But, if “justice steals along with woollen feet, it strikes with iron hands.”
Mrs. Dyson was brought back from the United States to avenge in the witness-box the brutality of her tormentor.
Her evidence as to all that transpired on the eventful night that her husband fell was too minute and circumstantial to be shaken by even the severest cross-examination.
The line of evidence which counsel was instructed to take only deepened the infamy of the accused.
Even had it been possible to prove an improper intimacy between Peace and Mrs. Dyson, that would have done nothing to mitigate the atrocity of Mr. Dyson’s murder.
A most persistent effort was made by Mr. Lockwood to show that, previous to the firing of the shot from which Mr. Dyson fell, there had been a struggle between the murderer and his victim.
On this point, however, the widow’s evidence was decisive. There was indeed no necessity that Mr. Dyson should close with the culprit.
Moreover, inoffensive people are not usually anxious to fight ruffians who are armed with “six-shooters.”
When Peace was in a difficulty or in a passion, recourse to firearms seemed perfectly natural. Society was his legitimate prey, and in presence of unarmed antagonists the burglar waxed valorous. Rarely has a more wanton murder been perpetrated than that of Mr. Dyson.
The only offence of which that unfortunate man appeared guilty was his abhorrence of the attentions of Peace. To escape them, he removed from the neighbourhood in which the convict dwelt.