in the lives of those famous men who have perished on the scaffold their behaviour during the interval between their condemnation and their execution has always been the subject of curiosity and interest.
it may be said at once that nothing could have been more deeply religious, more sincerely repentant, more christian to all appearances than peace's conduct and demeanour in the last weeks of his life. he threw himself into the work of atonement with the same uncompromising zeal and energy that he had displayed as a burglar. by his death a truly welcome and effective recruit was lost to the ranks of the contrite and converted sinners. however powerless as a controlling force—and he admitted it—his belief in god and the devil may have been in the past, that belief was assured and confident, and in the presence of death proclaimed itself with vigour, not in words merely, but in deeds.
in obedience to the wishes of his family, peace had refrained from seeing sue thompson. this was at some sacrifice, for he wished very much to see her and to the last, though he knew that she had betrayed him, sent her affectionate and forgiving messages. these were transmitted to sue by mr. brion. this disingenuous gentleman was a fellow-applicant with sue to the treasury for pecuniary recognition of his efforts in bringing about the identification of peace, and furnishing the police with information as to the convict's disposal of his stolen property. in his zeal he had even gone so far as to play the role of an accomplice of peace, and by this means discovered a place in petticoat lane where the burglar got rid of some of his booty.
after peace's condemnation mr. brion visited him in armley jail. his purpose in doing so was to wring from his co-inventor an admission that the inventions which they had patented together were his work alone. peace denied this, but offered to sell his share for l50. brion refused the offer, and persisted in his assertion that peace had got his name attached to the patents by undue influence, whatever that might mean. peace, after wrestling with the spirit, gave way. "very well, my friend," he said, "let it be as you say. i have not cheated you, heaven knows. but i also know that this infamy of mine has been the cause of bringing harm to you, which is the last thing i should have wished to have caused to my friend." a deed of gift was drawn up, making over to brion peace's share in their inventions; this peace handed to brion as the price of the latter's precious forgiveness and a token of the sincerity of his colleague's repentance. thus, as has often happened in this sad world, was disreputable genius exploited once again by smug mediocrity. mr. brion, having got all he wanted, left the prison, assuring the governor that peace's repentance was "all bunkum," and advising, with commendable anxiety for the public good, that the warders in the condemned cell should be doubled.
peace had one act of atonement to discharge more urgent than displaying christian forbearance towards ignoble associates. that was the righting of william habron, who was now serving the third year of his life sentence for the murder of constable cock at whalley range. peace sent for the governor of the jail a few days before his execution and obtained from him the materials necessary for drawing up a plan. peace was quite an adept at making plans; he had already made an excellent one of the scene of dyson's murder. he now drew a plan of the place where cock had been shot, gave a detailed account of how he came by his death, and made a full confession of his own guilt.
in the confession he described how, some days before the burglary, he had, according to his custom, "spotted" the house at whalley range. in order to do this he always dressed himself respectably, because he had found that the police never suspected anyone who wore good clothes. on the night of the crime he passed two policemen on the road to the house. he had gone into the grounds and was about to begin operations when he heard a rustle behind him and saw a policeman, whom he recognised as one of those he had met in the road, enter the garden. with his well-known agility peace climbed on to the wall, and dropped on to the other side, only to find himself almost in the arms of the second policeman. peace warned the officer to stand back and fired his revolver wide of him. but, as peace said, "these manchester policemen are a very obstinate lot." the constable took out his truncheon. peace fired again and killed him.
soon after the murderer saw in the newspapers that two men had been arrested for the crime. "this greatly interested me," said peace. "i always had a liking to be present at trials, as the public no doubt know by this time." so he went to manchester assizes and saw william habron sentenced to death. "people will say," he said, "that i was a hardened wretch for allowing an innocent man to suffer for the crime of which i was guilty but what man would have given himself up under such circumstances, knowing as i did that i should certainly be hanged?" peace's view of the question was a purely practical one: "now that i am going to forfeit my own life and feel that i have nothing to gain by further secrecy, i think it is right in the sight of god and man to clear this innocent young man." it would have been more right in the sight of god and man to have done it before, but then peace admitted that during all his career he had allowed neither god nor man to influence his actions.
how many men in the situation of peace at the time, with the certainty of death before him if he confessed, would have sacrificed themselves to save an innocent man? cold-blooded heroism of this kind is rare in the annals of crime. nor did peace claim to have anything of the hero about him.
