icult to determine. In that lies the mystery of the case Mrs. Dyson
is described as an attractive woman, "buxom and blooming"; she was
dark-haired, and about twenty-five years of age. In an interview with
the Vicar of Darnall a few days before his execution, Peace asserted
positively that Mrs. Dyson had been his mistress. Mrs. Dyson as
strenuously denied the fact. There was no question that on one occasion
Peace and Mrs. Dyson had been photographed together, that he had given
her a ring, and that he had been in the habit of going to music halls
and public-houses with Mrs. Dyson, who was a woman of intemperate
habits.

Peace had introduced Mrs. Dyson to his wife and daughter, and on one
occasion was said to have taken her to his mother's house, much to the
old lady's indignation. If there were not many instances of ugly men who
have been notably successful with women, one might doubt the likelihood
of Mrs. Dyson falling a victim to the charms of Charles Peace. But
Peace, for all his ugliness, could be wonderfully ingratiating when he
chose. According to Mrs. Dyson, Peace was a demon, "beyond the power of
even a Shakespeare to paint," who persecuted her with his attentions,
and, when he found them rejected, devoted all his malignant energies
to making the lives of her husband and herself unbearable. According to
Peace's story he was a slighted lover who had been treated by Mrs. Dyson
with contumely and ingratitude.

Whether to put a stop to his wife's intimacy with Peace, or to protect
himself against the latter's wanton persecution, sometime about the end
of June, 1876, Dyson threw over into the garden of Peace's house a card,
on which was written: "Charles Peace is requested not to interfere with
my family." On July 1 Peace met Mr. Dyson in the street, and tried to
trip him up. The same night he came up to Mrs. Dyson, who was talking
with some friends, and threatened in coarse and violent language to
blow out her brains and those of her husband. In consequence of
these incidents Mr. Dyson took out a summons against Peace, for whose
apprehension a warrant was issued. To avoid the consequences of this
last step Peace left Darnall for Hull, where he opened an eating-shop,
presided over by Mrs. Peace.

But he himself was not idle. From Hull he went to Manchester on
business, and in Manchester he committed his first murder. Entering the
grounds of a gentleman's home at Whalley Range, about midnight on
August 1, he was see