Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-01-20


 condemnation of Il man whose enilt vvas not proved anu now rather unanimously believed to he innocent.
 The Dean commjttee' applied to the government for the record of tho trial, and the attorney general agreed that the public should be gratified. ,, The judge's notes were also supplied. and this added new fuel to the insane clamor. More public meetings were held. and the people ill other cities joined in the demonstration. On the evening of Aprll 26 the great town hall, the most magnificent hall on the globe, was packed with 5000 people to "impresss the government i'll this Dean matter. Miles of petitions were sent in to influ- ence the government. The government yielded to these public demands and ap- pointed royal commission to review the whole case. Three men, in whom everybody had confidence composed the commission. A more searching inquiry. It IS claimed, was never entered upon. The theory of the defense was that Mrs, Dean had taken poison or that her moth- CT had given 1t to her for the purpose of conylctlng Dean. It seems impossible. but as a fact the women were practical ly on trial, and Dean S innocence seemed to be accepted by vast majority of the people.
 The commission sat for over month, during which time there was no abate- .ment of the public interest. There was no relaxation of the strain, but the feel ing grew more bitter against the wem- en until Dean became regarded almost as martyr to the savagery of these wicked and designing women,
 On June 28 the commission made it's report as follows; After bestowing on the case much thought we have grave doubts if George Dean committed the otfense with which he is charged, and therefore recommend that he be released from further imprisonment. The two physicians on the commission signed the report, the lawyer giving substantial reasons for his nonconcurrence. Dean was released and was hero.
 He went back to his employment, and thousands of people. chiefly women, made extra trips on the ferry to gaze on his manly brow" and contemplate his manly virtues. Throughout his trial and after his release his conduct was modest. firm and so seemingly uncon- cerned as to excite the deepest interest and the greatest curiosity. Under the most severe tests he betrayed no evi- dence of guilt and little concern.
 His most active solicitor, Mir Meagher, had mounted the wave of public furore and rode into parliament on the popular Deans back. Mir. Meagher had made his mark '' He had not been able to save his innocent client' from an ar bitrary judge. but he had helped to kin de the flame of public indignation and rescue him from life prisoners doom Dean, having received the queen par don, was safe.
 But the end was not yet. The public tongue had been wagging lustily and the long ears of the same public were open to every. whisper. There was yet some secret inquiry going on, and on Sept IS member of the upper house of parliament-the legislative council asked the attorney general as to rumor regarding confession" in the Dean case. The whole country was thrown back into the old fever heat of hate and expectation by the reply of the attorney general that he ''mnst decline to an- swer, as whatever communication he had was of confidential nature. | Meagher flew to Dean, and the "he- roic ferryman, /" with an air of injured innocence that really intensified the an- ger of his friends against his ''perseeu- | tors, 7" petitioned parliament to furnish him with the statements upon which the attorney generals insinuations were based, that he might be free from such stains upon his reputation. He also made affidavit as to bis innocence of the attempt to poison his wife.
 Satisfaction" was demanded, when To, the attorney general being freed from the obligation of confidence. /" read ill the upper house on Sept, 26 a statement of Sir Julian Salamons, the foremost lawyer ill New South Wales, a member Of the upper house, and the man who had conducted the prosecution of the Dean case before the royal com mission, to the effect that on July IS MT, Meagher had made full confession to him of Dean's guilt, based upon Deans confession of the whole affair while in Earlinghurst jail, pending demand for rehearing of the case, aft CT conviction The city was wild.
 Briefly, the purport of Sir Julian Salamons' statement was that, the Syd- ney Telegraph mentioned, during the campaign in which Meagher was riding so lofty horse, that by reason of his (Meagher's) ineapacity as solicitor in defending man, now supposed to be innocent, he had put the county to enor- nous expense by the royal commission, and he (Meagher) went to consult Sir Julian Salamons as 10 the propriety of bringing an action against The Tele- graph for injuring his professionals repu- tation But the shrewd Sir Julian re- marked that upon Meaghel s claim that Dean was innocent there was some color of truth in The Telegraph's statement.