"lion-hearted i've lived,
and when my time comes
lion-hearted i'll die."
though fond of repeating this piece of doggerel, peace would have been the last man to have attributed to himself all those qualities associated symbolically with the lion.
a few days before his execution peace was visited in his prison by mr. littlewood, the vicar of darnall. mr. littlewood had known peace a few years before, when he had been chaplain at wakefield prison. "well, my old friend peace," he said as he entered the cell, "how are you to-day?" "'i am very poorly, sir," replied the convict, "but i am exceedingly pleased to see you." mr. littlewood assured peace that there was at any rate one person in the world who had deep sympathy with him, and that was himself. peace burst into tears. he expressed a wish to unburden himself to the vicar, but before doing so, asked for his assurance that he believed in the truth and sincerity of what he was about to say to him. he said that he preferred to be hanged to lingering out his life in penal servitude, that he was grieved and repentant for his past life. "if i could undo, or make amends for anything i have done, i would suffer my body as i now stand to be cut in pieces inch by inch. i feel, sir, that i am too bad to live or die, and having this feeling i cannot think that either you or anyone else would believe me, and that is the reason why i ask you so much to try to be assured that you do not think i am telling lies. i call my god to witness that all i am saying and wish to say shall be the truth—the whole truth—nothing but the truth." mr. littlewood said that, after carefully watching peace and having regard to his experience of some of the most hardened of criminals during his service in wakefield prison, he felt convinced that peace was in earnest and as sincere as any man could be; he spoke rationally, coherently, and without excitement.
peace was determined to test the extent of the reverend gentleman's faith in his asseverations. "now, sir," he said, "i understand that you still have the impression that i stole the clock from your day-schools." mr. littlewood admitted that such was his impression. "i thought so," replied peace, "and this has caused me much grief and pain, for i can assure you i have so much respect for you personally that i would rather have given you a clock and much more besides than have taken it. at the time your clock was stolen i had reason for suspecting that it was taken by some colliers whom i knew." there was a pause. mr. littlewood thought that peace was going to give him the name of the colliers. but that was not peace's way. he said sharply: "do you now believe that i have spoken the truth in denying that i took your clock, and will you leave me to-day fully believing that i am innocent of doing that?" mr. littlewood looked at him closely and appeared to be deliberating on his reply. peace watched him intently. at last mr. littlewood said, "peace, i am convinced that you did not take the clock. i cannot believe that you dare deny it now in your position, if you really did." once more peace burst into tears, and was unable for some time to speak.
having recovered his self-possession, peace turned to the serious business of confession. he dealt first with the murder of dyson.
he maintained that his relations with mrs. dyson had been of an intimate character. he wanted to see her on the night of the crime in order to get her to induce her husband to withdraw the warrant which he had procured against him; he was tired, he said, of being hunted about from place to place. he intercepted mrs. dyson as she crossed the yard. instead of listening to him quietly mrs. dyson became violent and threatening in her language. peace took out his revolver, and, holding it close to her head, warned her that he was not to be trifled with. she refused to be warned. dyson, hearing the loud voices, came out of his house. peace tried to get away down the passage into banner cross road, but dyson followed and caught hold of him. in the struggle peace fired one barrel of his revolver wide. dyson seized the hand in which peace was holding the weapon. "then i knew," said peace, "i had not a moment to spare. i made a desperate effort, wrenched the arm from him and fired again. all that was in my head at the time was to get away. i never did intend, either there or anywhere else, to take a man's life; but i was determined that i should not be caught at that time, as the result, knowing what i had done before, would have been worse even than had i stayed under the warrant." if he had intended to murder dyson, peace pointed out that he would have set about it in quite a different and more secret way; it was as unintentional a thing as ever was done; mrs. dyson had committed the grossest perjury in saying that no struggle had taken place between her husband and himself.
