The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-02-08 00:00:00

whirl had ben ad,dhoed be,forp them was such as to lead to
the conclusion that he had committed murder, and that
there was no solid ground on which the defence could be
rested, then they should bear in mind that they owed a duty
to the community at large, and not lose sight oLthe obliga-
tion which they had incurred by the oaths which they had
taken.
- - •

-----
The jury then retired, at thirteen minutes past
seven, to consider their verdict. They returned at
twenty-five minutes past, having been exactly twelve
minutes absent; and, in reply to the Clerk of Ar-
raigns, who asked whether they had agreed upon their
verdict, and whether they found the prisoner Charles
Peace guilty or not guilty, the foreman said, Guilty.
The prisoner, who was at this stage held by three
warders, one on each side and one at his back, was
then asked in the usual way why sentence should not
be passed upon him. His lips were seen to move as
though he was speaking, but no words were heard to
issue from them, though some persons who were close
to him understood him to utter some such words as
"Is it any use my saying anything?"
The Judge then proceeded to pass sentence upon
the culprit. He said,—Charles Peace, after a most
patient trial and after every argument has been
urged by your learned counsel on your behalf which
ingenuity could suggest, you have been found guilty
of the murder of Arthur Dyson by a jury of your
fellow-coulatrymen. It is not my duty—still less is
it my desire—to aggravate your feelings at this
moment by recapitulating any portion of the details
of what I fear I can only call your criminal career. I
implore you during the short time which may remain
to you in life to prepare for eternity. I pass upon you
the sentence, the only sentence, which the law permits
in a case of this kind. (Having assumed the black
cap, his Lordship concluded by passing sentence in the
usual form.)
The prisoner was then supported out of the dock to
the cells, and p,,litely bowed to his counsel as he was
borne from the dock.

Wednesday's Sheffield Telegraph says "At thirteen
minutes past seven me jury retired to consider their verdict,
and Peace was removed below. In twelve minutes the jury
returned with their verdict—the verdict everybody, yerhaps
not even excepting the prisoner, expected. The convict
had been brought back to hear it. When it was given
Peace seemed greatly affected, and had to be supported by
three warders. In response to the usual inquiry why sen-
tence should not be passed upon him his lips were seen to
move, but no words escaped from his lips. The judge then
assumed the black cap, and pronounced sentence of death.
The prisoner grasped at the iron railings, and would have
fallen had the warders not seized him. Before he left the
dock he bowed to his counsel and the solicitors, and said, "I
thank you." As he was being helped from the dock, and
was dissappearing down the steps the last words he was
heard to say were. "Oh mercy ! Oh my God !" lhere was
intense and painful excitement in the court. Immediately
after receiving sentence the convict was remove to Armley
Gaol, there to await the execution. The news of the verdict
and sentence was received in Sheffield with feelings of
general satisfaction and relief."

Immediately after the trial of Peace was over he was re-
moved from the dock, handcuffed, and the leg-chains put
upon him. The prison van was then backed to the inner
gate of the Town-ball. Peace walked through the corridor
to the gates, muttering as he went He was lifted into the
van and was drivel to Armley Gaol shortly before eight
o'clock. A crowd of people had assembled near the
gates in the hope of getting a glimpse of the condemned
culprit as he was being removed, but they were disappointed
Mr. Keene, the governor of the gaol, accompanied the van,
and there was one warder outside, and four warders were
inside with Peace. The only meals he had on Tuesday at the
Town-hall were breakfast and dinner, both of which he ate
heartily. • The previous night he was in the sick room with
three warders, another being stationed on guard at the
door of the room. On Wednesday morning the convict pro-
fessed to be extremely ill, and unable to take food.

