CHAPTERCLXIX.SKETCH OF THE CONVICT’S CAREER.The life of the hero of this work was, as already indicated, full of strange incidents, which have been duly chronicled during the progress of this history. We subjoin a brief epitome of his career:—“His father, who started in business as a shoemaker, after a wandering life spent at fairs and wakes, was residing in Nursery-street, Sheffield, on the 14th of May, 1832, the day when Charles Peace was born.“The lad was sent to school in the town, but did not make much progress, and revealed a strong taste for constructing various articles rather than for learning.“On leaving school he went to work at a rolling mill, and was there crippled in the leg by a piece of heated steel. In 1853, when a young man, he had gained great proficiency as a performer on the violin, and in company with a number of amateur theatricals, appeared at Worksop as ‘The Modern Paganini.’“At this time, notwithstanding his lameness, he excelled in physical exercises, and was so courageous that he once seized an enraged bull-dog, and beat it until the animal was stunned.“His first robbery was committed at Mount View, in Sheffield, and for that offence he was sent to gaol for a month. On his liberation he began to associate with thieves, and soon became notorious as a portico robber.“In 1854 he broke into three gentlemen’s residences at Sheffield, gaining admittance by climbing the portico, and carried off large quantities of jewellery.“Caught again, he was tried and sentenced to four years’ penal servitude. Having served that term, he resumed his old life of fiddling and thieving, and in the course of his strolling met Hannah Ward, whom he is alleged to have married.“Soon after his marriage he went to Manchester, and whilst committing a burglary at Rusholme, on the 11th of August, 1859, was captured, after a desperate resistance, and again sentenced to penal servitude, this time to six years.“In the summer of 1864, however, he was again free, and commenced business in Sheffield; but it did not flourish, and he returned to Manchester, where he got into trouble about another burglary, and was sent into penal servitude for a further term of ten years.“In prison he was mixed up in a mutiny, flogged, and then sent to Gibraltar. But his sentence was commuted to six years, and on the 9th of August, 1872, he returned once more to Sheffield, where for some time he worked industriously as a picture-framer, and lived apparently a most exemplary life, sending his children to the Sunday school.“About this time his hand was injured by a pistol shot, one of his fingers being blown off; but the injury did not materially interfere with his business, which he continued on his removal to Darnall.“Whilst living in Britannia-road there, he met the Dyson’s; forced himself upon their society; pryed into their affairs, and made himself so objectionable that Mr. Dyson wrote on one of his visiting cards, ‘Charles Peace is requested not to interfere with my family,’ and threw it into Peace’s garden.“Peace was furious; he sought out Mr. Dyson, tried to trip him up by the heels, and the same night, confronting Mrs. Dyson, revolver in hand, threatened to blow out her brains and her husband’s too. A warrant was taken out against him; he escaped to Hull, but returned to Sheffield again on the 25th of October, 1876, when he threatened to annoy Mrs. Dyson ‘wherever she went.’“On that day the Dysons had removed from Darnall to Bannercross, specially to escape his disagreeable visits; but Peace followed them there, and meeting Mr. Dyson near his new abode took out his revolver with the intention of shooting him at that time if Mr. Dyson had offered to molest him.“Peace returned to Hull, and turned his wife and family out of doors because his daughter ventured to bring up the name of Mrs. Dyson in conversation. He then wandered to Manchester, and back again to Sheffield, where, on the night of the 28th of November, 1876, he alleges that he had another interview with Mrs. Dyson.“The next morning, the 29th, he visited his mother, and later in the day had an interview with theRev.E. Newman, at Ecclesall Vicarage, to whom he told a most extraordinary story of his wrongs, and accused the Dysons of destroying his home happiness.“The same night, shortly after eight o’clock, Peace shot Mr. Dyson. He concealed himself in the yard behind the house at Bannercross, and watched Mrs. Dyson go into a closet. When she opened the door he stood before her with a revolver in his hand, and said, ‘Speak, or I’ll fire.’“The woman, greatly terrified, gave a loud shriek, and, stepping back into the closet, slammed the door, which she closed. Mr. Dyson immediately came out of the house, and Mrs. Dyson hearing his footsteps left the closet, and saw her husband follow Peace across the passage. Suddenly she saw the man turn and fire at her husband.“Mr. Dyson, a powerful man, 6 feet 6 inches in height, was undeterred by the shot, and still pursued Peace, who, on reaching the steps at the end of the passage, again faced round, fired his revolver, and Mr. Dyson fell, shot in the left temple, the bullet penetrating to the brain.“‘Murder! you villain—you have shot my husband!’ shouted Mrs. Dyson, who was found by the neighbours supporting her husband’s head. Peace escaped across the fields, and Mr. Dyson died two hours afterwards. Although not certain as to the result of his firing, Peace felt it necessary to get out of the way as soon as possible, and, cutting across the country, he arrived at another suburb of the town.