it is to be remembered that peace and mrs. dyson were the sole witnesses of what took place that night between the two men. in point of credibility there may be little to choose between them, but peace can claim for his account that it was the statement of a dying, and, to all appearances, sincerely repentant sinner.
peace then repeated to mr. littlewood his confession of the killing of constable cock, and his desire that habron should be set free.(11) as to this part of his career peace indulged in some general reflections. "my great mistake, sir," he said, "and i can see it now as my end approaches, has been this—in all my career i have used ball cartridge. i can see now that in using ball cartridge i did wrong i ought to have used blank cartridge; then i would not have taken life." peace said that he hoped he would meet his death like a hero. "i do not say this in any kind of bravado. i do not mean such a hero as some persons will understand when they read this. i mean such a hero as my god might wish me to be. i am deeply grieved for all i have done, and would atone for it to the utmost of my power." to mr. littlewood the moment seemed convenient to suggest that as a practical means of atonement peace should reveal to him the names of the persons with whom he had disposed of the greater part of his stolen property. but in spite of much attempted persuasion by the reverend gentleman peace explained that he was a man and meant to be a man to the end.
(11) william habron was subsequently given a free pardon and l800 by way
of compensation.
earlier in their interview peace had expressed to mr. littlewood a hope that after his execution his name would never be mentioned again, but before they parted he asked mr. littlewood, as a favour, to preach a sermon on him after his death to the good people of darnall. he wished his career held up to them as a beacon, in order that all who saw might avoid his example, and so his death be of some service to society.
before mr. littlewood left, peace asked him to hear him pray. having requested the warders to kneel down, peace began a prayer that lasted twenty minutes. he prayed for himself, his family, his victims, mr. littlewood, society generally, and all classes of the community. mr. littlewood described the prayer as earnest, fervent and fluent. at the end peace asked mr. littlewood if he ought to see mrs. dyson and beg her forgiveness for having killed her husband. mr. littlewood, believing erroneously that mrs. dyson had already left the country, told peace that he should direct all his attention to asking forgiveness of his maker. at the close of their interview peace was lifted into bed and, turning his face to the wall, wept.
tuesday, february 25, was the day fixed for the execution of peace. as the time drew near, the convict's confidence in ultimate salvation increased. a dr. potter of sheffield had declared in a sermon that "all hope of peace's salvation was gone for ever." peace replied curtly, "well, dr. potter may think so, but i don't." though his health had improved, peace was still very feeble in body. but his soul was hopeful and undismayed. on the saturday before his death his brother and sister-in-law, a nephew and niece visited him for the last time. he spoke with some emotion of his approaching end. he said he should die about eight o'clock, and that at four o'clock an inquest would be held on his body; he would then be thrown into his grave without service or sermon of any kind. he asked his relatives to plant a flower on a certain grave in a cemetery in sheffield on the day of his execution. he was very weak, he said, but hoped he should have strength enough to walk to the scaffold. he sent messages to friends and warnings to avoid gambling and drinking. he begged his brother to change his manner of life and "become religious." his good counsel was not apparently very well received. peace's visitors took a depressing view of their relative's condition. they found him "a poor, wretched, haggard man," and, meeting mrs. thompson who was waiting outside the gaol for news of "dear jack," wondered how she could have taken up with such a man.
