It is said that one great object Peace had in view in trying to get Mrs. Dyson to follow his fortunes was that she would be useful to him in disposing of the proceeds of his burglaries. At one time he offered her £50 to take a trip through the country with him.
Peace had a great liking for arms, and succeeded in stealing four revolvers in his burglarious expeditions.
With one of these, a six-chambered weapon, he shot Mr. Dyson at Bannercross, and he used the same revolver when he encountered Police-constable Robinson at Blackheath, and shot him in the arm, just before his capture.
This was his favourite revolver, but he had another, a smaller one, with five chambers, which he practised with at home.
It carried only a very little bullet, not much larger than a pea, and when fired its report was scarcely louder than the crack of a whip. A capital revolver for practice, he frequently used it in his garden, firing at a bottle for a mark, and gaining great proficiency of aim.
The third revolver had seven chambers; and the fourth ten chambers. The six-chambered one was his constant companion, however. He always carried it loaded, slept with it under his pillow, and kept the other three weapons, likewise loaded, in a drawer within easy reach of his bed, so that if his house had been surrounded by police, and they had endeavoured to arrest him, there is no doubt whatever that Peace would have fought to the last, and that he would have been captured at a terrible sacrifice.
He devoted a good deal of attention to his weapons; frequently drew the charges and cleaned them, and always had them ready for use.
The six-chambered revolver was wrested from his grasp at Blackheath by the police; but the other three, together with the ammunition, were sent down to Nottingham, and by a relative of Mrs. Thompson’s were dropped into the canal near the town.
The arrangements for conveying the prisoner to Sheffield, to be then and there examined upon the charge of murdering Mr. Dyson, had been made in what was supposed to be a satisfactory manner, and it was at this time that our hero committed one of the most daring acts in his whole career.
On Wednesday morning, of June 22, 1878, Charles Peace was taken in charge of two stalwart warders to the King’s-cross Station, for the purpose of being conveyed by express train to Sheffield.