Chapter CLXIII (2)

She remained within the gaol about two hours, and had a long conversation with Governor Keene, but was not allowed to see Peace, the latter, it is said, declining to see her.

Mrs. Thompson cried a good deal, and said she had had her second journey for nothing. It was stated that this sudden change of the convict’s mind was brought about by the visit of his relatives earlier in the day.

A Leeds correspondent telegraphed:――“To the surprise of the officials of Armley Gaol, Mrs. Thompson made her appearance there again on Monday, accompanied by a young man. She drove up to the gates in a cab at dusk, and at once sought another interview with Mr. Keene, the governor. When she applied to the visiting justices, at Leeds Town Hall, on Friday week, she was told emphatically that she could not be allowed to see her former associate. On Monday, she received no more satisfaction. She was not admitted, and she seemed little disappointed.”

PEACE’S WILL.

Peace’s will was drawn up by Deputy-sheriff Ford, who is a member of a local firm of solicitors. It extended to but four or five lines and devised his property to Hannah Ward or Peace, his wife, the mention of her first name obviating the necessity of legal proof of marriage. The text was not to be published until the day of his execution.

In regard to the former will be made, bequeathing everything to Mrs. Thompson, the latter’s sister burnt the document, so that neither Peace nor his family need have any fears on that score. Mrs. Thompson has again made her appearance in Leeds. She was evidently bent on seeing the convict.

On Thursday morning she called at the office of Messrs. Ford and Warren, solicitors, 25, Albion-street. Shortly afterwards, or about noon, Mr. Warren drove to the gaol in a cab with Mrs. Thompson, and, presenting the following letter to Governor Keene, asked him to allow her to see Peace:――

“Prison Department,
“Home Office, Whitehall, S.W.,
“8th February, 1879.

“Madam,――I am directed by the Chairman of the Commissioners
of Prisons to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
7th inst., requesting to be allowed to see John Ward, alias
Charles Peace, a prisoner under sentence of death in Leeds
Prison. In reply, I am to acquaint you that by desire of the
Secretary of State the Governor of the Prison has been
authorised to permit you to have an interview with the
prisoner under the usual restrictions, and subject to his
wishing to see you, on your presenting this letter at the
prison.――I am, madam, your obedient servant,

“C. N. JOSEPH.

“Mrs. Thompson, Post-office, Leeds.”

The letter, to which the foregoing was a reply, was as follows:――

“February 7th, 1879.

“Gentlemen,――I beg to be allowed to see the condemned man,
Charles Peace, Thompson, or Ward, now in Armley Gaol, Leeds.
He has been my reputed husband for years, and he has no
other legal wife. He has ‘earnestly’ desired to see me, and
for reasons that can easily be understood. I deeply hope and
pray, gentlemen, that you will furnish me with the authority
to see him before the end. I will not disturb his mind, but
try to sooth him. Imploring you will speedily grant my
prayer,

“I am your obedient servant,
S. THOMPSON.

“P.S.――Please address to me, ‘Post Office, Leeds, to be left
till called for.’”

Governor Keene said to Mr. Warren that since the letter sent by the prison authorities had been received, his (the governor’s) authority to allow the interview had been countermanded by the Home Office, but that if Mrs. Thompson had applied at the gaol immediately the letter reached Leeds he should have allowed her to have seen Peace.

Mr. Warren explained that there were difficulties that prevented her doing so, and withdrew, saying he would make a formal application, for leave for her to see Peace, to the Visiting Committee. After proceeding to the Town Hall, and being unable to find any of the members of the Visiting Committee, Mr. Warren went to the office of the chairman of the committee, John Ellershaw, Esq., who declined to accede to Mr. Warren’s petition, saying he should not do so unless Mr. Warren could show him a letter from the convict dated since Peace’s interview with his daughter, Mrs. Bolsover, stating the convict’s wish to see Mrs. Thompson.

MRS. BRION IN LEEDS.

