A VISIT TO NEWGATE—IDENTIFICATION OF PEACE—MRS. THOMPSON’S PERSONAL HISTORY—RECEIVERS OF STOLEN GOODS.
From what we have been able to gather from persons whose testimony is in every way reliable, Mrs. Peace made a precipitate retreat from Peckham after the arrest of her husband.
The day after Police-constable Robinson bravely fought the burglar down, in spite of his wounded arm, and had Peace taken to gaol, the wife of the convict made preparations for flight. She packed up three boxes, and had them conveyed to Cleaves, the greengrocer, to Nunhead Station.
She and her son followed them to the station, and took the train for Darnall, near Sheffield, the place where Peace lived before coming to London, and at which he was living when Dyson was shot.
A month after the arrest some of the effects were sold, and the remainder were carted to No. 22, Philip’s-road, the residence of Mr. Brion, heretofore mentioned as the joint patentee of the invention for raising sunken ships.
There is no question that the police were afterwards made aware of the departure of Mrs. Peace and of Mrs. Thompson’s change of abode.
Mrs. Thompson, although she lived with Peace at Nottingham after the murder, and lived in company with Mrs. Peace at Peckham, was not called as a witness for obvious reasons.
Peace was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, and it was unnecessary to try him for the burglary, as the sentence was penal servitude for life.
The representative of the Press Association had an interview with Mr. Brion. His relationship with Peace was, he said, a purely business one.
“But for me,” he said, “Peace’s connection with the murder would never have been discovered. It was I who gave the police the information that put them on the track. Those police would never have discovered anything themselves had not everything been told them and every step they took indicated. How did I become connected with Peace?