The Dean Cases

Southern Cross, Volume 3, Issue 11, 15 June 1895, Page 6

The Dean Cases

CHARLES DEAN DISCHARGED MIKNTE DEAN COMMITTED. The taking of evidence in the charge preferred against Minnie and Charles Dean of murdering an infant named Dorothy Edith Carter was concluded in the Invercargill Police Court on Saturday forenoon, Bth inst.

Mr Hanlon submitted that there was not a tittle of evidence against Charles Dean, and that he should be discharged, and this without a stain on his character.

His Worship (Mr J. W. Poynton) concurred, and discharged Charles Dean, who, so far as the evidence was concerned, left the Court without a stain on his character. His Worship at the same time highly complimented the police on the fairness and ability with which they had carried out the case.

Mr Hanlon endorsed the opinion expressed by the Court regarding the police. Minnie Dean, who reserved her defence, was then committed for trial.

THIRD INQUEST. MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCES. The inquest on the skeleton of a child recently discovered at The Larches, near Winton, closed on Monday. Mr T. Perkins acted as Coroner, and the following were the jury—Messrs John Thomson (foreman), H. Wilson, T. B. Muir, R. Wesney, W. Wade, and C. Fairweather. The following is an outline of the evidence given : Margaret Cameron, who had lived with Mrs Dean for a number of years, stated that about five years ago a child named Cyril Scoullar was brought to the place from Oamaru. It was treated well. It disappeared on a Saturday in the month of April about two years ago. On that day witness was sent to a neighbour’s house, and when she returned after tea the child had gone. Mr Dean was working at Mr Keith’s that day. Before witness went away in the morning Mrs Dean gave the child some laudanum to keep him dozing so that he would not be cross. He was not cross that morning. Mrs Dean stated that the child had been taken away in a buggy to a lady at (trore. Witness never heard of anyone having come in a buggy for the child. Mrs Dean afterwards said the child had gone to Sydney, and afterwards showed witness a photograph Witness did not believe that it was a photograph of the boy, although Mrs Dean said it was. Witness also remembered a boy named Henry coming to The Larches about five years ago. He disappeared about eight or nine months later, on a day when witness and Mr Dean, at Mrs Dean’s request, had gone to a neighbour’s place. Mrs Dean explained that he had been taken by a lady at Wallacetown. A third boy named Sydney McKernan was brought to The Larches from Dunedin about four years ago, He was then a few weeks old. A woman called twice about him sometime after, and Mrs Dean told witness it was the child’s mother. The child had disappeared about a year before this ; he disappeared when witness was at Mataura. Mrs Dean said he had gone to some lady about Woodlands. Another child named William Phelan was brought from Dunedin about five years ago. He disappeared one day while witness was in Winton. Mrs Dean said that the boy had been taken to Limehills by two ladies. Witness never heard from any other person that they called. Witness continued—Mrs Dean did not treat

this child very well. She used to knock him down sometimes., and, taking him by the hair, would bump his head on the floor.' She had a dislike to the child. Mrs Dean was in the habit of drinking and in the habit of getting drunk. She was always sober when she abused the child. I noticed no difference in her treatment of the child, drunk or sober. Some she treated well, and the others not so well. She used to get drunk at home and by herself. In reply to further questions, the witness stated that she had seen the skeleton, and believed it to be that of William Phelan. Esther Wallace, who had lived with Mrs Dean for five years, gave evidence corroborative of that of the last witness.

Mary Caroline McKernan deposed : I am a single woman, at present carrying on business at the Bluff. I had a child in Dunedin on jthe 14th March, 1592. It was a boy. Soon after its birth it was given away to a strange woman who gave her name as Minnie McKellar. I believe she was paid a premium. I asked her her position in life, and she said she was a farmer’s wife and the daughter of a clergyman of the Free Church of Scotland. The boy was to be brought up a good member of society, be well treated and have a comfortable home. She asked me if he was a healthy baby. I afterwards made enquiries as to who the woman was, and in doing so visited The Larches on two occasions. The first occasion was on the 2nd October, 1893, when I saw the same woman to whom the baby had been given. I did not make myself known. I visited the place again on the 15th November following, when I made myself known and asked to see the boy. She started to abuse me, said she did not know me, and that she had never got a baby from me. I got no satisfaction from her and no information from her about the child. I never heard anything of the boy again.—By the Coroner ; X identify Mrs Dean as the woman who called herself Minnie McKellar. .