As Mr. and Mrs. Bolsover were returning from Armley to Leeds, they were greatly astonished to see Mrs. Brion, the wife of Peace’s friend at Peckham, wending her way to the gaol. She told them that she had come down from London, and was going on to Armley, and hoped she would be allowed to have an interview with Peace.

She expressed great concern for his state of mind, and said she believed if she could see him she should be able “to say something to him that would do him a little good.” At that time she had not seen the magistrates’ clerk, and had obtained no authority to see Peace.

OFFERS TO HANG PEACE.

After Peace had been tried and condemned, the authorities had several applications to fill the grim office of executioner. These were from amateurs, one of whom, from the neighbourhood of Sheffield, wrote to say that he would undertake the duty gratuitously; whilst another asked the modest sum of only £3 10s. for his services, should they be accepted. It is scarcely necessary to say that no notice was taken of them, and Marwood was engaged to carry out the sentence.

SUGGESTED POSTPONEMENT OF THE EXECUTION.

A letter was forwarded to the Home Secretary on behalf of the convict, which said: “I hope you will kindly bear with me whilst I venture to address you upon a matter the immediate attention to which must prove of the utmost importance to one who stands condemned to suffer capital punishment, according to the organs of the newspaper press, in the course of the coming fortnight. There can be no disguising the fact that a large number of persons in the metropolis and throughout the country entertain the idea that the prisoner Peace’s late trial before the judge and jury was too hurried to be just. Such persons believe that the very circumstances which had been alluded to by the learned counsel for the defence――namely, that the cry for the prisoner’s blood and the sensational intelligence of the prisoner’s career which had appeared in the columns of the leading organs of the press――had combined to induce the jury to come to their most serious decision in the reported space of a quarter of an hour. A very unpleasant sensation has likewise been created, that the whole matter, namely, the condemnation of Peace, had been previously arranged――had, indeed, been cut and dried.… As I am confident that the spirit of justice of English law would rather permit ninety-nine guilty to escape than that one innocent should suffer, and as I feel it would lie upon my conscience did I abstain from laying the ‘evil’ alluded to before you, I have herewith endeavoured to discharge my duty――a duty which I feel I owe to the prisoner, his sympathisers, and to the best interests of English justice. Certainly, if the sentence cannot be reversed, the impression of unfairness would be removed by postponing the date for Peace’s execution.”

To this communication the following reply was received from the Home Secretary on Tuesday:――

“Whitehall, Feb. 8.

“SIR,――I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Home
Department to acknowledge the receipt of your application on
behalf of Charles Peace, and I am to acquaint you that the
same will be fully considered.――I am, Sir, your obedient
servant,

“A. F. O. LIDDELL.”

MR. BRION ALSO CLAIMS A REWARD.

The Central News said at this time Mr. Brion, of 22, Philip-road, Peckham, had prepared for the Treasury a statement of his work in connection with this case, in order that payment might be made him for his services.

It was with Mr. Brion that Peace was engaged in perfecting his invention for raising sunken ships; in fact, witness and the prisoner, in their quieter days, were in the habit of taking a large model ship, which had been built by them for experimenting in regard to the invention, to the pond at Peckham Rye, where they attracted the general attention of the neighbourhood.

Brion claims to have been the first to identify Peace after his apprehension for the Blackheath burglary. The notorious convict, when in Newgate, wrote to Mr. Brion in the name of Ward, on Nov. 3rd, beseeching him to come and see him, and attributing the whole of his misfortunes to drink.

Mr. Brion went to Newgate to see who the man was, and was very much surprised to find it was Mr. Thompson, his friend and neighbour. This fact he at once communicated to the governor of the gaol, and the police, being put on the alert, searched Thompson’s house at Nunhead.

The woman Thompson, it will be recollected, had got herself into the meshes of the law by being a party after the crime and acting as a receiver of his stolen goods.

[Sidenote: No. 94.]

