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Colin Campbell ROSS

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 


The Gun Alley Murder
 
Classification: Murderer ?
Characteristics: Miscarriage of justice - Rape
Number of victims: 1 ?
Date of murder: December 30, 1921
Date of arrest: January 12, 1922
Date of birth: October 11, 1892
Victim profile: Nell Alma Tirtschke, known as Alma, 12
Method of murder: Strangulation
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Status: Executed by hanging at Melbourne Gaol on April 24, 1922. Posthumously pardoned on May 27, 2008
 
 
 
 
 
 

Colin Campbell Eadie Ross (11 October 1892 – 24 April 1922) was an Australian wine-bar owner executed for the rape and murder of a child which became known as The Gun Alley Murder, despite there being evidence that he was innocent.

Following his execution, efforts were made to clear his name, and in the 1990s old evidence was re-examined with modern forensic techniques which supported the view that Ross was innocent. In 2006 an appeal for mercy was made to Victoria's Chief Justice and on 27 May 2008, the Governor of Victoria pardoned Ross in what is believed to be an Australian legal first.

The life of Colin Ross

Colin Ross was born in North Fitzroy, Melbourne, the third of five children born to Thomas and Elizabeth Ross. Thomas Ross died in 1900 leaving his wife to care for the five young children, including one who was newly born. Consequently, none of the children were well educated, as each left schooling as early as possible to find work to help support the family.

Colin Ross began working at a local quarry at the age of 11, and over the following years he worked as a labourer and later as a wardsman at the Broadmeadows army hospital. In 1920, Elizabeth Ross became the manager of the Donnybrook Hotel, 30 kilometres north of Melbourne, with Colin as partner and another of her sons, Ronald, as licensee.

During this time, Colin Ross began a relationship with Lily Mae Brown, who worked in a Melbourne hotel. On 5 March 1920, Ross asked Brown to marry him, and when she refused, he produced a revolver. He followed her onto a tram, where he continued to threaten her, until she agreed to meet him later in the day.

Instead she contacted the police and a plain clothes detective was present when she kept her appointment with Ross later in the evening. Ross was charged with using threatening words and for carrying firearms without permission; on the charge of using threatening words he was sentenced to 14 days imprisonment, along with a 12 month good behaviour bond, and was fined for carrying the firearm.

In April, 1921 the Ross family returned to Melbourne, where Colin Ross, with his brothers Stanley and Ronald, bought a wine shop in the Eastern Arcade, in the business centre of Melbourne. With the purchase of the shop, renamed "The Australian Wine Saloon", the Ross's continued the employment of its barmaid, Ivy Matthews. She later commented that the saloon had previously attracted a quiet and respectable clientele, but that the Ross brothers were willing to serve anyone, with the result that it was soon frequented by alcoholics and criminals. Other tenants in the building resented the intrusion of Ross's customers, who drank to excess and vomited and urinated in the arcade, and made lewd comments to passing women.

On 13 October 1921, one of the saloon's customers was robbed in the saloon's outdoor lavatory, and during a struggle with his assailant was shot. His wound was not serious but he was unable to give an account of events to police, due to the large amount of alcohol he had consumed. An investigation revealed that his assailant was a young English traveller, Frank Walsh, who had spent most of his money, and who had been approached by Colin Ross to rob the customer on the understanding that the proceeds would be shared between them. Ross and Walsh were arrested and charged with armed robbery. Ross's comments to police incriminated Ivy Matthews, who had until that point refused to discuss the matter. Following a visit by Elizabeth Ross, Matthews began to speak on Ross's behalf, and at the same time began referring to herself as the saloon's manager, and drawing money from the saloon's account. Ross made no further attempt to draw Matthews to the attention of police.

Ross was acquitted of his charge, however Walsh was sentenced to six months hard labour. Following Colin Ross's acquittal, Stanley Ross confronted Ivy Matthews and dismissed her from her position.