“In the meantime he slipped an indiarubber band over his head, confining his long white beard closely under his chin, and, putting on a muffler, gave himself the appearance of a man with a short beard.“Taking a cab, he rode into the centre of the town, and, after bidding good-bye to his mother and a brother, he walked to Attercliffe-road station and went to Rotherham. From another station he went on to York the same evening, and a day or two afterwards turned up at Hull, where his wife was keeping an eating-house.“No sooner had he entered than the detectives came up to inquire for him. He hastily ran upstairs, and, getting out of a bedroom window, climbed up a spout and got upon the roof.“When the coast was clear he returned and had dinner, but was again forced to fly to the roof by another visit from the detectives. He escaped at dark, and then assumed that disguise which first deceived his relatives and subsequently enabled him to elude the vigilance of some of the cleverest detectives in the country.“Finding the police were on his track he left Hull in a roundabout way, and wandered about the country for nearly six weeks. Once he travelled with a police-sergeant, and fraternised with him in the train.“On another occasion he ostentatiously read to a police officer the bill offering a reward of £100 for his capture. Early in January he turned up at Nottingham, and, taking lodgings in a low quarter of the town, he commenced burglarious operations.“It was here that he formed the acquaintance of Mrs. Thompson, and after living with her for a short time in Nottingham they went to Hull, and lodged in the house of a police sergeant. Whilst in Hull Peace made considerable stir, and on two occasions was very nearly caught.“His first ‘work’ was on a Saturday night. He had broken into a villa residence, and collected a number of articles of value, when the front door opened, and two ladies and two gentlemen entered. He hastened to the first landing, and found to his surprise that the people were coming upstairs. He took energetic measures.“Drawing his revolver, he fired over the balustrade into the ceiling, and the people, frightened out of their wits, fell downstairs, and Peace escaped through the garden. One of the gentlemen pursued him, but was fired at by Peace, who got safely away.“On another occasion Peace was stopped by a policeman as he was leaving a house with some booty. The constable asked Peace what he was doing there, and Peace immediately fired at him. The officer fled precipitately, and Peace again got away. Shortly afterwards, finding a constable drunk on his beat, Peace entered six houses in one row, and finished a successful season by a large robbery of plate at the house of Mr. Ansell, a member of the Town Council.“Returning to Nottingham, he committed several daring robberies, the last of which was a most successful silk robbery, and for the detection of the thief in which case a reward of £50 was offered.“The police got a clue, and going to the place where he was staying, found Peace and Mrs. Thompson in bed.“Peace told the officer that he was a hawker, and offered to show him his licence if he would go down stairs. No sooner, however, had the officer left the room than Peace escaped through the window, and subsequently went back with Mrs. Thompson to Hull.“Peace next moved to London, and took a miserable room in Stangate-street, Lambeth. Here he was ostensibly carrying on the business of a dealer in musical instruments, but it was at this period that his most successful burglaries were committed.“Breaking into a villa at Denmark-hill, he found a large safe in one of the lower rooms, but not being an expert at opening safes, he went upstairs into the master’s bedroom and took his keys out of his trousers pockets as they lay on the bed.“He took from the safe all the family plate, and obtained for it in Petticoat-lane no less than £250. Soon afterwards he realised £200 by a burglary at Southampton. The greater part of this was in money and the remainder in Bank of England notes. Subsequently he removed to Greenwich, and brought Hannah Peace, his reputed wife, and her son Willie Ward, to live with him.“Hannah Peace and Mrs. Thompson soon quarrelled, and the family removed to Peckham, where they lived in good style atNo.5, Evalina-road. This was a pretty little villa standing in its own grounds. There were two entrances to the premises—a small gateway leading to the front steps and a carriage entrance.“The front door opened into a moderate-sized hall, and a large drawing-room communicated by means of folding doors, with a spacious sitting-room behind. The house was well furnished throughout, and, indeed, at the time that Peace took it he must have been possessed of a considerable amount of ready money.“In the drawing-room were a number of nicknacks, and in the different rooms there were several good pianos and violins. Peace made a number of improvements to the outside of the house, and the ‘Thompsons’ came to be regarded by the residents as their ‘carriage neighbours.’“Here Peace set up a pony and trap, and in the afternoon he used to ride out and mark the houses which he thought likely for ‘business.’ At night he would go out and enter the houses, and the pony and trap, which was waiting for him somewhere in the neighbourhood, was driven home at a most furious pace, the proceeds of the burglaries being concealed in the cart.“It is believed that here he did some good business, but in spite of the fact that he had two women and a young man living with him very little is known of his actual operations. He had some trouble with the women. Mrs. Thompson drank, and Mrs. Peace was jealous, but Peace had no fear of treachery, and he continued most successfully his burglarious career.“He received regular visits from the receiver of stolen goods, who used to take back good bargains from Evalina-road. At one time Peace endeavoured to melt down the plate he obtained to render its disposal more easy, but this attempt he soon gave up as likely to attract the attention of the neighbours.“Thus he lived until the 10th October last year, when he was so pluckily captured by Police-constable Robinson. The officer detected him in a burglary in the house of Mr. Burness, atSt.John’s Park, Blackheath, and, calling the assistance of two other officers, a most determined and prompt effort was made to capture the man who had terrified South East London by his nocturnal robberies, and brought down a storm of reprobation upon the police.No.97.Illustration: PEACE AFTER HIS INTERVIEWPEACE AFTER HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE REV. MR. LITTLEWOOD.“Robinson saw him leaving the house and chased him across the garden. Peace drew a revolver and fired five times, the last shot wounding the officer severely in the elbow, but Robinson stuck to his man, and the other officers coming he was secured.“The news of his arrest soon reached his people in Evelina-road, and the house was stripped of almost everything in a few days. Furniture was sold, and the proceeds of burglaries were removed to Nottingham and Sheffield.“Then Mrs. Thompson, under pressure, informed the police who their prisoner really was, and whilst the London officers were congratulating themselves on having caught a most successful burglar, the Sheffield police were equally satisfied that the Bannercross murderer was in custody.“An officer was despatched to America to find Mrs. Dyson, the widow of the murdered man, and before he returned, Peace, Under the alias of John Ward, had been sentenced to penal servitude for life for the attack on Robinson. No time was lost in bringing Peace to trial for the graver offence, and on the 17th January he was taken to Sheffield for his preliminary examination.“He was remanded on this occasion, and he was being taken from Pentonville to Sheffield on the following Wednesday when he made that daring attempt to escape or to commit suicide. He was being conveyed to Sheffield under the charge of two warders, and whilst the train was running at the rate of fifty miles an hour between Retford and Sheffield, Peace suddenly jumped out of the window.“One of the warders dashed forward and seized him by one foot as he almost flew through the window. He thus had but insecure hold of the convict, who appeared to be almost mad with rage that his attempt had been foiled, and struggled wildly to escape from the officer’s grasp.“With his left leg he savagely kicked the officer’s hands, and with his manacled hands grasped the footboard and endeavoured to free his right foot. The other warder, in the meantime, was unable to get to the window, and Peace’s boot coming off, he fell on the footboard of the carriage with his head, and bounded off that into the up line.“The train was stopped after running about a mile, and Peace was found lying insensible where he fell. He had received a severe wound at the back of the head, and was so much shaken that he could not be brought before the magistrates that day, and was remanded.“On the following day a note was found upon him containing the words:—‘Bury me at Darnall. God bless you all. C. Peace.’ This, he said, he wrote in Pentonville, because finding that he could not escape he had determined to commit suicide.“He was sent for trial at the Leeds Assizes, and was then sentenced to death after trial before Mr. Justice Lopes. After his removal to the condemned cell he had paid great attention to the administrations of the chaplain, and was described as having been really penitent and resigned to his fate.“He also carried on a voluminous correspondence, letters frequently passing between him and his family and Mrs. Thompson. The latter, after having handed him over to justice, most persistently sought an interview with him, but was not allowed by the authorities to see him.“One of the most extraordinary events in connection with Peace’s career was his confesssion of the Whalley Range murder. A young man, named Habron, was then undergoing penal servitude for the crime, which Peace stated he himself committed.“The murder occurred on the 1st of August, 1876. It was at the time when Peace had the Sheffield warrant hanging over him. He had packed up his housebreaking implements, and left Sheffield for Hull and Manchester in July.“Arriving in Manchester he committed several burglaries, and on the night of the 1st of August, he went to the house of Mr. Gatrix, at West Point, Whalley Range, to break into it.“As he was going towards the house he was seen by Mr. Simpson, a law student, and police-constables Cock and Beanland.“Peace, followed by Beanland, crossed the grounds, and, jumping over a wall into the street, alighted close against Police-constable Cock, who was watching there.