CENTENARY OF CHARLES PEACE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 113, 14 May 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

CENTENARY OF CHARLES PEACE.

ENGLAND'S MOST NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL.

CALLOUS SLAYER AND DESPERATE ROBBER—LIFE OF SHOCKING OUTRAGES AND HEARTLESS CRIMES—REMARKABLE MASQUERADE AS GOSPEL PREACHER DURING CAREER OF BURGLARIES—SKILFUL DISGUISE SUSTAINED FOR YEARS—FINAL SCENE ON THE SCAFFOLD

I One hundred years ago to-day, on May 14, 1832, Charles Peace destined tn hV'• . following article deals with the salient events in the life of the Infamous elaye? ! and crook. |

The course of many famous men's lives has been changed by what appeared at the time to be an unhappy accident. "Who knows what may have been the effect on Charles Peace's subsequent career of ;:n accident he met with in 1816 at some lolling mills in which he was employed? A piece of red-hot steel entered his leg just below the knee, and after eighteen months spent in the Sheffield Infirmary he left it a cripple for life. Of the circumstances that first led I'eace to the commission of crime nothing is known. His first exploit was the stealing of an old gentleman's gold watch, but he soon passed to greater things. On October 26, 1851, the house of a lady living in Sheffield was broken into, and a quantity of her property stolen. Some of it was found in the possession of Peace, ;md he was arrested. Owing, no doubt, to a good character for honesty given him by his late employer, Peace was let off lightly with a month's imprisonment. After his release, he would seem to have ilovoted himself for a time to music, for which he had always a genuine passion. He taught himself tunes on a violin with one string, and at entertainments which he attended Peace was described as "the inodern Paganini." Arrested with Two Women. During the year 1854 the houses of a number of well-to-do residents in and about Sheffield were entered after this fashion, and much valuable property stolen. Peace was arrested, and with him a girl with whom he was keeping company, and his sister, Mary Ann, at that time Mrs. Neil. On October 20, 1854, Peace was sentenced at Doncaster sessions to four years' penal servitude, and the ladies, who had been found in possession of the stolen property, to _ six months apiece. On coming out of prison in 1858, Peace resumed his fiddling, but it was now no more than a musical accompaniment to burglary. The house of a lady living in Manchester was broken into on the night of August 11, 1859, and substantial booty carried away. This was found the following day concealed in a hole in a field. The police left it undisturbed, and awaited the return of the robber. When Peace and another man arrived to take it away the officers sprang out on them. Peace, after nearly killing the officer who was trying to arrest him, would have made his escape had not other policemen come to the rescue. For this crime Peace was sentenced to six years' penal servitude, in spite of a loyal act of perjury on the part of his aged mother, who came all the way from Sheffield to swear that he had been with her there on the night of the crime. He was released from prison again in 1864, and returned to Sheffield. In 1875 Peace moved from Sheffield itself to the suburb of Darnall. Here he made the acquaintance—a fatal acquaintance, as it turned a Mr. and Mrs. Dyson. Dyson was a civil engineer. Peace had got to know the Dysons first as a tradesman, then as a friend. To what degree of intimacy he attained with Mrs. Dyson it is difficult to determine. In that lies the mystery of the case. Mrs. Dyson is described as an attractive woman, "buxom and blooming"; she was darkhaired and about 25 years of age. Whether to put a stop to his wife's intimacy with Pejioe or to protect himself against the latter's wanton persecution, some tune about the end of June, 1876, Dyson threw over into the garden of his neighbour's house a card on which was written: "Charled Peace ie requested not to interfere with my family." On July 1 Peace met Mr. Dyson in the street and tried to trip him up. The same night he came up to Mrs. Dyson, who was talking to some friends, and threatened in coarse and violent language to blow out her brains and those of her husband. In consequence of these incidents, Mr. Dyson took out a summons against Peace, for whose apprehension a warrant was issued. To avoid the consequences of this last step Peace left Darnall for Hull, where he opened an eating-house presided over by Mrs. Peace. His First Murder. From Hull he went to Manchester on business, and in Manchester he committed his first murder. Entering the grounds of a gentleman's home at Whalley Range about midnight on August 1, he was seen by two policemen. One of them, Constable Cock, intercepted him as he was trying to escape. Peace took out his revolver and warned Cock to stand back. The policeman came on. Peace fired, but deliberately wide of him. Cock, undismayed, drew out his truncheon, and made for the burglar. Peace, desperate, determined not to be caught, fired again, this time fatally. Cock's comrade heard the shots, but before he could reach the side of the dying man Peace had made off. He returned to Hull, and there learned shortly after, to his intense relief, that two brothers, John and William Habron, living near the scene of the murder, had been arrested and charged with the killing of Constable Cock.

