“I was getting downright mad with him, because of his constantly bothering me. What he wanted me to go to Manchester for was to pass off his stolen goods—at least that is my opinion. He never said so in so many words, but he could have had no other object.
“To do this, he wanted first to get me in his power, and not only did he try, but other members of his family did their best. When he found that he could not succeed by fair means, then he tried what threats and persecutions would do.
“He once came into my house, and said as I would not do what he wanted, he would annoy and torment me to the end of the world.
“‘Don’t you ever come into my house again,’ I said, ‘or ever darken its doors.’
“But it was no use my saying that. He still came whenever he could get in, and when he couldn’t, he watched for me and followed me wherever I went. I have known him to go to the railway station and say to the booking clerk after I had taken my ticket, ‘Give me a ticket for where she’s going.’ That’s how it was he followed me to Mansfield, and then came into the same house there where I and my companion were staying. That was, too, how it was that he was seen with me in the streets.
“So it was as regards his being with me in the fair ground, about which so much has been made. I went to the fair with a neighbour and her children, and when we got into the photographic saloon my intention was to have the children photographed. I had no intention whatever of having myself taken with Peace, but he stood behind my chair at the time my likeness was taken.
“That was quite unknown to me, though, at the time. You can have no idea, unless you know the man, how he persecuted me and attempted to get me within his power. I remember doing something in the kitchen, and my back was turned to the door. Hearing a slight noise, I turned round, and then I saw Peace standing just inside the door.
“The expression on his face was something dreadful. It was almost fiendish—devilish. He had a revolver in his right hand, and he held it up towards me and said, in an excited and threatening manner—
“‘Now, will you go to Manchester? Now, will you go to Manchester?’
“I did not shriek, but I cried out ‘No, never! what do you take me for?’