“Sir,—I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to acknowledge the receipt of your application on behalf of Charles Peace, and I am to acquaint you that the same will be fully considered.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
“A. F. O. Liddell.”
MR. BRION ALSO CLAIMS A REWARD.
The Central News said at this time Mr. Brion, of 22, Philip-road, Peckham, had prepared for the Treasury a statement of his work in connection with this case, in order that payment might be made him for his services.
It was with Mr. Brion that Peace was engaged in perfecting his invention for raising sunken ships; in fact, witness and the prisoner, in their quieter days, were in the habit of taking a large model ship, which had been built by them for experimenting in regard to the invention, to the pond at Peckham Rye, where they attracted the general attention of the neighbourhood.
Brion claims to have been the first to identify Peace after his apprehension for the Blackheath burglary. The notorious convict, when in Newgate, wrote to Mr. Brion in the name of Ward, on Nov. 3rd, beseeching him to come and see him, and attributing the whole of his misfortunes to drink.
Mr. Brion went to Newgate to see who the man was, and was very much surprised to find it was Mr. Thompson, his friend and neighbour. This fact he at once communicated to the governor of the gaol, and the police, being put on the alert, searched Thompson’s house at Nunhead.
The woman Thompson, it will be recollected, had got herself into the meshes of the law by being a party after the crime and acting as a receiver of his stolen goods.
No. 94.
