But the proceedinge came to a standstill in a most extraordinary manner.
On Wednesday morning by a determined and nearly successful attempt at escape, by leaping from an express train, Charles Peace, alias Ward—notorious as the hero of the Blackheath burglaries, and accused, on the evidence of Mrs. Dyson, of having murdered Mr. Dyson at Bannercross, near Sheffield—added another startling chapter to the strange, eventful history with which the public are already familiar.
The facts of this daring attempt are briefly as follows:—The prisoner Peace left King’s-cross, London, by the 5.15 Great Northern train, accompanied by two warders from Pentonville Prison, where he had been confined, and he ought to have arrived at Victoria Station, Sheffield, at 8 54 a.m. The warders, who have been very much censured in Sheffield, have stated that when they brought Peace from London he was exceedingly troublesome throughout the whole journey, and wanted to leave the train whenever it stopped, and indeed when it was travelling.
At Peterborough he was allowed to get out, and the warders had considerable difficulty in gettlng him back when they urged him to return, as he was keeping the train waiting. He answered them sneeringly, “What have I to do with caring for trains?”
By way of precaution against this annoyance the chief warder states that he provided himself with a number of little bags, and that whenever Peace required it one of them was handed to him, and was afterwards thrown out of the window.
It is clear that the desperado had been on the lookout for a favourable opportunity of making his escape, and at last it came. He pretended great weakness, and used several of the bags on the way.
This may partly account for the fact that he had no irons on his lower limbs. His handcuffs were fastened with a chain about six inches long between them, and another chain for the warders to hold him by.
The point selected was peculiarly favourable to the attempt.
Between Worksop and Shireoaks—so called from certain oaks under which the three shires of Nottingham, York, and Derby meet—the ground is comparatively level; the country is also well adapted by the neighbourhood of the forests, as well as by old lime-pits and coal-workings, to offer temporary shelter to a criminal.
Peace, it is known, is well acquainted with the district, having tramped it repeatedly when some of his many enterprises were unsuccessful.