds of vigorous LAM
guage which you cannot transmit by
letter.
While one may not touch mail
pouch, it is different with letter
which carrier has delivered at the
address on the envelope. Dropping
the letter at the place marked, the
carrier absolves his Government from
any other responsibility, and if, after
the letter has been so delivered, an
other person takes it and opens it,
there is no recourse through the Post
Office Department.
Carrying concealed deadly weapons
almost universally is against the pro-
visions of both State statues and city