A Book of Remarkable CriminalsIrving, H. B. (Henry Brodribb)
History
A Book of Remarkable Criminals
Irving, H. B. (Henry Brodribb)
Criminals -- Biography
Peace went to Gregory's house, but his friend was not at home. The lure
of the Dysons was irresistible. A little after eight o'clock Peace was
watching the house from a passageway that led up to the backs of the
houses on the terrace. He saw Mrs. Dyson come out of the back door,
and go to an outhouse some few yards distant. He waited. As soon as
she opened the door to come out, Mrs. Dyson found herself confronted
by Peace, holding his revolver in his hand. "Speak," he said, "or I'll
fire." Mrs. Dyson in terror went back. In the meantime Dyson, hearing
the disturbance, came quickly into the yard. Peace made for the passage.
Dyson followed him. Peace fired once, the shot striking the lintel
of the passage doorway. Dyson undaunted, still pursued. Then Peace,
according to his custom, fired a second time, and Dyson fell, shot
through the temple. Mrs. Dyson, who had come into the yard again on
hearing the first shot, rushed to her husband's side, calling out:
"Murder! You villain! You have shot my husband." Two hours later Dyson
was dead.
After firing the second shot Peace had hurried down; the passage into
the roadway. He stood there hesitating a moment, until the cries of Mrs.
Dyson warned him of his danger. He crossed the road, climbed a wall,
and made his way back to Sheffield. There he saw his mother and brother,
told them that he had shot Mr. Dyson, and bade them a hasty good-bye.
He then walked to Attercliffe Railway Station, and took a ticket for
Beverley. Something suspicious in the manner of the booking-clerk made
him change his place of destination. Instead of going to Beverley that
night he got out of the train at Normanton and went on to York. He spent
the remainder of the night in the station yard. He took the first train
in the morning for Beverley, and from there travelled via Collingham
to Hull. He went straight to the eating-house kept by his wife, and
demanded some dinner. He had hardly commenced to eat it when he heard
two detectives come into the front shop and ask his wife if a man called
Charles Peace was lodging with her. Mrs. Peace said that that was
her husband's name, but that she had not seen him for two months. The
detectives proposed to search the house. Some customers in the shop told
them that if they had any business with Mrs. Peace, they ought to go
round to the side door. The polite susceptibility of these customers
gave Peace time to slip up to a back room, get out on to an adjoining
roof, and hide behind a chimney stack, where he remained until the
detectives had finished an exhaustive search. So importunate were the
officers in Hull that once again during the day Peace had to repeat this
experience. For some three weeks, however, he contrived to remain in
Hull. He shaved the grey beard he was wearing at the time of Dyson's
murder, dyed his hair, put on a pair of spectacles, and for the first
time made use of his singular power of contorting his features in such
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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