The Daily Telegraph thus describes the closing scene
of the trial
"During the summing up of the judge the convict eat very
still, no longer an amuaed spectator, but an earnest listener,
paying the greatest attention to the condensation of the
evidence as presented to the jury, and only shaking his head
when anything more than usually powerful was cited
against him. As the judge concluded his remarks by charging
the jury to do their duty if you think he has com-
mitted murder,' Peace's head bent to his breast.
There was a murmur and a hum as the judge rose,
and Peace was carried downstairs, while the jury
retired, taking with them the revolver and photograph.
That murmur increased as the body servant of the judge
brought in the black cap and laid it on the desk, just close
to the candles, and where everybody might see it. But
the jury had not yet returned; and the court, full of
spectators, was soon buzzing with the comments of an
eager, expectant assembly. People were speculating on
the possibility of the jury disagreeing, though nobody
seemed seriously to think that they could do so. Only ten
minutes had elapsed when the cry of ' Silence ! ' pro-
claimed the return of the Twelve. The judge came back
and took his seat; in, too, came the officials and filled
their places. There was yet another scuffle heard upon a
staircase, and. then Peace once more was seen borne into the
dock on the arms of six strong men. As they placed
him in his chair all stoo up around him, the officers
on either side retaining a hold upon his arms while the
clerk of the court was challenging the jury and demanding
of them if they were agreed in their verdict.'How say
you, is the prisoner guilty or not guilty ? ' So intense
is now the silence as the crowded assemblage leans
forward that a pin falling might be beard, and thus
the reply, Guilty, rings out with a strange clearness and
sternness in the court. All eyes are turned on Peace, who,
still sitting, whimpers out a word or two of faftering reason
why he should not be hanged, but the judge, already ad-
dressing him, stops short his plea. Soon are heard the
dread words 'hanged by the neck until you be dead, your
body buried within the precincts of the gaol ; and
may t e Lord have mercy on your soul.' These
are the last accents the miserable criminal hears.
The condemned wretch is quickly seized, hoisted
out of the chair, and already on his way from the court,
when a sudden fancy—no one can tell what it is—te!zes him,
and, with a flash of desperation on his countenance, he
clutches the rail of the dock.. tut it is only for an instant
Stronger arms than his loose his hold and bear him swiftly
away. A moment longer,, and he has passed to the cells
below, and judge, jurymen, counsel, and spectators are all
quitting the solemn presence of justice"

The Times, in a leader commenting upon Peace's career,
says that "be may claim a remarkable place amorg the
great criminals of modern days. . .• . Though repeatedly
convicted, he was, on the whole, favoured by fortune. His
recklessness in shooting at policemen and others who
attempted to arrest him brought him two or three times
to the verge of murder before and after his flight from
Banner-cross. Ms personal strength and agility must
have been remarkable a weaker man would often have
been captured where he escaped, partly by audacity,'
partly by promptitude and craft. A still more singular gift
was his power of facial contortion, in which be appears to
have equalled some of the greatest actors, and on which
he relied so confidently that he ventured to face the
police in Sheffield alter the murder of Mr. Dyson,
and was never detected. The energy, the daring, the
ingenuity of the man are neither to be denied nor
despised. The cool determination with which he
organized his lawless expeditions, buying a pony and trap
with the proceeds of a lucrative robbery in order to 'work
the business' more readily and rapidly in the future, will
no doubt, be regarded with gaping admiration by less
skilful practitioners in crime. Yet even these, if they
took thought, must see what a miserable and hideously
barren failure such a career is after all. Peace is a
very clever, a very strong-willed criminal, but society
has conquered, kim in the long run. Nay, before justice laid
her grasp upon him the iron had already entered into his
soul. Heil, believed to be still under fifty years of age, yet
as he appeared in court he was a prematurely old and
worn man. The anxieties of his long battle against the
world of honest men had been too much for his
rugged force and brutal endurance. Even had the
charge of murder been never brought home to him be
must have felt, when he was carried a prisoner to Sheffield,
that the game was up. His mad leap from the train within
sight of his former home at Darnall was not a foiled effort to
escape, but a deliberate attempt at suicide— a miserable
confession, in very deed, of the guilt and failure which the
sentence of death has solemnly ratified."

