He had brought the art of cozening strange
dogs... He had brought the art of cozening strange
dogs to perfection; and for the exigence of escape, his physical equipment
was complete He would resist capture with unparalleled determination,
and though he shuddered at the shedding of blood, he never hesitated
when necessity bade him pull the trigger Moreover, there was no space
into which he would not squeeze his body, and the iron bars were not yet
devised through which he could not make an exit Once--it was at
Nottingham--he was surprised by an inquisitive detective who demanded
his name and trade `I am a hawker of spectacles,' replied Peace, `and
my licence is downstairs Wait two minutes and I'll show it you' The
detective never saw him again Six inches only separated the bars of the
window, but Peace asked no more, and thus silently he won his freedom
True, his most daring feat--the leap from the train--resulted not in liberty,
but in a broken head But he essayed a task too high even for his
endeavour, and, despite his manacles, at least he left his boot in the
astonished warder's grip
No less remarkable than his skill and daring were his means of evasion
Even without a formal disguise he could elude pursuit At an instant's
warning, his loose, plastic features would assume another shape; out shot
his lower jaw, and,
prada evening bags as if by magic, the blood flew into his face until you
might take him for a mulatto Or, if he chose, he would strap his arm to
his side, and let the police be baffled by a wooden mechanism, decently
finished with a hook Thus he roamed London up and down unsuspected,
and even after his last failure at Blackheath, none would have discovered
Charles Peace in John Ward, the Single- Handed Burglar, had not woman's
treachery prompted detection Indeed, he was an epitome of his craft, the
Complete Burglar made manifest
Not only did he plan his victories with previous ingenuity, but he
sacrificed to his success both taste and sentiment His dress was always
of the most sombre; his only wear was the decent black of everyday
godliness The least spice of dandyism might have distinguished him
from his fellows, and Peace's whole vanity lay in his craft Nor did the
paltry sentiment of friendship deter him from his just course When the
panic aroused by the silent burglar was uncontrolled, a neighbour
consulted Peace concerning the safety of his house The robber, having
duly noted the villa's imperfections, and having discovered the hiding-
place of jewellery and plate, complacently rifled it the next night
Though his self-esteem sustained a
purple fendi bags shock, though henceforth his friend
thought meanly of his judgment, he was rewarded with the solid pudding
of plunder, and the world whispered of the mysterious marauder with a yet
colder horror In truth, the large simplicity and solitude of his style sets
him among the Classics, and though others have surpassed him at single
points of the game, he practised the art with such universal breadth and
courage as were then a revolution, and are still unsurpassed
But the burglar ever fights an unequal battle One false step, and
defeat o'erwhelms him For two years had John Ward intimidated the
middle-class seclusion of South London; for two years had he hidden from
a curious world the ugly, furrowed visage of Charles Peace The bald
head, the broad-rimmed spectacles, the squat, thick figure--he stood but
five feet four in his stockings, and adds yet another to the list of little-
great men--should have ensured detection, but the quick change and the
persuasive gesture were omnipotent, and until the autumn of 1878 Peace
was comfortably at large And then an encounter at Blackheath put him
within the clutch of justice His revolver failed in its duty, and, valiant as
A BOOK OF SCOUNDRELS
he was, at last he met his match In
watch ballon de cartier prison he was alternately insolent
and aggrieved He blustered for justice, proclaimed himself the victim of
sudden temptation, and insisted that his intention had been ever innocent
But, none the less, he was sentenced to a lifer, and, the mask of John
Ward being torn from him, he was sent to Sheffield to stand his trial as
Charles Peace The leap from the train is already recorded; and at his last
appearance in the dock he rolled upon the floor, a petulant and broken man
When once the last doom was pronounced, he forgot both fiddle and
crowbar; he surrendered himself to those exercises of piety from which he
had never wavered The foolish have denounced him for a hypocrite, not
knowing that the artist may have a life apart from his art, and that to Peace
religion was an essential pursuit So he died, having released from an
unjust sentence the poor wretch who at Whalley Range had suffered for
his crime, and offering up a consolatory prayer for all mankind In truth,
there was no enemy for whom he did not intercede He prayed for his
gaolers, for his executioner, for the Ordinary, for his wife, for Mrs
Thompson, his drunken doxy, and he went to his death with the sure step
of one who, having done his duty, is reconciled with the world The mob
testified its affectionate admiration by dubbing him `Charley,'
fake d&g and
remembered with effusion his last grim pleasantry `What is the
scaffold?' he asked with sublime earnestness And the answer came
quick and sanctimonious: `A short cut to Heaven!'
III A PARALLEL
A PARALLEL (DEACON BRODIE AND CHARLES PEACE)
NOT a parallel, but a contrast, since at all points Peace is Brodie's
antithesis The one is the austerest of Classics, caring only for the
ultimate perfection of his work The other is the gayest of Romantics,
happiest when by the way he produces a glittering effect, or dazzles the
ear by a vain impertinence Now, it is by thievery that Peace reached
magnificence A natural aptitude drove him from the fiddle to the centre-
bit He did but rob, because genius followed the impulse He had
studied the remotest details of his business; he was sternly professional in
A BOOK OF SCOUNDRELS
the conduct of his life, and, as became an old gaol-bird, there was no antic
of the policeman wherewith he was not familiar Moreover, not only had
he reduced house-breaking to a science, but, being ostensibly nothing
better than a picture- frame maker, he had invented an incomparable set of
tools wherewith to enter and evade his neighbour's
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