George Dean, captain of a Sydney harbour ferry celebrated for pulling drowning passengers from the water, was sentenced to death in 1895 for poisoning his wife, Mary, with arsenic and strychnine hidden in lemon syrup and tea. No one could prove he had ever bought the poison, and a public outcry over the verdict forced a Royal Commission, which found the evidence wanting; Dean walked free with a pardon that June.
The relief did not last. His own lawyer admitted to a former Chief Justice that Dean had privately confessed his guilt, and a North Shore chemist came forward swearing he had sold Dean the poison himself, with no entry ever made in the sale book. Dean was arrested again and confessed in writing.
On 24 October 1895 he was convicted of making a false declaration and sentenced to five years. The following day a second conviction, for perjury committed to procure his own acquittal on the capital charge, added fourteen years, the terms to run concurrently.
