PRISONERS AND THEIR CUSTODIANS.
One of the most remarkable and daring exploits of our time, and one which more than any other of his adventures awakened the public mind to the desperate and reckless nature of the man was his attempt to escape while in the charge of his warders in the railway carriage. This might be considered the culminating point of his lawless life, and had he been without handcuffs, and possessed of his favourite weapon—a six-chambered revolver—we would not have given much for the lives of his two custodians. It was indeed fortunate for them that the wild beast under their care was safely manacled, and, indeed, the great body of the people had no idea of the risks run by the servants of the law in dealing with ruffians of Peace’s type. We subjoin an interesting account given by an officer, and printed in Chambers’s Journal of
A PERILOUS RIDE WITH A CONVICT.
One of my journeys called me away to a town in Suffolk, where I was ordered to take charge of a prisoner to be discharged the next day from one of the local gaols, in which he had been undergoing a year’s imprisonment for a criminal assault.
The man had been let out on a ticket-of-leave from the “Defence” hulk at Woolwich, and had speedily, as it appeared, got into trouble down in the country.
As he was merely “wanted” to complete his original sentence—having broken his ticket-of-leave—there could be no bother about apprehending him inside the prison, and using such precautions for his safe keeping as seemed best to my judgment.
Just as I was about to leave the office in Bow-street, one of my comrades with whom I was rather intimate came in, having finished a journey such as I was myself about to set off on.
“Going out, Tom?” he asked; and on my telling him where I was bound for, he continued—“Better have this ‘barker,’ Tom—you may find it useful.”
At the same time he produced a small pocket pistol, which he held out for my acceptance.
“I have not got any powder,” he added; but here are some caps and bullets.”