The doors of the guard’s van were thrown open, and at the same time the doors of the prison van. Out of the latter stepped members of the Sheffield force, and then came the warders carrying their burden.
He was promptly lifted into the guard’s van, moaning piteously, and placed on the floor. Then his mattress and rugs were carried in, and a bed prepared for him, and on it he was laid and covered up.
He appeared glad to curl himself up under the rugs and to hide himself from the gaze of the bystanders; for notwithstanding the utmost exertions of the police and the officials at the station, a great number of people got near, and many hundreds more crowded the bridge across the line and other points from which they could see what was passing.
The warders, Inspector Bradbury, and Police-constable Capel, entered the van with the prisoner, and the doors were then shut and bolted.
The people surged round the window, anxious to catch a glimpse of the prisoner, but all that the most favoured could see was what was very much like a heap of rugs on a mattress.
Amongst the crowd was Police-constable Robinson, who was shot by Peace at Blackheath. He came forward and shook hands with the warders through the window, and had a look at the man with whom he had had such a deadly encounter.
After waiting a short time the train from London arrived in the station, the guard’s van was pushed up from the siding to it, and the train went on its journey.
The van was detached from the train at Sandal and Walton, and hooked on to the train for Wakefield, where it arrived soon after three o’clock. One of the warders left the van and called a cab, and into it Peace was lifted.
Accompanied by his two warders and Inspector Bradbury, he was driven to Wakefield prison, where he was safely lodged.
The warders were supplied with the necessary documentary evidence that Peace had been handed over to the officials at Wakefield, and later in the evening they set out on their return journey to Pentonville.