The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-07-21
SOME PECULIAR CRIMES.
INTERESTING STORIES RELATED
BY AN ENGLISH LAWYER.


Among Them.
From the Philadelphia Times.
The recently published "reminiscences Of
Montagu Williams, Q. c., give an inside
view of many of the great criminal trials
in London Of the past twenty years, during
which time Mr.. Williams has been among
the foremost of English criminal lawyers.
Among other interesting stories he relates
the life and tragic death of Charles Peace,
gentleman, burglar and murderer. The
leading features of his career are well sum-
married. He was first tried for. shoot
ing at Police Constable Robinson,
who arrested him in the act of
burglary, and he was sentenced to penal
servitude for life. That was in 1878, and in
1879 he was removed from Pentonville to
Sheffield to be tried for numbering Dir.
| Dyson three years earlier. On the way
down he leaped from the train, springing
right through the open window. He fell.
badly injured, but recovered. was tried and
| sentenced to death. He then confessed to
having also murdered policeman at Man
chester in 1879, a crime for which an inno-
cent man was undergoing penal servitude
for life.
ut was not long before full particulars of
| Peace's career came to light It appears
that after numbering Mr. Dyson he went to
| Hull, and there broke into gentlemans
house, making off with quantity of plate
and valuable jewelry. He then went and
lived with a near relative at Nottingham
| After bl eaking into a warehouse in the
neighborhood and stealing, among other
things, a large assortment of silk goods, he
moved about the Midland counties, com
hitting daring robberies almost wherever he
| went.
Some four or five months after the muir
der Peace came to London and took up his
abode in Lambeth. He pursued his calling
| there with vengeance. Scarcely a night
passed but he broke into a house, aud these
| repeated depredations gave rise to the
greatest excitement and indignation in the
| locality. The police did not know what on
earth to do. All their efforts TO trace the
offender we're in vain. In little while the
| inhabitants of Lambeth came to the conclu
sion that there was gang of daring robbers
| In their midst, and it was surmised that the
| gang must be amassing great riches.
| @Lambeth at length got too warm for
| Peace and he shifted his residence to Green
| wlch, where he took handsome house,
which he furnished in the most lavish
| manner.
| Among his new neighbors Peace passed
a gentleman of Independent means, and he
was looked up to as man who had done
we'll in the world. In little while Green
| wich became as notorious for burglaries as
| Lambeth had been. Night after night the
| houses OF leading residents were broken
open, large quantities of plate, jewelry and
other valuables being extracted. After
| time Peace went to house-breaking in Peck
| ham and succeeded in finding a residence
there to his liking. He already had one
housekeeper and, thinking that she might be
lonely, he now engaged a second. The fur
1 49,. hat k.1 -.asls
| quite meeting his fastidious requirements,
he bought fresh, and equipped his house
| almost as though it were the abode of
| nobleman. In the drawing room, for
| instance, was suite of walnut that must
have cost some 60 guineas, Turkey carpet
and several magnificent mirrors. Upon his
| bijou piano lay an deliberately inlaid
| Spanish guitar worth about 80 guineas,
and which, by the by, he was said to have
| stolen from a countess. The entire house
| was a model of comfort Peace even in
dulged in the luxury Of prettily beaded
slippers.
1t was on Oct. that Peace broke into the
house at BlackheaUh, shot the policeman,
| Robinson, and was arrested. 1t frequently
transpired that, before he started for Black
heath, he had a little musical evening at
home. He played the violin, one of his
housekeepers sang and the other accom-
panied them on the piano.
A verdict of acquittal, which Mr.. Will
Jams once got, he has always regretted 1t
was case of the most cruel and heartless
| murder in his experience.
Some five and twenty miles from the as
size town, where the trial took place, stood
| public house kept by a widow. She was
| a great favorite in the neighborhood and
was frequently engaged in charitable
| offices. 1t was we'll known that she pos
| sessed snug little income, for, besides the
public house, she owned several small cot
tages in the neighborhood, having por-
chased them out of her savings She was
| a comedy, buxom woman of about 40 years
of age
One winters night, as she was sitting in
her bar parlor, q tramp-a poor, broken
down, Notwithstanding man-appeared in
the doorway and besought assistance. He
| said that he was starving, having tasted
neither bit nor sup for days, and this tale
| so worked up the feeling of the good-natured
| widow that she gave him some meat and
beer 1t was bitterly cold and the man,
when he had finished the meal implored the
| additional favor of sleeping accommodation
for the night. He should only be too CRATE
full, he said. for permission to lie in the stable
| or one of the outhouses 1t was not in the
nature Of the good woman to refuse kind
ness of the description, and she granted the
mans request. The next morning she in
| quired still further into her visitors history
and condition, and being moved bv the dis
tressng story he told her she agreed to let
him stay on as a handyman about the
| house.
That there grew to be a more intimate re-
lation between the parties cannot be
| doubted. In time, he who had been a way
farer and an outcast became the manager
of the little public house, in which
capacity he was to all appearances
a most respectable man. his life
being apparently happy and prosperous
one. 1t was part of the managers duty to
go around to the cottages and collect the
rents for his mistress, who subsequently
banked the money. On certain quarter
day he took out the horse and cart and
started of to pay his customary visit to the
cottages. They were some distance away,
and it was not possible for him to return
until late at night. All the other inmates
of the public house went to bed, but the
landlady herself sat up in order to give her
manager some supper when he returned.
Next morning the little bar parlor pre-
septed horrible spectacle. The corpse of
the widow lay on the ground beside the fire.
place in a pool of blood The head was lit
orally severed from the body. The drawers.
the cash box and till had been rifed, and
everything OF value that had been in the
room had been stolen Beneath the woman's
body was frying-pan in which were some