The detectives worked upon her fears, and in this they were aided by Mr. Brion, who heard her drop words of a criminating character while she was under the influence of drink, so that partly by threats and promises of immunity if she would confess all and assist the officers of the law, the woman informed on Peace.

Mr. Brion received two other letters from Peace, but they merely referred to making subsequent visits, and arranging for the defence, and getting money for that object, and nearly all the facts narrated by this witness as regards Peace himself were published when he gave evidence before the magistrates.

He appears to have been most anxious to aid the police in their endeavours to recover the stolen property, and the long list of journeys which he undertook at that time with them testifies to the value of his services in this respect.

He was particularly successful in revealing the establishment in Petticoat-lane, where Peace had much of the proceeds of his robberies placed, and by representing himself to the receiver as an accomplice of Peace, and then revealing the results of his interview to the police, the latter were able to act with promptness and decision.

Among the many attributes of Peace, according to Mr. Brion, none were more remarkable than his wonderful ability to hide in the smallest limits.

He could place himself in a box with almost the same promptitude as Mr. Cook, of Egyptian Hall celebrity; in the bottom drawer of a chest, and in a cheffonier he was frequently hidden, while from long practice he was able to hide under an ordinary round table, clinging to the spiral stem in such a manner that even if the table had no cover he would escape the glance of a casual observer.

PEACE’S CYPHER CODE.

A Central News telegram states:――The convict evidently kept fully abreast of the age in all he did, for instead of making use of the ordinary thieves slang, when he had anything of a secret nature to communicate to his friends, he made known his message by means of numerals, each of which represented a word.

This cypher code of his, though somewhat crude and cumbersome, bore a general resemblance to those used by business firms and Government officers. Messages containing the secret cyphers of Peace were usually sent to certain receivers of stolen goods to whom he disposed of the proceeds of his burglaries, and to Mrs. Thompson.

As to Mrs. Peace, or Hannah, none of these messages were sent to her, for, as she says herself, “I am nae schullar.” Peace had 144 words at least in his secret vocabulary, as the number ran from 1 to 144. The numbers 27, 13, 21, 39, 40, 98, 100, 101, 102, were respectively the words, “he, me, of, we, call, pet, coming, house, pounds, night, and right.” In fact, the code was well calculated to enable him to communicate secretly in respect to almost any matter.

Peace had also another peculiarity. He kept a careful and accurate account of the money he received and expended in his city house. In little pass-books, each alternate leaf of which was provided with blotting paper, he entered an account of his payments and expenditure.

Mrs. Thompson had an interview with Governor Keene at Armley Gaol after Peace’s conviction, and he read a long letter to her which he had just received from Peace’s hands. The letter was full of most endearing terms, even fulsomely so, the convict calling Mrs. Thompson his “pet” and “darling,” and professing undying love for her. Mrs. Thompson wept passionately on hearing it read, and appeared much crushed.

The Central News special reporter, wrote:――As doubt has been expressed respecting the existence of Peace’s cypher code, the following is furnished as an accurate copy of it, the original having been for some time in the hands of the police authorities:――

1 one 2 I 3 is
4 oh 5 he 6 to
7 me 8 my 9 in
10 as 11 it 12 at
13 of 14 up 15 on
16 or 18 a 18 aye
19 am 20 so 21 we
22 us 23 but 24 you
25 nap 26 hope 27 they
28 thy 29 was 20 will
31 she 32 well 33 went
34 who 35 has 36 let
37 and 38 can 39 call
40 time 41 still 42 her
43 out 44 four 45 give
46 kiss 47 dear 48 pet
49 there 50 some 51 that
52 had 53 life 54 are
55 poor 56 course 57 come
58 coming 59 where 60 but
61 from 62 much 63 many
64 what 65 this 66 mean
67 when 68 must 69 may
70 read 71 uneasy 72 money
73 love 74 loving 75 every
76 then 77 old 78 how
79 never 80 name 81 Ben
82 sent 83 say 84 ――
85 almost 86 friends 87 sum
88 pull 89 post 90 happy
91 wish 92 pain 93 until
94 bear 95 word 96 shall
97 used 98 house 99 back
100 pounds 101 night 102 right
103 write 104 mind 105 oblige
106 cannot 107 sold 108 things
109 said 110 know 111 just
112 railway 113 yes 114 believe
115 about 116 owes 117 told
118 fact 119 belong 120 word
121 since 122 away 123 early
124 such 125 finish 126 best
127 first 128 whose 129 early
130 Monday 131 Tuesday 132 Wednesday
135 Thursday 134 Friday 135 Saturday
136 Sunday 127 home 138 have
139 fancy 140 face 141 washed
142 ready 143 for 144 Johnny
Johnny being of course himself.