If the Dysons thought that they had seen the last of Peace they were soon to be convinced to the contrary. To get away from him, the Dysons determined to leave Darnall. They took a house at Banner Cross, another suburb of Sheffield, and on October 29 moved into their new home. One of the first persons Mrs. Dyson saw on arriving at Banner Cross was Peace himself. "You see," he said, "I am here to annoy you, and I'll annoy you wherever you go." Later, Peace and a friend passed Mr. Dyson in the street. Peace took out his revolver. "If he offers to come near me," said he, "I will make him stand back." But Mr. Dyson took no notice of Peace, and passed on. He had another month to live. For the moment, Peace was interested more immediately in the fate of John and William Habron, who were about to stand their trial for the murder of Constable Cock at Whalley Range. John Habron was acquitted. The oaso'against William Habron depended to a great extent on the fact that he, as well as hin brother, had been heard to threaten to murder the policeman.

The prisoner did not help himself in an ineffective attempt to prove an alibi. The judge was clearly not impressed by the strength of the case for the pro--Bein 'spite, however, of the summing up, the jury convicted William Habron, but recommended him to mercy. The J»dße, without comment, sentenced him to death. Two days before the day of execution Habron 'was granted a respite, and later his sentence commuted to one ot penal servitude for life. Mr. Dyson Murdered. The lure of the Dysons was irresistible to Charles Peace. A little after 8 o clock on the second night of the Habron trial Peace wis watching the house from a passage way that led up the backs ot the houses on the terrace. He saw Mrs. Dyson come out of the back door, and go to an outhouse some few yards distant He waited. As soon as she opened the door to come out, Mrs. D.reon found herself confronted by Peace, holding his revolver in hie hand. "Don't speak, lie said, "or I'll fire." Mrs. Dyson, in terror, went back into the outhouse. In the meantime, Dyson, hearing the disturbance, came quickly into the yard. Peace made for the passage. Dyson followed him. Peace tired once, the shot striking the lintel of thfi paiseage doorway. Dyson, un-

daunted, still pursued. Then Peace, according to hie custom, fired a eecond time, and Dyson fell, shot through the temple. Mrs. Dyson, who had come into the yard again on hearing the first shot, rushed to her husband's side, calling out "Murder! You villain, you have shot my husband." Two hours later Dyson was dead. Peace took the first train in the morning for Beverley, and from there travelled via Collingham to Hull. He went straight to the eating house kept by his wife, and demanded some dinner. He had hardly commenced to eat it when he heard two detectives come into the front shop and ask his wife if a man called Charles Peace was lodging with her. Mrs. Peace said that that wae her husband's name, but that she had not seen him for two months. The detectives proponed to search the house. Some customers in the shop told them that it they had any business with Mrs. Peace they ought to go round to the side door. The polite susceptibility of these customers gave Peace time to slip up to the back room, get out to an adjoining roof, and hide behind a chimney stack, where he remained until the detectives had finished an exhaustive search. So importunate were the officers in Hull that once again during the day Peace had to repeat this experience. Master of Disguise. For some three weeks, however, he contrived to remain in Hull. He shaved the grey hair he was wearing at the time of Dyson's murder, dyed his hair, put on a pair of spectacles, and for the first time made use of his singular power of contorting his features iu such a way as to change altogether the character of his face. But the hue and cry after him was unremitting. During the closing days of the year 187b" and the beginning of 1877 Peace was perpetually on the move. At Nottingham he found a convenient lodging at the house of one Mrs. Adamson, a lady who received stolen goods, and on occasion indicated or organised suitable opportunities for acquiring them. She lived in a low part of the marsh. It was at her house that the fugitive met the woman who was to become his mistress, and subsequently betrayed his identity to the police. Her maiden name was Susan Gray. She was at this tune about 35 years of age, described as taking" in appearance, of a fair complexion, and rather well educated. Burglaries kept Peace and his mistress in funde, but continued narrow escapes finally decided him to seek a new life in London. There he continued his depredations under the guise of a dealer in musical instruments. Eventually he took up residence in a house in Peckham, where he brought together hie wife and his mistress.

