“Tommy” seemed to have been trained as a silent but faithful partner in burglary.
The custom of Peace was to go out during the day with Mrs. Peace, his son, and Mrs. Thompson in his trap, himself driving, and taking a survey of mansions he intended to rob during the night, and arrange about the destination to which he should convey the plunder.
He had two methods of attack. He went out early in the evening, when the family of the house to be plundered were all down stairs, then he robbed the rooms above, or late in the evening, or far on in the morning, when the family were all upstairs in bed, then he roamed through the lower regions, and abstracted the heavy articles of plate and pictures, with all valuables that were portable and transmutable into money. In most cases he proceeded alone in these expeditions.
The pony went out from Peace’s stables at most unseemly hours, and sometimes the neighbours woke up when it returned.
One night the driving up to the gate was so furious that the gig knocked over the gate. The noise attracted the attention of a policeman who was on the threshold of a discovery, but he suspected nothing.
Peace had unquestionably just returned from an expedition with spoil, but when he saw the officer he blandly invited him in, although it was one o’clock in the morning, and lifting up the lid of a long box he explained to him that he had been engaged in perfecting an invention for the purpose of raising sunken ships, which he and Mr. Brian were about to patent.
“And you know it would not do to let people know about this in the daytime,” added Peace, upon which the policeman drank his health, hoped he did not intrude, and helped to readjust the gate on its hinges.
Peace, as we have already signified had described himself to the new sphere of respectable neighbours among whom he at this time moved as a “gentleman of independent means,” and he was looked upon as one who had done well in the world, but there were more burglaries in the neighbourhood, and Greenwich became almost as noted for these classes of depredations as Lambeth had been. But there was this difference—that whilst the “middle class” people of Lambeth dare not report their troubles to the police and were not allowed the privilege of complaining to the columns of the dailies, the Greenwich “whitebaits” would not sit down so calm with this disgraceful state of things.
Night after night the houses of leading residents in the locality were broken open and quantities of plate, jewellery, and valuables of that description were stolen.
The “gang” who did it were evidently good judges, and selected very carefully before removing anything. Then the police became indignant—the public blamed the police—letters to editors were freely penned, but still the depredations continued.