PEACE IN THE COMPANY OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.

We cannot refrain from telling a story of Peace’s extraordinary coolness and impudence. He was, as the reader perhaps has heard, the inventor of a plan for raising sunken vessels, and he actually exhibited his patent at Bristol, where, too, he offered £50 for the salvage of a wrecked schooner, though as the money was not forthcoming, the bargain was never concluded.

This invention, however, brought him into the acquaintance of several M.P.’s interested in the subject of his patent, and a friend of ours remembers going with him to the lobby of the House of Commons to see these gentlemen.

Peace conducted himself throughout these negotiations as a quiet, respectable, steady, and apparently well-to-do man. He seemed to be acquainted with most of the prominent M.P.’s, and quizzed them upon their peculiarities; at one time, indeed, it was thought he was the author of some of the political quizzing in _Truth_.

It would, doubtless, surprise Mr. Plimsoll and the First Lord of the Admiralty to learn that they had been in the company of Peace in connection with his patent. But we are told there is no doubt of it. And it was after the Dyson murder.

PEACEIANA.

Peace, it will be remembered, on more than one occasion assumed the _role_ of a hawker of spectacles, and he provided himself with the necessary proof had his representation been challenged.

On one occasion, when visiting his friends at Hull, he was asked what he was doing, and he replied, “I am selling spectacles.” At the same time he produced a travelling sample case, made of leather and elaborately gilded, and on opening it exposed to view some thirty pairs of spectacles of different kinds.

He never did much in the way of pushing the spectacle trade; but no doubt the taking of it up assisted to conceal his identity. He had for many years worn the gold-framed spectacles about which so much has since been said. Previous to his murdering Mr. Dyson he only used them when reading or doing fine work; but afterwards he wore them out in the streets, and was seldom seen without them.

Peace was once terribly annoyed at a disappointment he met with at Croydon. He went down there one afternoon, and selected a house to rob. The same night he visited it again, expecting to obtain a good booty.

He reached one of the bedroom windows and forced back the hasp, but to his chagrin he found that the sash was secured from opening wider than a hand-breadth by patent fasteners――those little metal knobs, the shape of an acorn, that screw into a brass socket. He could not, therefore, open either that or any other window within reach.

He returned home in a most ill-conditioned humour, and made no secret how he had been “duffed,” but he said he would not be beaten. Provided with the necessary tools, he went to the same house the next night; took off the strips of wood which held the sashes of the bedroom window in its place, drew the lower sash forward and got into the bedroom.

He then not only gathered up jewellery and other articles of considerable value, but revenged himself for the disappointment he had experienced on the previous night by taking the patent fasteners off the window. When he got home he threw them on the table, and with an air of triumph exclaimed――“There’s your patent fasteners!”

A good many versions have been given as to the circumstances under which Peace met with the injury to his hand. The account he gave to his family was that one night in October, while he was living in the Brocco, he was going up Hollis-croft, when a young man struck him. He was about to return the blow, when either his assailant or some companion shot at him with a pistol, blowing off the first finger and otherwise injuring his left hand.

Peace walked to the Public Hospital, where he was treated as an in-patient for a month. He then took his discharge and “doctored his hand himself.” The police never discovered his assailant; and the opinion some of them arrived at was, that the injuries were self-inflicted――accidentally of course. They believed that Peace was carrying the pistol in his pocket, and that it exploded and shattered his hand.

