Duly declared fit to stand trial, Peace appeared for his second examination before the magistrate. His solicitor, William Clegg, tried to prove that Mrs Dyson had been on more intimate terms with Peace than she was ready to admit, and that Dyson had been the aggressor in a struggle in which Peace had reacted in self-defence. A number of pencilled notes had been found near the scene, which appeared to have been written by Mrs Dyson, indicating a close relationship with Peace, though she denied having written them. (At the Coroner's inquest after the murder, she said her husband had seen them and declared them to be forgeries, possibly by Peace himself.) After the hearing, Peace was committed to take his trial at the Leeds Assizes, to begin on 4 February 1879.