The victim

Nell Alma Tirtschke, known as Alma, was born on 14 March 1909 at a remote mining in Western Australia, the first child of Charles Tirtschke and Nell Alger. In 1911, Charles Tirtschke accepted a position with a mining company in Rhodesia, and the family moved there, where Nell gave birth to a second daughter, Viola, in 1912. The family was returning to Australia in December, 1914, when during the journey Nell died of complications relating to a third pregnancy, and was buried at sea. After arriving in Melbourne, Charles Tirtschke was unable to care for the children, and returned to Western Australia where he worked at the goldfields. Alma and Viola were cared for by their grandparents, Henry and Elizabeth Tirschke and were assisted by their five adult daughters.

By 1921, Henry Tirschke had died, and their grandmother assumed all parental duties. She was remembered by Viola as a strict disciplinarian who kept a close watch on both daughters. Alma was studious and well behaved, and excelled in her studies at the Hawthorn West Central School, however her grandmother greatly restricted her from social activities with other students, and she became very shy. An uncle, John Murdoch, said of Alma Tirschke, "Though of a bright disposition, she was somewhat reserved, and did not make friends readily like some girls. She lacked the vivacious manner than encourages chance acquaintance". Viola Tirschke later described her with the comment that Alma was "soft in speech and soft in manner".

The murder

On the afternoon of 30 December 1921, twelve year old Alma Tirtschke was sent on an errand by her aunt. She was to collect a package of meat from her uncle's butcher's shop in Swanston Street, Melbourne and take it a short distance to Collins Street to deliver it to a customer.

The errand should have taken no more than 15 minutes, and when Alma, who was known to be reliable and obedient, failed to return home, her grandmother became alarmed. She was reported as missing, and the police, along with the Tirtschke family searched for Alma through the night. Early the next morning, her naked body was found in Gun Alley, a laneway off Little Collins Street, near the address Alma had been sent to. She had been raped and strangled.

The case became a major newspaper story, sensationalised by the Melbourne press and convincing its readers that a maniac was on the loose and likely to strike again. A reward of 1250 pounds was offered for the capture of the killer; one of the greatest rewards offered in Australia at that time. As time passed with no real progress, the police were criticised, and were subjected to public pressure to make an arrest.

Investigations revealed that Alma had last been seen alive between 2.30 and 3.00pm on the afternoon of her disappearance, at the corner of Alfred Place and Little Collins Streets, near the lane in which her body was subsequently discovered. Among the numerous men interviewed was Colin Ross, a saloon manager, who described seeing a girl matching Alma's description, outside his saloon. His description of events closely matched that of several witnesses who had also seen her.

Ross was well known to the local police as he had recently been acquitted on a charge relating to his involvement in the shooting and robbing of one of his customers. Despite Ross's willingness to co-operate police began to interview him in greater detail. Ross was able to nominate several witnesses who had seen him tending his saloon on the afternoon of Alma's death, and who would confirm that he had not left the premises, but the police remained convinced that he had killed Alma, and on 12 January 1922 they arrested him for murder.

The trial

The public fascination with the case intensified as newspapers published news of Ross' arrest, but Ross told his lawyers, family and friends that he had nothing to fear. As an innocent man, he said, it was only a matter of time before he would be released.

The trial began on 20 February 1922 and witnesses were presented to speak of Ross's guilt. John Harding, who had a previous conviction for perjury, was being detained in prison at the time, "at the Governor's pleasure". He testified that Ross had confided in him in prison, and had admitted his guilt. Ivy Matthews, a prostitute, and Julia Gibson, who worked as a fortune-teller under the name "Madame Gurkha" also testified in court that Ross had confessed the crime to them.

The prosecution also offered forensic evidence in the form of several strands of hair they had obtained from Alma Tirtschke shortly before her funeral. A detective testified that on the day of Ross's arrest he had noticed several strands of "golden hair" on a blanket in Ross's house, which were later removed and examined by the state government analyst, Charles Price, a trained chemist with little previous experience in the new field of forensic science. Price testified that he compared the hairs under a microscope, and concluded that the hair found in Ross's house was a light auburn colour", while Alma's hair was a dark red. He measured the diameter of the hairs and concluded that they were of a different thickness. At one point in his testimony he commented that the hairs on Ross' blanket had most likely fallen from the head of a regular visitor, such as Ross's girlfriend, but after a long testimony stated that he believed the hairs were "derived from the scalp of one and same person." His contradiction was accepted by the judge without comment.