• - -
There was an extraordinary attendance on Tuesday at the
auction rooms of Mr. Harvey, in Sheffield, where three'
violins belonging to Peace were announced for sale, the pro-
ceeds beinis devoted to his legal defence land. The first in-
strument disposed of was a copy of the " Duke " fiddle,
said to have been purchased by the prisoner six years
ago. The bidding commenced at £.l, and ran up very
rapidly to £2l. 10s. 6d., at which sum it was bought. The
next was a " Kit " violin. The first bid was bs., but £0 10s.
was ultimately offered, and at that mice it was knocked down.
A violin, said to have been made by Peace himself, and bearing
his name, was purchased for £6los. A 'small grand" piano,
formerly the property of Peace, was sold for 24i guineas.

SIR CHARLES DILKE AND HIS '
CONSTITUENTS.
Sir Charles Dilke, M.P., adiressed his constituents
on Tuesday 'night at Lillie-bridge. A considerable
portion of his speech consisted of a criticism of the
foreign policy of the Government, which he charac-
terized as one of blustering timidity, that would prove
as costly as a bold policy would have done. Sir
Charles Dilke held that the Ministry had especially
blundered in its treatment of Greece and'in the division
of Bulgaria. With respect to home matters he ex-
pressed his conviction that no important domestic
legislation was to be expected from the present
Cabinet. Sir Charles stated that he could not vote for
the closing of public-houses on Sundays; but he would
vote for the resolution which Sir Wilfrid Lawson had
announced his intention to propose, and he believed
nearly the whole of the Liberal party would do like-
wise. On the motion of Mr. Mundella, M.P., a vote
of confidence in Sir Charles Dilke was passed.

DESTRUCTION BY FIRE OF THE
THEATRE ROYAL, GLASGOW.
On Sunday morning the Glasgow Theatre Royal,
one of the largest and best-equipped theatres in the
kingdom, was destroyed by fire. At the close of
Saturday night's performance, curiously enough the
last performance of the season of pantomime, the
theatre doors were all locked, Mr. Knapp, the
manager, and a few gentlemen remaining inside.
Shortly after midnight Mr. Knapp heard a rushing
sound as if a pipe had burst, and on looking into the
theatre he found nearly the whole house in flames.
The only door which he and those with him had the
means of opening could not be reached because of the
flames. They tried to burst first one door, then another,
but failed, and it was only after drawing the atten-
tion of people outside and having a door forcibly
opened that the party were able to escape from the
fire, which was fast approaching them. Mrs.
Smith, wardrobe-keeper, had a narrow escape.
She sometimes sleeps all night in her room lie the
theatre, and on this occasion, having decided to do so,
was in bed and asleep while the house was burning.
She was awakened by persons shouting to her from
the outside, and to escape she had to leap from a second-
storey window into a number of ulster coats which were
tied together and held up to break her fall. The in-
juries she received were not serious, but her escape from
the fire was not made a moment too soon. A soldier in
rendering assistance fell through the glass roof of an
adjoining building, and was severely hurt. The
efforts of the fire brigade had little effect upon the
flames, and the destruction of the theatre was watched
by an enorna3us crowd, amongst whom great excite-
ment prevailed.
The Theatre Royal was erected in 1867, at a cost
of £30,000. and could not now be replaced much under
£40,000. Having perhaps the largest stage of any
provincial theatre, its scenic display's, especially at
pantomime times, have been a successful feature in its
history. Mr. William Glover has been lessee for ten
years, and during this period the theatre has regularly
been visited by all the notable actors and actresses in
tile kingdom.

The other day, Mr. Preece, the electrician to the
Post-office, delivered a lecture on the electric light at the
United Service Inatitut lon. Hie main contention was that,
while the light will be useful iu Illuminating largo spaces
such as dottcyard( s. squares. Tisrehmes, and so forth tie
iost tAi the iitikitittty of stvii • t sh its
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