“Behind the good man’s house was a goodly orchard, and within the enclosure fruit trees which carried crops of heavy, golden fruit.
“The lads of the neighbourhood viewed those crops with envy, and one of the leading spirits among them was Charles Peace, a well-instructed lad, fearless, venturesome, and domineering in spirit.
“He planned the robbery of the pastor’s orchard, but being inexperienced, was captured—whilst in an apple tree.
“He had not learnt in those days the wiles and deceits which have since come so naturally to him.
“But he had not to cope with detectives, inspectors, constables, and other professional men, who render life obnoxious to a thief. His captor was actually the parish beadle.
“Had that man lived until these days how proudly he might have said—
“‘I caught Peace!’
“But the youthful aspirant to future honours did not obtain the reward he should have had for his speculation.
“He bargained for apples, and instead was taken before the wrathful owner of the fruit, Mr. Smith. The beadle shortly afterwards had a task to undertake which left no mark in local history, but did on the young man who stole the apples.
“Such was the commencement in ‘active’ life of him who now occupies a cell in Newgate, from thence to be taken to answer a record of crime the which has not been paralleled by Claude Duval, Thomas King, Richard Turpin, or others of that ilk.