“The officer tried to arrest him, and Peace fired to frighten him; but Cock endeavoured to apprehend him. Peace then shot the constable in the chest, and escaped before the arrival of Beanland, who remained in the grounds seeking the burglar. Three brothers named Habron, who were employed at a market gardener’s near, were suspected of the murder, and two of them, John and William, were committed for trial.“At the Assizes, which took place on the 27th and 28th ofNov., William Habron was found guilty, and sentenced to death, but John was acquitted. A petition was got up on behalf of William Habron, and his sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life. Not long afterwards Peace, under a pledge of secrecy, told his relatives what he had done, and expressed a wish that he could get the young man liberated without implicating himself.“A few days after he had been sentenced to death at Leeds for the murder of Mr. Dyson, he drew plans showing the locality at West Point, Whalley Range, indicated the spot where the murder was committed, and also wrote a confession of the crime. His plans and confession were forwarded to the Home Office. Peace had a final interview with his brother Daniel and various other relatives on Saturday.“Though physically prostrate, and suffering much from emotion, the convict expressed himself as prepared to meet his fate, and earnestly enjoined his friends to lead religious and virtuous lives.”As a supplement to the above we add the following details of Peace’s early crimes.“Having recovered from the two years’ illness caused by his accident at Kelham Rolling Mills, he had been in the service of Mr. Edward Smith, and had after that become, under the tuition of one Bethley, a player on the violin at public-houses.“There is a tradition that soon after this, having had a quarrel with his sister, he slept out, in an empty house, was caught, and got a month’s imprisonment therefor.“Whether this be so or not, the next glimpse we get of him is making a highly promising commencement in his future profession. He was charged at the Sheffield Sessions on Saturday,Dec.13, 1851, along with George Campbell, with breaking into the house of Mrs. Catherine Ward, Mount View, [the mother of the then Mayor of Sheffield] and stealing two pistols, a mahogany box, a bullet mould, and other articles. An entrance had apparently been effected by climbing upon the balcony and opening the bedroom window.“The only property missing was a case containing Mrs. Ward’s jewels, a case containing a brace of rifle pistols, and a silk dress. The prisoners were afterwards found dealing with the pistols; Campbell was discharged, while Peace, who received a good character for honesty from his late employer, got one month’s imprisonment.“This robbery shows how closely Peace adhered to themodus operandiadopted thus early, and it fixes his then age (19).“A CROP OF BURGLARIES IN 1854—FOUR YEARS’ PENAL SERVITUDE.“During the subsequent years 1852-3-4, he was continuing his musical services at public-houses, and becoming familiar with company no better than it should be.“In the autumn of 1854 he was carrying on a daring game of house robbery, and from a report in the papers it appeared that on the 13th of October, 1854, Charles Peace, Mary Ann Niel, his sister, and Emma James were placed in the dock of the Town Hall to answer several charges of felony.“James had offered a pair of boots in pledge at the shop of Messrs. Wright, Westbar, and on her being detained on suspicion, Peace came forward and claimed the boots, and was given into custody.“In Peace’s mother’s house in Bailey-field, there was found a large quantity of jewellery and wearing apparel (including crape shawls, silk dresses,&c.), the proceeds of robberies effected at the residences of H. E. Hoole,Esq., Crookes Moor House; R. Stuart,Esq., Brincliffe Edge; Mr. G. F. Platt, Priory Villa, Sharrow-lane; and Mr. Brown, Broomhall-street.“The houses of all these parties had been robbed by effecting an entrance through the bedroom windows in the evening before the windows were closed and fastened for the night. At Mr. Hoole’s the thief had climbed the portico, and from Mr. Stuart’s a good deal of jewellery had been stolen.“The prisoners were clearly proved to have been in possession of this property. The defence raised does not place in a very amiable light the affection subsisting between the sister and that brother, who used to avenge the wrongs she sustained at her husband’s hands. Each accused the other of being the culprit.“At the sessions at Doncaster (October, 20, 1854), Peace (who was undefended) said that a watchmaker named Bethley in Division-street, had kept his sister (Niel) for some years, and she had had three children by him. Bethley, not having given her any money lately, sent the jewellery and a bundle of wearing apparel by him to her, instead of money. Peace was sentenced to four years’ penal servitude, and the female prisoners each to six months’ imprisonment.“Peace was described in the calendar at that time as being twenty-two years of age. The mention of Bethley’s name will remind our readers that he was the person who instructed Peace in the art of violin playing, and Mrs. Niel’s connection with the case does not shed much lustre on the family annals. She died we may add by way of completing her history, on the 2nd April, 1859, age 33.
