The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-01-17
MOVE ALONG,
YOU TR AMPS!.
That IS What Halscy's Vagrant
Law Says in IF
feet.
WON'T WORK l,' < CAN'T IAN LIVE.
lIoboes and Bcggars Had Better
See Vir.ginia's Historic
Sights and Go.
WONT WORK, CAN'T LIVE

The influx OF hoboes. tramps, Migrants,
beggars, idlers, drones, buns and dead
beats into this State will be materially
diminished as soon as the Hnlsoy va
grant law Is in full force. This statute,
modelled on the Georgia vagrant law
which has stood the test Of experience,
Is the most drastic measure on the sub
jcct yet enacted.
The act Is entitled q bill to amend
sections SS4 and $500 the Code In re-
lation to vagrancy, so ns TO define who
victed Of vagrancy as for a
rnIsdemeanor, and to repeal section Sss
Of the Code.
The measure thus defines Migrants
within the purview Of the law:
First.-All persons who shall unlaw.
fully return into any county or corpora
ton whence they have been legally re-
moved
Second. ALI persons who. not having
wherewith to maintain themselves and
their families, live idly and without
employment, and refuse to work for the
usual and common wages given to other
lnborcrs In the like work in the place
where they then are.
Thlrd.-Persons wandering or strolllnB
about In idlcness who are able to work
and have no property to support them.
Fourth.-Persons leading an idle, inn
moral or prohigate life, who have no
property to support them, and who are
able to work, and do not work
Tifth.-All ablo bodied persons found
begging for living. or who quit their
houses and leave their wives or children
ttI,o !, r,f ihciu
sixth.-All persons who shall come
from any place without this Con,mon-
wealth to any place within 1t and shall
be found lettering and residing therein
and shall follow no labor. trade, occupa-
ton or business, and have no visible
means OF subsistence, and can give no
/; reasonable account OF themselves or
their business In such place.
II seventh.-All persons having fixed
abode who have no visible property to
support them, and who live by stealing
or by trading or bartering stolen pro-
perty.
Eighth.-All persons who are able to
work and who do not work, but hire
out their minor children and live upon.
their wages. 2g3 a5
THE PUNISHMENT.
( Sec. SS5. 1t shall be- and IS hereby,
made the duty Of the sheriff and consta-
r.
sergeants or other like officials In every
city and town in this State to give in
formation under. oathpsto any officer em-
powered by law to Issue criminal war
rents OF all Migrants within. their know
ledge or persons whom they have good
reason to suspect of being Migrants in
their respective coun ties. cities and
towns; and thereupon, or upon the COM
plant OF any person upon oath. the said
officer shall issue warrant for the
arrest Of the person alleged to be n
vagrant, and he shall be brought before
any magistrate having jurisdiction Of
mis- demeanors within said county city
or town, and upon conviction shall be
punished as for a misdemeanor: provid-
ed, however, that the magistrate may.
in his discretion or the court before
which the case may be tried on appeal
may in its discretion, permit such per-
son SO convicted to give bond, with
cecding five hundred dollars nor less
than one hundred dollars. conditioned
upon his future industry and good con-
duct for one year, and upon giving such
bond. such person shall be set at liberty
without undergoing the punishment I'M
posed by his convictions: and provided
further, that 1t shall be a sufficient de-
tense to the charge OF vagrancy under
this and the preceding section that the
defendant has made bona fide efforts
to obtain employment at reasonable
prices for his labor and has failed to
obtain the same.
Section $50 Of the Code OF Virginia
is hereby repealed
g. This act shall be In force from Its
passage