Ross's barrister, Thomas Brennan, protested and requested that a further examination be carried out by a more qualified person but the judge refused. The jury found Ross guilty of murder and he was sentenced to death by hanging. His legal representatives were convinced of his innocence but found that public opinion remained strongly against Ross and news of his death sentence was met with public celebration. Ross's representative sought to obtain the right to appeal but this was refused by the judge who stated that Ross's guilt had been proven beyond doubt. Brennan sought leave to appeal to the Privy Council in England, but his application was refused.

Brennan remained supportive of Ross and certain of his innocence, but had exhausted all avenues in his attempt to save Ross from execution. During this time Ross received a letter in prison from a man, who failed to give his name, but who admitted that he had killed Alma, and although consumed by guilt, was not willing to come forward as it would cause grief to his family. Brennan later wrote that he believed the letter to have been authentic. On the eve of his execution a letter was sent to his lawyer. This letter is now believed to have been written by the real killer.

Execution

Before his execution in his farewell letter to his family, Ross wrote: 'The day is coming when my innocence will be proved.'

Ross composed himself with dignity for his quiet but resolute statement from the scaffold:

'I am now face to face with my Maker, and I swear by Almighty God that I am an innocent man. I never saw the child. I never committed the crime, and I don't know who did. I never confessed to anyone. I ask God to forgive those who have sworn my life away, and I pray God to have mercy on my poor darling mother, and my family.'

But it would take 86 years before his innocence was eventually confirmed by a thorough investigation.

Ross was executed on 24 April 1922 at Melbourne Gaol in a particularly gruesome manner. A new four-strand rope was used for the first time in an Australian execution and proved to be a failure, Instead, the knot of the noose did not run freely. Authorities had decided to experiment with a four-stranded rope rather than the usual three-stranded European hemp.

Ross did not die immediately because his spinal cord was fractured, not severed. Although his windpipe was torn and obstructed by his destroyed larynx, the condemned man continued with rasping breaths and convulsed on the rope. Three times Ross bent his knees and flexed his arms as he battled his killer bonds, before succumbing. Ross slowly strangled to death by asphyxiation. A prison report later ruled that such a rope must never be used again.

Attempts to clear Ross's name

Thomas Brennan became consumed with his failure to save the life of Colin Ross, eventually writing a book, The Gun Alley Tragedy in which he attempted to establish that Ross had been hanged for a crime he did not commit. Although Brennan attracted supporters it was not enough to persuade the Victorian government to have the case re-examined, and over the following years, interest began to wane in all but the most ardent of Ross's supporters.

In 1993, Kevin Morgan, a former school-teacher became interested in Ross' case, and began to research the events surrounding the murder of Alma Tirtschke and execution of Colin Ross. He read handwritten notes in the bible Colin Ross had kept with him in prison, and which had been preserved by his family following his death. Morgan was moved by the simple notations in which Ross wrote of false witnesses, knowing that Ross had written these notes without expecting anyone else to read them.

Morgan examined interview records and court transcripts and discovered information that had been kept from the court at the time, including the testimony of six reliable witnesses who placed Ross inside his saloon for the entire afternoon of Alma Tirtschke's murder. Furthermore, a cab driver, Joseph Graham, had heard screams coming from a building in Collins Street at 3.00pm, thus in the time frame within which Ross was verified as having been in the saloon. Graham's interview had been disregarded by police and he had not been called to give evidence. Following Ross's arrest, Graham attempted to have his story told through a solicitor, but was not permitted to present his version of events in court. Morgan also noted that the witnesses against Ross were of dubious character and could have been motivated to present false testimony; John Harding's sentence was reduced after he stated that Ross had confessed to him in prison, and the prostitute, Ivy Matthews and fortune-teller, Julia Gibson had shared the reward money. A closer examination of the long testimony of Charles Price regarding the hair samples seemed to support Ross's innocence.

