Thе appellant was found guilty at a trial by the court in the Criminal Court of Baltimore of storehouse breaking with intent to steal goods of the value of $100 and upwards and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 7 years to run concur *207 rently with a sentence he was then serving. 1 On appeal from the judgment he contends that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain his conviction and that his arrest was illegal.
The corpus delicti of the crime was proved by a stipulation that Louis Patti would testify that hе was the owner of the storehouse designated in the indictment; that he closed the storehouse about 9:30 P.M. on 14 September 1967; that all the windows and doors were secured; that the inventory therein was in excess of $100; that he was notified to come to the storehouse later that evening and when he did so found that the front door had been forced open; that a safe of the value of $50, containing $2268 had been taken from the premises; and that the safe and money had been subsequently recovered.
Evidence adduced at the tidal showed that Richard Wood, who was in his house about a block from the storehouse, heard a loud noise the evening of 14 September. He went to the door and saw somebody run down the street, get in a white 1959 Chevrolet convertible, double parked directly across frоm his house, and drive away. A few minutes later he saw the car “parked right at the side door” of the storehouse. The door of the storehouse was ajar and “it was four fellows there, they dropped something into the trunk of the automobile.” They were white men. They closed the trunk, two of them left in the automobile, two of them ran down the street. Although it was nighttime, there was “a big light.” He called the police relаting what he had seen and giving a description of the car. He was not able to identify the men nor did he obtain the license number of the car, but he identified a photograph as that of the car he saw.
*208 Officer Ned K. Schleig received a call about 10:42 P.M. on 14 September and arrived at the scene about 30 seconds thereafter. He talked to Wood, who was familiar with the storehouse, cheсked the building, observed that a safe usually behind a counter was missing and got a description of the car from Wood and learned from Wood that he saw three white men putting something in the trunk, one got in the pаssenger side of the car which then drove away and two of the men ran. He had stopped a 1959 white Chevrolet convertible about 8:45 P.M. that evening in the vicinity of the storehouse and noted the licensе number — EW 9188. At that time Hale was driving the car and Skarzinski and Savalino were passengers. He put a description of the car and the license number on the police radio and at 11:00 P.M. received a call that the car had been stopped. Officer Edmund Lubinski, acting on information he had received on the police radio, stopped a 1959 Chevrolet convertible, license No. EW 9188 about 10:42 P.M. at Bоston and Aliceanna Streets, approximately 6 blocks from the storehouse. 2 Skarzinski was operating the car, and Hale was in the right front seat, Bona was in the left rear and Savalino in the right rear. Thеy were arrested and the car was searched. A blank starter pistol, a crowbar, a maul wrapped with masking tape and a safe (later identified by the owner of the storehouse as the one taken from his premises) were found in the car. The safe was opened at the police station and found to contain $2268. The records of the Department of Motor Vehicles showed that thе automobile was titled in the name of Franklin Delano Hale.
On appeal Hale raises the question of the legality of his arrest, although he states that the question was not raised below. We see from the record, however, that Hale’s attorney made objection to the introduction in evidence of the articles found in the automobile. As the articles seized were properly admissible оnly if the search by which they were obtained was
*209
reasonable, and as the search here would be reasonable only if incident to a legal arrest, the question is properly before us. See Md. Rulеs, 729c;
McCarthy v. State, 2
Md. App. 400;
Randolph v.
State,
The thrust of the аppellant’s argument in contending that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain the conviction is that there was no evidence specifically identifying him as one of those who broke the storehouse and stole the safe. But possession of the safe, recently stolen from the storehouse, was enough to give rise not only to the inference of fact that the possessor was the thief, but would аlso support an inference that as the possessor the appellant was a principal in the breaking of the storehouse with an intent to steal the safe.
Reagan v. State, 2
Md. App. 262,
Boggs v. State,
Judgment affirmed.
Notes
. Joseph D. Savalino, Stanley G. Skarzinski and Anthony F. Bona were also indicted with the appellant on 17 October 1967. Savalino and Bona were tried with the appellant. Each was cоnvicted and each was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 7 years to run concurrently with the sentence he was then serving. Bona noted an appeal but subsequently withdrew it. Recognizance had been taken as to all four of the accused but bail as to Skarzinski was ordered forfeited on 2 January 1968 and a bench warrant issued on 23 January. On 21 March he surrendered in open court. The record before us does not disclose the disposition of hís case.
. The lower court sustained an objection to a question as to what information was received on the police radio. While it would have been admissible on the issue of probable cause for the arrest,
Viehmeyer v. State, 3
Md. App. 702,
Darby v. State,
. The correct citation is
Pointer v. State,