Reference has previously been made to the long screws which formed part of Peace’s burglarious implements. It will be remembered that he used these to secure himself from intrusion while ransacking a room, and he also employed them to prevent pursuers from cutting off his retreat.

On one occasion he showed his confidence in them in a remarkable manner. It was night time, and he selected one of a row of houses in a main street at Brixton. He went to the front door and fastened it with a screw.

On going to the back he saw two doors, one of which opened to the lawn. He secured both of them in the same way. He then climbed a spout and entered the house by a bedroom window.

The door of the room he so fastened with a screw that it could not be opened from the outside, and then proceeded leisurely to ransack the drawers. He was just upon the point of forcing open the desk when a servant came to the door, and when she could not open it she began to scream.

There was a rush to both back and front doors, but it was impossible to open them. Peace remained in the room until he had broken open the desk and abstracted it contents, and then he left the house as he had entered it and escaped.

The “specials” of many newspapers drew the long bow very considerably when they began to pile on the agony in describing Peace’s appearance when sentenced to death. There was talk among them about fierce scowls, and convulsive twitchings of the mouth, and a pallor that extended to his very lips.

Others descended still lower, and described the tremblings of his limbs, and spoke of him as if carried out in something like a swoon. There was a great deal in all this as imaginary as Dr. Potter’s “trembling like an aspen leaf.” As the judge pronounced sentence Peace sat with one leg crossed over the other knee, without the symptoms of even a passing tremour.

And as for his face, it was almost expressionless. He had seemed the whole day to be in a sort of lethargy; if there was any change at the end it amounted only to an increase of stupor.

We wonder where Dr. Potter picked up his story about the convict having broken his aged mother’s heart? Possibly from the unreliable source whence many of the other fictions promulgated from St. Luke’s pulpit came.

We mean no disrespect to the ancient lady who was wont to hawk tapes and ribbons about the outskirts of the town, but her heart took an uncommon lot of breaking.

As to Peace having dishonoured his mother, if we mistake not she was largely responsible (far more responsible than the father, who received such short shrift at Dr. Potter’s hands) for his evil start in life. She is credited with having possessed a pretty accurate acquaintance with the details of her illustrious son’s career.

She had a domestic establishment, around which hovered anything but an atmosphere of sanctity; and our readers know how the poor creature was dragged over to Manchester Assizes to swear to an _alibi_ for her son.

She managed to survive the tragedy, which according to Dr. Potter, broke her heart, by something like a twelvemonth.

Did Dr. Potter receive his intelligence “by electric telegraph?” That is the latest form of journalistic enterprise――to have news specially wired from Bank-street to High-street, that it may be reproduced from other columns in a surreptitious second edition, and that it may be claimed as confirming statements which it emphatically contradicts.

The account of Peace’s doings after the murder may be taken as one among the innumerable episodes which the Sheffield papers were the first to publish. They gave the route he took on that fatal night, and the manner in which he made his escape. That account was contradicted by the journal which was so sure Mrs. Dyson could not be found.

Two days afterwards one print ventured to give a route of its own. It told how Peace went down Ecclesall-road, on Sharrow vale, through Frog-walk, and into Cemetary-road. The statement by Peace, which was published afterwards showed that this story was the purest fiction.

AN OFFER TO MRS. THOMPSON.

Notoriety has with some people more merit than business qualifications, as the following indicates:――

“J. Myers, Queen’s Music Hall, 20, Bridge-street,
Manchester, February 10, 1879.

“Mrs. Thompson. Madam,――You will excuse me taking the liberty of
writing to you, as I thought I should like you at my house as
waitress. If you would like to come to Manchester I could give
you 25s. per week, if you think you would like to come. Hoping
there is no offence in my proposition.――I remain yours most
respectfully.

“JOHN MYERS.”