The life of the hero of this work was, as already indicated, full of strange incidents, which have been duly chronicled during the progress of this history. We subjoin a brief epitome of his career:—
“His father, who started in business as a shoemaker, after a wandering life spent at fairs and wakes, was residing in Nursery-street, Sheffield, on the 14th of May, 1832, the day when Charles Peace was born.
“The lad was sent to school in the town, but did not make much progress, and revealed a strong taste for constructing various articles rather than for learning.
“On leaving school he went to work at a rolling mill, and was there crippled in the leg by a piece of heated steel. In 1853, when a young man, he had gained great proficiency as a performer on the violin, and in company with a number of amateur theatricals, appeared at Worksop as ‘The Modern Paganini.’
“At this time, notwithstanding his lameness, he excelled in physical exercises, and was so courageous that he once seized an enraged bull-dog, and beat it until the animal was stunned.
“His first robbery was committed at Mount View, in Sheffield, and for that offence he was sent to gaol for a month. On his liberation he began to associate with thieves, and soon became notorious as a portico robber.
“In 1854 he broke into three gentlemen’s residences at Sheffield, gaining admittance by climbing the portico, and carried off large quantities of jewellery.
“Caught again, he was tried and sentenced to four years’ penal servitude. Having served that term, he resumed his old life of fiddling and thieving, and in the course of his strolling met Hannah Ward, whom he is alleged to have married.
“Soon after his marriage he went to Manchester, and whilst committing a burglary at Rusholme, on the 11th of August, 1859, was captured, after a desperate resistance, and again sentenced to penal servitude, this time to six years.
“In the summer of 1864, however, he was again free, and commenced business in Sheffield; but it did not flourish, and he returned to Manchester, where he got into trouble about another burglary, and was sent into penal servitude for a further term of ten years.
“In prison he was mixed up in a mutiny, flogged, and then sent to Gibraltar. But his sentence was commuted to six years, and on the 9th of August, 1872, he returned once more to Sheffield, where for some time he worked industriously as a picture-framer, and lived apparently a most exemplary life, sending his children to the Sunday school.
“About this time his hand was injured by a pistol shot, one of his fingers being blown off; but the injury did not materially interfere with his business, which he continued on his removal to Darnall.
“Whilst living in Britannia-road there, he met the Dyson’s; forced himself upon their society; pryed into their affairs, and made himself so objectionable that Mr. Dyson wrote on one of his visiting cards, ‘Charles Peace is requested not to interfere with my family,’ and threw it into Peace’s garden.
“Peace was furious; he sought out Mr. Dyson, tried to trip him up by the heels, and the same night, confronting Mrs. Dyson, revolver in hand, threatened to blow out her brains and her husband’s too. A warrant was taken out against him; he escaped to Hull, but returned to Sheffield again on the 25th of October, 1876, when he threatened to annoy Mrs. Dyson ‘wherever she went.’
“On that day the Dysons had removed from Darnall to Bannercross, specially to escape his disagreeable visits; but Peace followed them there, and meeting Mr. Dyson near his new abode took out his revolver with the intention of shooting him at that time if Mr. Dyson had offered to molest him.
“Peace returned to Hull, and turned his wife and family out of doors because his daughter ventured to bring up the name of Mrs. Dyson in conversation. He then wandered to Manchester, and back again to Sheffield, where, on the night of the 28th of November, 1876, he alleges that he had another interview with Mrs. Dyson.
“The next morning, the 29th, he visited his mother, and later in the day had an interview with theRev.E. Newman, at Ecclesall Vicarage, to whom he told a most extraordinary story of his wrongs, and accused the Dysons of destroying his home happiness.
“The same night, shortly after eight o’clock, Peace shot Mr. Dyson. He concealed himself in the yard behind the house at Bannercross, and watched Mrs. Dyson go into a closet. When she opened the door he stood before her with a revolver in his hand, and said, ‘Speak, or I’ll fire.’
“The woman, greatly terrified, gave a loud shriek, and, stepping back into the closet, slammed the door, which she closed. Mr. Dyson immediately came out of the house, and Mrs. Dyson hearing his footsteps left the closet, and saw her husband follow Peace across the passage. Suddenly she saw the man turn and fire at her husband.
“Mr. Dyson, a powerful man, 6 feet 6 inches in height, was undeterred by the shot, and still pursued Peace, who, on reaching the steps at the end of the passage, again faced round, fired his revolver, and Mr. Dyson fell, shot in the left temple, the bullet penetrating to the brain.
“‘Murder! you villain—you have shot my husband!’ shouted Mrs. Dyson, who was found by the neighbours supporting her husband’s head. Peace escaped across the fields, and Mr. Dyson died two hours afterwards. Although not certain as to the result of his firing, Peace felt it necessary to get out of the way as soon as possible, and, cutting across the country, he arrived at another suburb of the town.
