“‘How then,’ I asked, ‘did it occur to you to connect the Blackheath burglar with the Bannercross murderer?’
“‘Well,’ was the reply, ‘we can scarcely tell you. We could not get our evidence so complete as we could wish, and we were obliged to wait for a time. That waiting served us well. Trifles, mere trifles, such as we can scarcely repeat to you, made us believe that this man was ‘somebody.’ We watched those who came about our place at Greenwich; then we watched those who came about Newgate. We got, after great trouble, a hint or two; we acted upon what we received, and were ultimately able to connect the man ‘Ward’ with Peckham; then from Peckham we worked Nottingham and Sheffield, and then the case gradually worked itself into shape.’
“For the police it was a lucky thing Mrs. ‘Ward’ took those two boxes to Sheffield.
“That, I believe, was really the first indication that Blackheath and Bannercross were connected.
“It suddenly flashed across one of the Greenwich division that this mysterious man, who called himself a ‘half-caste,’ resembled in every respect except one the man so urgently ‘wanted’ at Sheffield.
“That exception was his hair, particularly the absence of beard and whiskers. Height, breadth, eyes, manner of talking, singularity of fingers, and wide, straddling walk—to quote the police description, ‘walking with his legs apart’—all tallied. Put beard and whiskers upon that face, and it was—Peace.
“Inspector Bonny went to Nottingham; Inspector Phillips to Sheffield.
“Phillips was shown a portrait of Peace. He was confirmed in his suspicions. The photograph resembled the man in Newgate so closely that he had no doubt as to the identity.
“The rest of the story you know. How Phillips and Twibell found the property at Darnall in the possession of Mrs. Peace, how the property was identified as part of the proceeds of the Blackheath burglaries, how Police-constable Morris came to London and identified Peace in Newgate, and (as I telegraphed to you) how the Treasury, appreciating the importance of the case in the light of the identification, undertook the prosecution on its own account.
“To Police-officer Robinson undoubtedly belongs in the first instance the credit of capturing Peace. He unquestionably risked his life in his courageous encounter with the desperate convict, and well deserves such recognition as has been suggested by your correspondent.