when, the day before his execution, peace was visited for the last time by his wife, his stepson, his daughter, mrs. bolsover, and her husband, he was in much better spirits. he asked his visitors to restrain themselves from displays of emotion, as he felt very happy and did not wish to be disturbed. he advised them to sell or exhibit for money certain works of art of his own devising. among them was a design in paper for a monument to be placed over his grave. the design is elaborate but well and ingeniously executed; in the opinion of frith, the painter, it showed "the true feeling of an artist." it is somewhat in the style of the albert memorial, and figures of angels are prominent in the scheme. the whole conception is typical of the artist's sanguine and confident assurance of his ultimate destiny. a model boat and a fiddle made out of a hollow bamboo cane he wished also to be made the means of raising money. he was describing with some detail the ceremony of his approaching death and burial when he was interrupted by a sound of hammering. peace listened for a moment and then said, "that's a noise that would make some men fall on the floor. they are working at my own scaffold." a warder said that he was mistaken. "no, i am not," answered peace, "i have not worked so long with wood without knowing the sound of deals; and they don't have deals inside a prison for anything else than scaffolds." but the noise, he said, did not disturb him in the least, as he was quite prepared to meet his fate. he would like to have seen his grave and coffin; he knew that his body would be treated with scant ceremony after his death. but what of that? by that time his soul would be in heaven. he was pleased that one sinner who had seen him on his way from pentonville to sheffield, had written to tell him that the sight of the convict had brought home to him the sins of his own past life, and by this means he had found salvation.
the time had come to say good-bye for the last time. peace asked his weeping relatives whether they had anything more that they wished to ask him. mrs. peace reminded him that he had promised to pray with them at the last. peace, ever ready, knelt with them and prayed for half an hour. he then shook hands with them, prayed for and blessed each one singly, and himself gave way to tears as they left his presence. to his wife as she departed peace gave a funeral card of his own designing. it ran:
in
memory
of
charles peace
who was executed in
armley prison
tuesday february 25th,
1879 aged 47
for that i don but never
intended.
the same day there arrived in the prison one who in his own trade had something of the personality and assurance of the culprit he was to execute. william marwood—unlike his celebrated victim, he has his place in the dictionary of national biography—is perhaps the most remarkable of these persons who have held at different times the office of public executioner. as the inventor of the "long drop," he has done a lasting service to humanity by enabling the death-sentence passed by the judge to be carried out with the minimum of possible suffering. marwood took a lofty view of the office he held, and refused his assent to the somewhat hypocritical loathing, with which those who sanction and profit by his exertions are pleased to regard this servant of the law. "i am doing god's work," said marwood, "according to the divine command and the law of the british crown. i do it simply as a matter of duty and as a christian. i sleep as soundly as a child and am never disturbed by phantoms. where there is guilt there is bad sleeping, but i am conscious that i try to live a blameless life. detesting idleness, i pass my vacant time in business (he was a shoemaker at horncastle, in lincolnshire) and work in my shoeshop near the church day after day until such time as i am required elsewhere. it would have been better for those i executed if they had preferred industry to idleness."
marwood had not the almost patriarchal air of benevolent respectability which his predecessor calcraft had acquired during a short experience as a family butler; but as an executioner that kindly old gentleman had been a sad bungler in his time compared with the scientific and expeditious marwood. the horncastle shoemaker was saving, businesslike, pious and thoughtful. like peace, he had interests outside his ordinary profession. he had at one time propounded a scheme for the abolition of the national debt, a man clearly determined to benefit his fellowmen in some way or other. a predilection for gin would seem to have been his only concession to the ordinary weakness of humanity. and now he had arrived in armley jail to exercise his happy dispatch on the greatest of the many criminals who passed through his hands, one who, in his own words, "met death with greater firmness" than any man on whom he had officiated during seven years of crown employment.
the day of february the 25th broke bitterly cold. like charles i. before him, peace feared lest the extreme cold should make him appear to tremble on the scaffold. he had slept calmly till six o'clock in the morning. a great part of the two hours before the coming of the hangman peace spent in letter-writing. he wrote two letters to his wife, in one of which he copied out some verses he had written in woking prison on the death of their little boy john. in the second he expressed his satisfaction that he was to die now and not linger twenty years in prison. to his daughter, step-son and son-in-law he wrote letters of fervent, religious exhortation and sent them tracts and pictures which he had secured from well-intentioned persons anxious about his salvation. to an old friend, george goodlad, a pianist, who had apparently lived up to his name, he wrote: "you chose an honest industrious way through life, but i chose the one of dishonesty, villainy and sin"; let his fate, he said, be a warning.
