the officers sprang out on them. Peace, after nearly killing the
officer who was trying to arrest him, would have made his escape,
had not other policemen come to the rescue. For this crime Peace
was sentenced to six years' penal servitude, in spite of a loyal
act of perjury on the part of his aged mother, who came all the
way from Sheffield to swear that he had been with her there on
the night of the crime.

He was released from prison again in 1864, and returned to
Sheffield. Things did not prosper with him there, and he went
back to Manchester. In 1866 he was caught in the act of burglary
at a house in Lower Broughton. He admitted that at the time he
was fuddled with whisky; otherwise his capture would have been
more difficult and dangerous. Usually a temperate man, Peace
realised on this occasion the value of sobriety even in burglary,
and never after allowed intemperance to interfere with his
success. A sentence of eight years' penal servitude at
Manchester Assizes on December 3, 1866, emphasised this wholesome
lesson.

Whilst serving this sentence Peace emulated Jack Sheppard in a
daring attempt to escape from Wakefield prison. Being engaged on
some repairs, he smuggled a small ladder into his cell. With
the help of a saw made out of some tin, he cut a hole through the
ceiling of the cell, and was about to get out on to the roof when
a warder came in. As the latter attempted to seize the ladder
Peace knocked him down, ran along the wall of the prison, fell
off on the inside owing to the looseness of the bricks, slipped
into the governor's house where he changed his clothes, and
there, for an hour and a half, waited for an opportunity to