In his house in Peckham, Peace; now known as Mr. Thompson, busied himeelf with various inventions, and became socially quite a figure. He attended church servioe every Sunday, and it must have pained "dear Mr. Thompson" greatly that during his stay in Peckham the vicarage should be broken into and an attempt be made to steal the communion plate! Career as a Burglar in London. His career as a burglar in London lasted ,n2 m th , e be g innin g of 1877 until October, 1878. During that time this wanted man, under the very noses of the police, exercised with complete success his art as a burglar, working alone, depending wholly on his own mental and physical gifts, disposing in absolute secrecy of the proceeds of his work, and living openly the life of a respectable and industrious old gentleman. Peace made the mistake of outstaying his welcome in the neighbourhood ol South-east London. Perhaps he hardly realised the extent to which his fame was spreading. About two o'clock on the morning of October 10, 1878, a police constable, Robinson by name, eaw a light appear suddenly m the window at the back of a house m St. John's Park, Blackheath, the residence of a Mr. Burness. Without delay Robinson summoned to his aid two of his colleagues. One of them went round to the front of the house and rang the bell, the other waited in the road outside, while Robinson stayed in the garden at the back. No sooner had the bell rung than Robinson saw a man come from the dining room window, which opened on to the garden, and make quickly down the path. Robinson followed him. The man turned. "Keep back," he said, "or, by God, I'll shoot you!" Robinson came on. The man fired three shots from a revolver, all of which passed close to the officer's head. The constable closed with the would-be assassin, and struck him in the face. "I'll settle you this time!" cried the man, and fired a fifth shot, which went thrpugh Robinson's arm just above the elbow. But in spite of his wound, the valiant officer held his prisoner, succeeded in flinging him to the ground, and, catching hold of the revolver that hung round the burglar's wrftt, hit him on the head with it. Immediately after the two other constables came to the help of their colleague, and the struggling desperado was secured. Trial at the Old Bailey. It was as John Ward, alias Charles Peace, that Peace, on November 19, 187S, was put on his trial for burglary and the attempted - murder of Police Constabie Robinson at the Old Bailey before Mr. Justice Hawkins. His age was given in the calendar as 60, though he was actually 4C. The evidence against the prisoner was clear enough. All Mr. Montagu Williams could urge in his defence was that Peace had never intended to kill the officer, merely to frighten him. The jury found Peace guilty of attempted murder. Asked if he had anything to say why judgment should not be passed upon him, ho addressed the judge. He protested that he had not been fairly dealt with, that he never intended to kill the prosecutor, that the pistol was one that went off very easily, and that the last shot had been fired by accident. Peace's assumption of pitiable senility, sustained throughout the trial, though it imposed on Sir Henry Hawkins, failed to melt his heart. He tol.l Peace that he did not believe his statement that he had fired the pistol merely to frighten the constable. Nowithstanding his age, Mr. Justice Hawkins felt it his duty to sentence him to penal servitude for life.

With as little delay as possible, Peace was called on to account for the murder of Dyson. Mrs. Dyson was brought from America to (rive evidence, and tlie trial began at Sheffield on January 17, 1879. On the way from Pentonville to make his second appearance. Peace leaped from a window of the train, but was picked up Buffering from a bad scalp wound. Mr. Justice Hopes, in summing up, declared that in his opinion Dyson had been shot by Peace, and that there v.as absolutely no evidence of a struggle having taken place. After a few minutes' deliberation fip jury returned the verdict of guilty. Sentence of death was passed. ;md Peace entered on the last chapter of his life. . Peace righted one serious wrong before his execution in confessing that it was he who killed Constable Cock, this admission lending to the release of William Habron, who I'-id served t'nee years for a crime he had not committed. Peace was hanged on February 25, 1879, and was buried in Armley Gaol.