peace ate a hearty breakfast and awaited the coming of the executioner with calm. he had been troubled with an inconvenient cough the night before. "i wonder," he said to one of his warders, "if marwood could cure this cough of mine." he had got an idea into his head that marwood would "punish" him when he came to deal with him on the scaffold, and asked to see the hangman a few minutes before the appointed hour. "i hope you will not punish me. i hope you will do your work quickly," he said to marwood. "you shall not suffer pain from my hand," replied that worthy. "god bless you," exclaimed peace, "i hope to meet you all in heaven. i am thankful to say my sins are all forgiven." and so these two pious men—on the morning of an execution marwood always knelt down and asked god's blessing on the work he had to do—shook hands together and set about their business. firmly and fearlessly peace submitted himself to the necessary preparations. for one moment he faltered as the gallows came in sight, but recovered himself quickly.
as marwood was about to cover his face, peace stopped him with some irritation of manner and said that he wished to speak to the gentlemen of the press who had been admitted to the ceremony. no one gainsaid him, and he thus addressed the reporters: "you gentlemen reporters, i wish you to notice the few words i am going to say. you know what my life has been. it has been base; but i wish you to notice, for the sake of others, how a man can die, as i am about to die, in fear of the lord. gentlemen, my heart says that i feel assured that my sins are forgiven me, that i am going to the kingdom of heaven, or else to the place prepared for those who rest until the great judgment day. i do not think i have any enemies, but if there are any who would be so, i wish them well. gentlemen, all and all, i wish them to come to the kingdom of heaven when they die, as i am going to die." he asked a blessing on the officials of the prison and, in conclusion, sent his last wishes and respects to his dear children and their mother. "i hope," he said, "no one will disgrace them by taunting them or jeering them on my account, but to have mercy upon them. god bless you, my dear children. good-bye, and heaven bless you. amen: oh, my lord god, have mercy upon me!"
after the cap had been placed over his head peace asked twice very sharply, as a man who expected to be obeyed, for a drink of water. but this time his request was not compiled with. he died instantaneously and was buried in armley jail.
had peace flourished in 1914 instead of 1874, his end might have been honourable instead of dishonourable. the war of to-day has no doubt saved many a man from a criminal career by turning to worthy account qualities which, dangerous in crime, are useful in war. absolute fearlessness, agility, resource, cunning and determination; all these are admirable qualities in the soldier; and all these charles peace possessed in a signal degree. but fate denied him opportunity, he became a burglar and died on the scaffold. years of prison life failed, as they did in those days, to make any impression for good on one resolute in whatever way he chose to go. peace was a born fighter. a detective who knew him and had on one occasion come near capturing him in london, said that he was a fair fighter, that he always gave fair warning to those on whom he fired, and that, being a dead shot, the many wide shots which he fired are to be reckoned proofs of this. peace maintained to the last that he had never intended to kill dyson. this statement ex-detective parrock believed, and that the fatal shot was fired over peace's shoulder as he was making off. though habitually sober, peace was made intoxicated now and then by the drink, stood him by those whom he used to amuse with his musical tricks and antics in public-houses. at such times he would get fuddled and quarrelsome. he was in such a frame of mind on the evening of dyson's murder. his visit to the vicar of ecclesall brought him little comfort or consolation. it was in this unsatisfactory frame of mind that he went to dyson's house. this much the ex-detective would urge in his favour. to his neighbours he was an awe-inspiring but kind and sympathetic man. "if you want my true opinion of him," says detective parrock, "he was a burglar to the backbone but not a murderer at heart. he deserved the fate that came to him as little as any who in modern times have met with a like one." those who are in the fighting line are always the most generous about their adversaries. parrock as a potential target for peace's revolver, may have erred on the side of generosity, but there is some truth in what he says.
as peace himself admitted, his life had been base. he was well aware that he had misused such gifts as nature had bestowed on him. one must go back to mediaeval times to find the counterpart of this daring ruffian who, believing in personal god and devil, refuses until the end to allow either to interfere with his business in life. in this respect charles peace reminds us irresistibly of our angevin kings.
