On one occasion, when speaking of the murder to a relative at Hull, he said he was truly sorry for the young Habron who was sentenced to death, and subsequently let off with penal servitude for life, and said if he could get him his liberty, without sacrificing his own, he would do so.
At one time the crime appeared to weigh so heavily upon him that he declared he would draw plans of the place, showing precisely the spot where the murder was committed, and trscing the course of his flight from it, and forward them to the authorities, with a full statement of the facts, but withholding his name.
He thought, perhaps, that would lead to inquiry, and to the liberation of Habron. He did not carry out his intention at the time, and subsequently he said he should abandon it; but if he ever did get into trouble, one of his first acts would be to try to prove the innocence of Habron.
Peace did get into trouble, and a few days after he had himself been sentenced to death he bethought him of his determination.
He knew there was no prospect of a reprieve being obtained in his case; he knew that, say what he would, no further harm could come upon him; and he therefore set to work upon his plans and his confession, that he might do tardy justice to the young man he had so grievously wronged.
On Monday the Mrs. Peace visited him in his cell he was engaged upon the plans, and a hint was quite sufficient to let her know what he was doing.
When Mrs. Bolsover was with him on Wednesday he had completed his work—done, he said, all that lay in his power to secure the liberation of Habron; a load seemed taken off his mind, and he conversed with her freely on the subject.
He begged of her not to let this additional proof of his baseness trouble either her or the rest of his family, and said if there was anything more that he could do to prove his own guilt and Habron’s innocence, he would gladly do it.
To the Rev. J. H. Littlewood, Vicar of Darnall, he told the same story, and when the subject was referred to, Peace adhered to all he had previously said upon it, and declared that he had spoken nothing with respect to it but the most naked truth.
There is no foundation whatever for the story that Peace had spoken about a crime committed by him seven or eight years before, or that he persisted in saying it was as long since he shot the policeman at Manchester.