“In the meantime he slipped an indiarubber band over his head, confining his long white beard closely under his chin, and, putting on a muffler, gave himself the appearance of a man with a short beard.
“Taking a cab, he rode into the centre of the town, and, after bidding good-bye to his mother and a brother, he walked to Attercliffe-road station and went to Rotherham. From another station he went on to York the same evening, and a day or two afterwards turned up at Hull, where his wife was keeping an eating-house.
“No sooner had he entered than the detectives came up to inquire for him. He hastily ran upstairs, and, getting out of a bedroom window, climbed up a spout and got upon the roof.
“When the coast was clear he returned and had dinner, but was again forced to fly to the roof by another visit from the detectives. He escaped at dark, and then assumed that disguise which first deceived his relatives and subsequently enabled him to elude the vigilance of some of the cleverest detectives in the country.
“Finding the police were on his track he left Hull in a roundabout way, and wandered about the country for nearly six weeks. Once he travelled with a police-sergeant, and fraternised with him in the train.
“On another occasion he ostentatiously read to a police officer the bill offering a reward of £100 for his capture. Early in January he turned up at Nottingham, and, taking lodgings in a low quarter of the town, he commenced burglarious operations.
“It was here that he formed the acquaintance of Mrs. Thompson, and after living with her for a short time in Nottingham they went to Hull, and lodged in the house of a police sergeant. Whilst in Hull Peace made considerable stir, and on two occasions was very nearly caught.
“His first ‘work’ was on a Saturday night. He had broken into a villa residence, and collected a number of articles of value, when the front door opened, and two ladies and two gentlemen entered. He hastened to the first landing, and found to his surprise that the people were coming upstairs. He took energetic measures.
“Drawing his revolver, he fired over the balustrade into the ceiling, and the people, frightened out of their wits, fell downstairs, and Peace escaped through the garden. One of the gentlemen pursued him, but was fired at by Peace, who got safely away.
“On another occasion Peace was stopped by a policeman as he was leaving a house with some booty. The constable asked Peace what he was doing there, and Peace immediately fired at him. The officer fled precipitately, and Peace again got away. Shortly afterwards, finding a constable drunk on his beat, Peace entered six houses in one row, and finished a successful season by a large robbery of plate at the house of Mr. Ansell, a member of the Town Council.
“Returning to Nottingham, he committed several daring robberies, the last of which was a most successful silk robbery, and for the detection of the thief in which case a reward of £50 was offered.
“The police got a clue, and going to the place where he was staying, found Peace and Mrs. Thompson in bed.
“Peace told the officer that he was a hawker, and offered to show him his licence if he would go down stairs. No sooner, however, had the officer left the room than Peace escaped through the window, and subsequently went back with Mrs. Thompson to Hull.
“Peace next moved to London, and took a miserable room in Stangate-street, Lambeth. Here he was ostensibly carrying on the business of a dealer in musical instruments, but it was at this period that his most successful burglaries were committed.
“Breaking into a villa at Denmark-hill, he found a large safe in one of the lower rooms, but not being an expert at opening safes, he went upstairs into the master’s bedroom and took his keys out of his trousers pockets as they lay on the bed.
“He took from the safe all the family plate, and obtained for it in Petticoat-lane no less than £250. Soon afterwards he realised £200 by a burglary at Southampton. The greater part of this was in money and the remainder in Bank of England notes. Subsequently he removed to Greenwich, and brought Hannah Peace, his reputed wife, and her son Willie Ward, to live with him.
“Hannah Peace and Mrs. Thompson soon quarrelled, and the family removed to Peckham, where they lived in good style atNo.5, Evalina-road. This was a pretty little villa standing in its own grounds. There were two entrances to the premises—a small gateway leading to the front steps and a carriage entrance.
“The front door opened into a moderate-sized hall, and a large drawing-room communicated by means of folding doors, with a spacious sitting-room behind. The house was well furnished throughout, and, indeed, at the time that Peace took it he must have been possessed of a considerable amount of ready money.
“In the drawing-room were a number of nicknacks, and in the different rooms there were several good pianos and violins. Peace made a number of improvements to the outside of the house, and the ‘Thompsons’ came to be regarded by the residents as their ‘carriage neighbours.’
“Here Peace set up a pony and trap, and in the afternoon he used to ride out and mark the houses which he thought likely for ‘business.’ At night he would go out and enter the houses, and the pony and trap, which was waiting for him somewhere in the neighbourhood, was driven home at a most furious pace, the proceeds of the burglaries being concealed in the cart.