there is only one criminal who vies with charley peace in that genial popular regard which makes charles "charley" and john "jack," and that is jack sheppard. what jack was to the eighteenth century, that charley was to the nineteenth. and each one is in a sense typical of his period. lecky has said that the eighteenth century is richer than any other in the romance of crime. i think it may fairly be said that in the nineteenth century the romance of crime ceased to be. in the eighteenth century the scenery and dresses, all the stage setting of crime make for romance; its literature is quaint and picturesque; there is something gay and debonair about the whole business.
sheppard is typical of all this. there is a certain charm about the rascal; his humour is undeniable; he is a philosopher, taking all that comes with easy grace, even his betrayal by his brother and others who should have been loyal to him. jack sheppard has the good-humoured carelessness of that most engaging of all eighteenth century malefactors, deacon brodie. it is quite otherwise with charley peace. there is little enough gay or debonair about him. compared with sheppard, peace is as drab as the surroundings of mid-victorian crime are drab compared with the picturesqueness of eighteenth century england.
crime in the nineteenth century becomes more scientific in its methods and in its detection also. the revolver places a more hasty, less decorous weapon than the old-fashioned pistol in the hands of the determined burglar. the literature of crime, such as it is, becomes vulgar and prosaic. peace has no charm about him, no gaiety, but he has the virtues of his defects. he, unlike sheppard, shuns company; he works alone, never depending on accomplices; a "tight cock," as sheppard would have phrased it, and not relying on a like quality of tightness in his fellows. sheppard is a slave to his women, edgeworth bess and mrs. maggot; mrs. peace and sue thompson are the slaves of peace. sheppard loves to stroll openly about the london streets in his fine suit of black, his ruffled shirt and his silver-hilted sword. peace lies concealed at peckham beneath the homely disguise of old mr. thompson. sheppard is an imp, peace a goblin. but both have that gift of personality which, in their own peculiar line, lifts them out from the ruck, and makes them jack and charley to those who like to know famous people by cheery nicknames.
and so we must accept charles peace as a remarkable character, whose unquestioned gifts as a man of action were squandered on a criminal career; neither better nor worse than a great number of other persons, whose good fortune it has been to develop similar qualities under happier surroundings. there are many more complete villains than the ordinary criminal, who contrive to go through life without offending against the law. close and scientific investigation has shown that the average convicted criminal differs intellectually from the normal person only in a slightly lower level of intelligence, a condition that may well be explained by the fact that the convicted criminal has been found out. crime has been happily defined by a recent and most able investigator into the character of the criminal(12) as "an unusual act committed by a perfectly normal person." at the same time, according to the same authority, there is a type of normal person who tends to be convicted of crime, and he is differentiated from his fellows by defective physique and mental capacity and an increased possession of antisocial qualities.(13)
(12) "the english convict," a statistical study, by charles goring, m.d.
his majesty's stationery office, 1913.
(13) murderers—at least those executed for their crimes—have not for
obvious reasons been made the subject of close scientific observation.
their mental capacity would in all probability be found to be rather
higher than that of less ambitious criminals.
how does peace answer to the definition? though short in stature, his physical development left little to be desired: he was active, agile, and enjoyed excellent health at all times. for a man of forty-seven he had aged remarkably in appearance. that is probably to be accounted for by mental worry. with two murders on his conscience we know from sue thompson that all she learnt of his secrets was what escaped from him in his troubled dreams—peace may well have shown traces of mental anxiety. but in all other respects charles peace would seem to have been physically fit. in intellectual capacity he was undoubtedly above the average of the ordinary criminal. the facts of his career, his natural gifts, speak for themselves. of anti-social proclivities he no doubt possessed his share at the beginning, and these were aggravated, as in most cases they were in his day, by prison life and discipline.
judged as scientifically as is possible where the human being is concerned, peace stands out physically and intellectually well above the average of his class, perhaps the most naturally gifted of all those who, without advantages of rank or education, have tried their hands at crime. ordinary crime for the most part would appear to be little better than the last resort of the intellectually defective, and a poor game at that. the only interesting criminals are those worthy of something better. peace was one of these. if his life may be said to point a moral, it is the very simple one that crime is no career for a man of brains.
