THE DEAN BABY MURDERS

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 66, 9 July 1914, Page 7

THE DEAN BABY MURDERS

ii'EH iatSß ABBOOIXTION. J Wellington, July 8. Th,o, Dean ,-imij-ders of 1895 were recalled by' a case heard in Chambers at die Supreme Court this afternoon before His Honor tne Chief Justice (Sir Hubert Stout). Under the will of Colin McLachlan, contractor, late of Oam--1 aru, who died in 189-1, certain money ! was left to a child named Colin Seoul- , lar McLachlan, believed to be identical j with a child known as Scoullar, wlio i was in tne custody of Minnie Dean ! and who disappeared about the time ■I tnat certain infants were murdered by j her. The estate was insufficient to pay j all the legacies in full, and application j was 'made on behalf of the surviving legatees that the amount reserved'for ' the child be available for paymellt to ' them. The plaintiff's were Sarah 11cCarten, wife of Joseph McCarten, metal merchant, of Ibrox, Glasgow, and Agnes Dallas, wife of Hobart Dallas,, of Mar, yh,ill, Glasgow. The defendai|t(was the Tublic Trusted <ks executor of the will and codicil of cthe testatori Me- ' Lachlan. , , „ j The child was the subject of special • inquiries by the police when searching . for tire bodies of the other children who I were done away with. 'The circumj stances were described in an affidavit ( sworn by Detective-Sergeant McTlven- ! ey, wlio at the time ol the investigation was,,a police constable in liiver- ! cargill. Minnie Deajr, .conducted; a I “baby farming” establishment at VVinj Lon, Southland, and in May, 1895,- was arrested on a charge of murdering two ■ infants, named Hornsby and Carter. The remains of the child Dorothy Car- : ter were exhumed by Detective 'MeI ilveney ->at Mrs Dean’s premises’?at j Winton, and on the charge di having caused its death she was found guilty and executed. During the search a letter was found, dated .February 28th, 1895, addressed to the accused from Helen Scoullar, then in Wellington, announcing the death of Colin McLachlan, and expressing wishes for the welfare of tne boy Scoullar, or McLachlan. At the inquest evidence was given as to the child having been brought to .Mrs Dean about five years previously from Oamaru, and as to the name of the child’s mother being Helen Scoullar, and its father McLachlan. ’the child disappeared about two years before the inquest, and the excuse given by Mrs Dean at the time was that itv had been taken to some other people. The clothing of the child, however, was seen in Mrs Dean’s house after its .disappearance, and it transpired that it was customary for her to keep the clothing of infants she had done away with. In the opinion of the principal witness, the child Sconllar was identical with Colin Scoullar McLachlan, referred to in Helen Scoullar’,s letter, and mentioned in the codicil to Colin McLachlan’s will. His Honor made an order declaring that the gift to the child never took effect, the child having died before the codiicl was made. Xo doubt, he added, the infant was murdered by Mrs Dean.