THE DEAN CONSPIRACY CASE. By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8363, 24 December 1895, Page 2

THE DEAN CONSPIRACY CASE. By Electric Telegraph — Copyright. (PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

Sydney, December 23. The Dean case was again a dominant feature in the week's topics. After 15 clays' hearing the conspiracy case has ato length come to a conclusion. Fifty-seven Crown witnesses were examined while eleven gave testimony on the other side. When the jury announced Meagher'a guilt, his wife broke out in agonising cries. Meagher secured his liberty after finding L6OOO bail. He will come up for judgment in February next. Visitors to Darlinghurst must have been struck with the apathetic demeanour of the chief figure in this cause celebre — Dean. He sat in the box apparently regardless of his surroundings, reading a newspaper, and scribbling notes to friends. To a man with a 14 years' sentence to hia credit a conspiracy charge has little terror. The convict looked in good health and was an object of interest to the many ladies attending the trial. Meagher placed five points before the jury : 1. That no judge had a moral right to sum up strongly for or against a prisoner, but merely to give a dispassionate summary of the evidence. 2. No judge had a moral right to denounce the defence as monstrous. This was for the jury alone to decide. 3. No judge had a right to tell a jury, in effect, that; it is their duty to convict. 4. No judge has the right to express astonishment afc lengthy deliberations when human life is at stake. 5. No judge has the righfe to coerce a jury by announcing, unsolicited, that they may anticipate being locked up. Much has been heard of the Deeming case, but the Dean one far outshines it as a means of distroying reputations. v »The case will probably be unrivalled. The public, who regarded the conspiracy trial as the concluding scene, were informed by no less an authority than the AttorneyGeneral, from his seat in the Council, that they might expeot further developments. Already the case is directly responsible for one suicide and numerous besmirched reputations, but it has now departed beyond its' immediate circle, and recriminations between Mr Crick and Mr Wanb culminated in the character of a woman unconnected with the original case being attacked, and charges of a most scandalous nature being levelled at the AttorneyGeneral. Mr Crick's speech in the Assembly was that of a man burning with a sense of wrong. His war cry is : " Wanb or I must retire from public life." Between the two men it is war a Voutrance. Mr Crick's version of the scandal, as given to the House, was that he saw an application made for divorce. Judge Windeyer ordered that before the applicant could proceed with her action against Want she should find security for costs. Mr Crick looked up the matter and found that Mr Want was being sued to recover the amount of the bond, that the only answer he could plead was that the bond was given for an immoral consideration, and that he had been cohabiting with the woman. The heavy bond was then made in order to crush her, she being unable to find the security for the costs. Mr Crick determined to find the security and force Want to plead in open confession that the bond had been given for an immoral consideration. It was this knowledge that brought about his inclusion in the warrant for his arrest. Sir Julian Salomons pointed out to Want that if Crick were not arrested he would raise the country, and that it was absolutely necessary to close his mouth. In the writ issued against Want the latter is called upon to file his defence within eight days. It is believed that it will have the effect of preventing his departure to Japan,