“It is believed that here he did some good business, but in spite of the fact that he had two women and a young man living with him very little is known of his actual operations. He had some trouble with the women. Mrs. Thompson drank, and Mrs. Peace was jealous, but Peace had no fear of treachery, and he continued most successfully his burglarious career.
“He received regular visits from the receiver of stolen goods, who used to take back good bargains from Evalina-road. At one time Peace endeavoured to melt down the plate he obtained to render its disposal more easy, but this attempt he soon gave up as likely to attract the attention of the neighbours.
“Thus he lived until the 10th October last year, when he was so pluckily captured by Police-constable Robinson. The officer detected him in a burglary in the house of Mr. Burness, atSt.John’s Park, Blackheath, and, calling the assistance of two other officers, a most determined and prompt effort was made to capture the man who had terrified South East London by his nocturnal robberies, and brought down a storm of reprobation upon the police.
No.97.
Illustration: PEACE AFTER HIS INTERVIEWPEACE AFTER HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE REV. MR. LITTLEWOOD.
PEACE AFTER HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE REV. MR. LITTLEWOOD.
“Robinson saw him leaving the house and chased him across the garden. Peace drew a revolver and fired five times, the last shot wounding the officer severely in the elbow, but Robinson stuck to his man, and the other officers coming he was secured.
“The news of his arrest soon reached his people in Evelina-road, and the house was stripped of almost everything in a few days. Furniture was sold, and the proceeds of burglaries were removed to Nottingham and Sheffield.
“Then Mrs. Thompson, under pressure, informed the police who their prisoner really was, and whilst the London officers were congratulating themselves on having caught a most successful burglar, the Sheffield police were equally satisfied that the Bannercross murderer was in custody.
“An officer was despatched to America to find Mrs. Dyson, the widow of the murdered man, and before he returned, Peace, Under the alias of John Ward, had been sentenced to penal servitude for life for the attack on Robinson. No time was lost in bringing Peace to trial for the graver offence, and on the 17th January he was taken to Sheffield for his preliminary examination.
“He was remanded on this occasion, and he was being taken from Pentonville to Sheffield on the following Wednesday when he made that daring attempt to escape or to commit suicide. He was being conveyed to Sheffield under the charge of two warders, and whilst the train was running at the rate of fifty miles an hour between Retford and Sheffield, Peace suddenly jumped out of the window.
“One of the warders dashed forward and seized him by one foot as he almost flew through the window. He thus had but insecure hold of the convict, who appeared to be almost mad with rage that his attempt had been foiled, and struggled wildly to escape from the officer’s grasp.
“With his left leg he savagely kicked the officer’s hands, and with his manacled hands grasped the footboard and endeavoured to free his right foot. The other warder, in the meantime, was unable to get to the window, and Peace’s boot coming off, he fell on the footboard of the carriage with his head, and bounded off that into the up line.
“The train was stopped after running about a mile, and Peace was found lying insensible where he fell. He had received a severe wound at the back of the head, and was so much shaken that he could not be brought before the magistrates that day, and was remanded.
“On the following day a note was found upon him containing the words:—‘Bury me at Darnall. God bless you all. C. Peace.’ This, he said, he wrote in Pentonville, because finding that he could not escape he had determined to commit suicide.
“He was sent for trial at the Leeds Assizes, and was then sentenced to death after trial before Mr. Justice Lopes. After his removal to the condemned cell he had paid great attention to the administrations of the chaplain, and was described as having been really penitent and resigned to his fate.
“He also carried on a voluminous correspondence, letters frequently passing between him and his family and Mrs. Thompson. The latter, after having handed him over to justice, most persistently sought an interview with him, but was not allowed by the authorities to see him.
“One of the most extraordinary events in connection with Peace’s career was his confesssion of the Whalley Range murder. A young man, named Habron, was then undergoing penal servitude for the crime, which Peace stated he himself committed.
“The murder occurred on the 1st of August, 1876. It was at the time when Peace had the Sheffield warrant hanging over him. He had packed up his housebreaking implements, and left Sheffield for Hull and Manchester in July.
“Arriving in Manchester he committed several burglaries, and on the night of the 1st of August, he went to the house of Mr. Gatrix, at West Point, Whalley Range, to break into it.
“As he was going towards the house he was seen by Mr. Simpson, a law student, and police-constables Cock and Beanland.
“Peace, followed by Beanland, crossed the grounds, and, jumping over a wall into the street, alighted close against Police-constable Cock, who was watching there.
