The mutilation that gave birth to a talented violinist and an insidious killer (10 photos)

The man lives like a completely ordinary person. And his life is ordinary. A then something happens in it, and a monster comes to replace the person.





Charles Peace was born in 1832 in Sheffield (Britain) and nothing was not outstanding. As a teenager, Charlie got serious injured his leg in an accident. And I couldn't get back to steel mill where he worked.



Charles Peace

The boy had to look for alternative ways to earn money for life. And he found it - he mastered the violin, which he can play quite well. played. But only during the day. And under the cover of darkness, Peace took off the mask of a romantic musician and turned into a cynical criminal. Actually, Pisa can feel free to call the criminals Jekyll and Hyde, because he masterfully combined two identities - a respectable citizen and cold-blooded killer.



The first crime - a robbery in his hometown took place easily. But the police discovered the novice thief when he tried to sell ladies' wardrobe items. The deadline turned out to be extremely soft - only month of imprisonment. For some time Charles became quiet, calmed down and even got married. But then the robbery unfolded on a global scale, for which and already paid with global sentences - 4, 6 and 8 years of hard labor.

Having blown off the last considerable sentence, the man tried to lead an honest life and even mastered the profession of a baguette worker. But criminal romance never left the thoughts of the Victorian repeat offender. The man settled in Darnalla, where I met a pleasant married couple - Arthur Dyson and his wife Catherine. And he began to show openness to the woman interest, literally pursuing and showering him with compliments. Failures Piece ignored, as well as Arthur's attempt to talk. As a result, terrorized The couple decided to move. However, stubborn Peace did not leave them there. new place - he waited for Katherine in the yard and began to pester him again. To the noise Arthur came out and tried to intervene. The attempt turned out to be fatal - Peace shot him in the temple, and Dyson died on the spot.

Continuation of the criminal path



Patrick Nicol "The Killing of Mr. Dyson"

After the massacre of the unfortunate Peace, he fled with his wife to Hull. When the woman was visited by constables wanting to know her whereabouts criminal hubby, she said she hasn't seen her for months Charles. And during the conversation he hid on the roof and thought about how to make a conspicuous appearance less conspicuous.

Hair dye, a shaved beard and glasses helped. But there were three missing fingers on his hand, which were criminally The baguette worker lost in one of the troubles. Then Peace made a fake one prosthesis with a hook and went on the run.

For some time he moved around the country by train. A story about a non-standard criminal virtuoso had by that time become the property public. And the police's attempts to catch Charles seemed inept and pathetic.

And the crippled burglar settled in London with his mistress Susan Thompson. During the day he sold musical instruments, and at night he gave himself his true passion and calling - robbery.

The end of the rope



English constable

Peace's business prospered so much that he acquired two houses located nearby. In one he settled his wife and son, and in the second he lived with his mistress.

On October 10, 1878, patrolling a London street The police saw a man carefully climbing out of the window of the house. One the constable remained on the street, the second knocked on the door, and the third began to apprehend the robber. He resisted and even injured the lawman. But as a result, the thief ended up in custody. Introduced himself as John Ward and calmly waited for the verdict.



Patrick Nicole "The Escape of Charles Peace"

But he made a mistake himself, out of his own stupidity he wrote a letter colleague. And he revealed the real identity of the criminal. So elusive the robber and murderer whom the police spent so much time searching for and strength, ended up behind bars. But not quite: he clung so desperately to freedom, that he tried to escape while being transported to Sheffield, in front of the guards jumped out of the slightly open train window. Fortunately, one managed grab Peace's leg. But even in such a disadvantageous position, the prisoner still he kicked the guard until he let him gofrailty. True, luck turned away from the creative bandit: shortly after an emergency stop Train guards, with the help of passengers, found Peace with a bleeding head wound.



The trial turned out to be indecently fast: after 10 minutes After deliberating, the jury reached a verdict. In addition, during the meeting it came up details of another murder of a policeman for which he was serving punishment innocent.





Copy of death record

3 weeks after his arrest, Peace was hanged. Image the criminal was quickly romanticized, and he remained in history as an unconventional and very inventive bandit who became a victim of fate. IN history Peace remained as the hero of several books (including mentioned in Conan Doyle's story "The Noble Client"), films and the museum character Madame Tussaud - with a frozen gaze, forever awaiting his death hour in company of the concentrated executioner William Marwood.



Wax figure of Peace