Mary Margaret Olsen deposed : I live in Dunedin. I was the mother of Willie Phelan. He would be six years old now if alive. He was about two years old when Mrs Dean got him. Mrs Dean was to get £2O for adopting him, but not at the time she got him. She kept the child for sometime before she got anything. When I got the £2O to pay over she declined to receive it, demanding more money. X then came to Invercargill to take the child back, and met Mrs Dean at the railway station. She did not give me the child ; I did not see it. She took me to her solicitor’s office, and afterwards sued me for the keep of the child and got judgment. Shortly after that she brought the child to Dunedin, In Dunedin she received the £2O, legally adopted the boy, and took him back with her. She was to bring up the boy as her own. I gave the boy two new snits in Dunedin. One was a blue velvet suit.

Margaret Hogan gave evidence contradicting the statement of Mrs Dean that one of the missing children had been taken to Limehills by her (witness) or her daughter. Constable Rasmussen : I knew the boy Phelan ; I knew all the children. I often called at Mrs Dean’s. She would never give me any information as to these children, where they went and where they came from, except once, when she told pretty nearly the truth, but none of the other missing children were traced from information she gave. When I asked her for information she said she would tell me nothing till there was a law to compel her to do so, stating that she was acting under legal advice. 1 was present when the skeleton was found by Constable McDonough. I saw the hair and thought it was Phelan’s. Constable McDonough gave evidence as to the finding of the skeleton. Detective Herbert deposed: I was superintending the search at The Larches, and was there when Constable McDonough found the skeleton. The hair was on the scalp and the

scalp loose from, the skull, The hair* came away easily. I took possession of some of the hair, which I produce.. It was fair, and I thought it was straight not curly. We found what we thought to be a complete skeleton. It was three feet in length. We measured it before we removed it from the ground or touched it at aIL It was lying face downwards. There was no sign of clothing whatever. It was about two feet under the surface. I searched the house and found & letter dated 28th February, 1895, at the Wellington Asylum, signed Helen Scoullar. The letter had reference to the boy Scoullar, and apparently the writer was under the impression that he was then alive. The letter was found in Mrs Dean’s bedroom by Constable Mcllveney and myself and. reads as follows :

Wellington, Feb. 28ta, 1895. Dear Mrs Dean, —Doubtless yon have heard that Mr Colin McLauchlan is dead. If not you will be much, surprised. While 1 saw him he seemed so strong that I felt very perplexed. Should there be need the trustees of Mr McLauchlan’s effects I daresay would be willing to forward, help at a future date. I am aware his little boy is an only son. In grateful remembrance to yourself. I am, Yours sincerely, Helen Scoullar. P.S. —Trusting the wee fellow is a good boy. Be pleased to write i£ convenient.—H.S. I did not notice that there was a tooth out of the jaw. I would not have been surprised if one or more had dropped out after its discovery. Constable Rasmussen and I went to The Larches on the 17th April to make enquiries about Cyril Scoullar. Mrs Dean showed us a photograph which she said was his, and slated that he had been adopted by some people in Sydney, but she would not tell us the people’s names, although we gave her to understand that ifc would be greatly to the boy’s advantage if we found him.

Roderick Alexander Macleod, M. 8., C.M., medical superintendent o£ the Southland Hospital, deposed : I remember the skeleton of a child being 1 brought to the hospital on the 13th, May. I examined the skeleton, and should say it was that of a child about four years old. It was too fardecomposed for me to say whether it was that of a male or a female child. It must have been dead six months at least, and must have been up to two or three years according to the soil it lay in. Some of the back: teeth were out. They might very easily have dropped out through the decay of the material by which they were cemented to the jaw. The hair was very light brown. This closed the evidence, Mrs Dean making no reply to the Coroner’s inquiry if she wished to give evidence. The jury returned the following verdict :

“ That of the name and identity o£ the said child, unknown, the subject of this inquest, and of the cause, time, and place of the occurrence of death there is no evidence, but they t*re strongly of opinion that the body of the said child unknown is that of a male child by the name of: William Phelan, of Russell street, Dunedin.” In the Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon the Grand Jury found true bills in the charges of murder preferred against Minnie Dean, and the hearing of the cases was fixed for Tuesday, the ISthunst. beginning at 10 a.m.