“The officer tried to arrest him, and Peace fired to frighten him; but Cock endeavoured to apprehend him. Peace then shot the constable in the chest, and escaped before the arrival of Beanland, who remained in the grounds seeking the burglar. Three brothers named Habron, who were employed at a market gardener’s near, were suspected of the murder, and two of them, John and William, were committed for trial.
“At the Assizes, which took place on the 27th and 28th ofNov., William Habron was found guilty, and sentenced to death, but John was acquitted. A petition was got up on behalf of William Habron, and his sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life. Not long afterwards Peace, under a pledge of secrecy, told his relatives what he had done, and expressed a wish that he could get the young man liberated without implicating himself.
“A few days after he had been sentenced to death at Leeds for the murder of Mr. Dyson, he drew plans showing the locality at West Point, Whalley Range, indicated the spot where the murder was committed, and also wrote a confession of the crime. His plans and confession were forwarded to the Home Office. Peace had a final interview with his brother Daniel and various other relatives on Saturday.
“Though physically prostrate, and suffering much from emotion, the convict expressed himself as prepared to meet his fate, and earnestly enjoined his friends to lead religious and virtuous lives.”
As a supplement to the above we add the following details of Peace’s early crimes.
“Having recovered from the two years’ illness caused by his accident at Kelham Rolling Mills, he had been in the service of Mr. Edward Smith, and had after that become, under the tuition of one Bethley, a player on the violin at public-houses.
“There is a tradition that soon after this, having had a quarrel with his sister, he slept out, in an empty house, was caught, and got a month’s imprisonment therefor.
“Whether this be so or not, the next glimpse we get of him is making a highly promising commencement in his future profession. He was charged at the Sheffield Sessions on Saturday,Dec.13, 1851, along with George Campbell, with breaking into the house of Mrs. Catherine Ward, Mount View, [the mother of the then Mayor of Sheffield] and stealing two pistols, a mahogany box, a bullet mould, and other articles. An entrance had apparently been effected by climbing upon the balcony and opening the bedroom window.
“The only property missing was a case containing Mrs. Ward’s jewels, a case containing a brace of rifle pistols, and a silk dress. The prisoners were afterwards found dealing with the pistols; Campbell was discharged, while Peace, who received a good character for honesty from his late employer, got one month’s imprisonment.
“This robbery shows how closely Peace adhered to themodus operandiadopted thus early, and it fixes his then age (19).
“A CROP OF BURGLARIES IN 1854—FOUR YEARS’ PENAL SERVITUDE.
“During the subsequent years 1852-3-4, he was continuing his musical services at public-houses, and becoming familiar with company no better than it should be.
“In the autumn of 1854 he was carrying on a daring game of house robbery, and from a report in the papers it appeared that on the 13th of October, 1854, Charles Peace, Mary Ann Niel, his sister, and Emma James were placed in the dock of the Town Hall to answer several charges of felony.
“James had offered a pair of boots in pledge at the shop of Messrs. Wright, Westbar, and on her being detained on suspicion, Peace came forward and claimed the boots, and was given into custody.
“In Peace’s mother’s house in Bailey-field, there was found a large quantity of jewellery and wearing apparel (including crape shawls, silk dresses,&c.), the proceeds of robberies effected at the residences of H. E. Hoole,Esq., Crookes Moor House; R. Stuart,Esq., Brincliffe Edge; Mr. G. F. Platt, Priory Villa, Sharrow-lane; and Mr. Brown, Broomhall-street.
“The houses of all these parties had been robbed by effecting an entrance through the bedroom windows in the evening before the windows were closed and fastened for the night. At Mr. Hoole’s the thief had climbed the portico, and from Mr. Stuart’s a good deal of jewellery had been stolen.
“The prisoners were clearly proved to have been in possession of this property. The defence raised does not place in a very amiable light the affection subsisting between the sister and that brother, who used to avenge the wrongs she sustained at her husband’s hands. Each accused the other of being the culprit.
“At the sessions at Doncaster (October, 20, 1854), Peace (who was undefended) said that a watchmaker named Bethley in Division-street, had kept his sister (Niel) for some years, and she had had three children by him. Bethley, not having given her any money lately, sent the jewellery and a bundle of wearing apparel by him to her, instead of money. Peace was sentenced to four years’ penal servitude, and the female prisoners each to six months’ imprisonment.
“Peace was described in the calendar at that time as being twenty-two years of age. The mention of Bethley’s name will remind our readers that he was the person who instructed Peace in the art of violin playing, and Mrs. Niel’s connection with the case does not shed much lustre on the family annals. She died we may add by way of completing her history, on the 2nd April, 1859, age 33.