Two years after he began researching the case, Kevin Morgan found a file in the Office of the Public Prosecutions, which contained the original hair samples, which had been thought lost. He began a legal fight for the right to submit the hair samples for DNA testing, finally winning the right in 1998. Dr. Bentley Atchison of the Victoria Institute of Forensic Medicine found that the hairs did not come from the same person, thereby disproving with certainty the most damning piece of evidence presented at Colin Ross's trial. His findings were confirmed by a second series of testing conducted by an independent agency.

On 23 October 2006 the Victorian Attorney General Rob Hulls wrote to the Chief Justice, Marilyn Warren, with a 31-page petition asking her to consider a plea of mercy for Ross. The subsequent pardon, granted on 27 May 2008, is the first case in Victoria's legal history of a posthumous pardon.

The family of Alma Tirtschke believes that the pardon does not go far enough and that Ross should be exonerated. In a Fairfax Radio interview discussing the pardon, the murdered girl's second cousin recounted how her grandmother was preoccupied with the murder "She didn't say who was the right man but she said the wrong man was hung". In a later interview on the Nine Network's A Current Affair program, the family stated they believe the true murderer was a family member.

 
 

Ross cleared of murder nearly 90 years ago

By John Silvester - TheAge.com.au

May 27, 2008

THE State Government will create legal history today when it announces a posthumous pardon for a man wrongly executed 86 years ago in the notorious Gun Alley murder case.

Colin Campbell Ross was hanged in 1922 after he was convicted of killing Alma Tirtschke, 12. He went to the gallows maintaining his innocence.

Governor David de Kretser has signed the pardon, and Attorney-General Rob Hulls will formally announce the decision today in Parliament during question time.

The pardon follows an unprecedented inquiry by Victorian Supreme Court judges Bernard Teague, Phil Cummins and John Coldrey, who found Ross was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

After receiving the advice, Mr Hulls moved to have Ross posthumously pardoned. "This is a tragic case where a miscarriage of justice resulted in a man being hanged," he told The Age.

The formal re-examination of the case began three years ago when relatives of Alma Tirtschke and Colin Ross signed a petition of mercy after they learned that fresh evidence showed the executed man had been wrongly convicted.

Alma Tirtschke, a Hawthorn schoolgirl, was raped and strangled while in Melbourne shopping for her aunty. A bottle gatherer found her naked body in Gun Alley, off Little Collins Street, on December 31, 1921.

Ross, who ran a nearby wine bar, was arrested at his Maidstone home on January 12. Just 115 days after the murder, he was executed, following a short trial and two failed appeals.

The Crown case was that Ross, 28, persuaded the young girl to enter his wine saloon in the Eastern Arcade, in Bourke Street. He was then alleged to have given her alcohol before raping and strangling her.

A new investigation has ruled out any link between Ross and the only physical evidence said to connect him to the crime — hairs found on a blanket at the suspect's home, which the jury was told came from the scalp of the victim.

In 1995 researcher Kevin Morgan traced the exhibit to an archive and pushed for the hair to be re-examined using modern technology. In 1998 a test by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine found the hairs were not from the same scalp.

A second test by Australian Federal Police confirmed that the key evidence was wrong.

Prosecutors used two witnesses who claimed Ross had confessed to the crime. But the jury was not told that one of the key prosecution witnesses was a convicted perjurer.

The defence team produced alibi witnesses who swore they saw him at work and on a tram heading home at the time of the murder.

Two years ago, Mr Hulls wrote to Chief Justice Marilyn Warren to ask for the court to re-examine the case to see whether the Ross conviction remained sound.

A specially convened panel of justices Teague, Cummins and Coldrey said the move to seek advice rather than a judicial determination appeared to be an Australian first. In their 30-page opinion the judges unanimously concluded that new evidence showed the case against Ross was flawed.

"There has been a miscarriage of justice," they concluded.

The judges found that the Attorney-General could send the case to the Court of Appeal to seek a quashing of the conviction or had the option "of granting a pardon independently of this statutory regime". Mr Hulls chose to seek a pardon, which was signed by the Governor on Friday.

Mr Morgan, who wrote a book on the case Gun Alley: Murder, Lies and Failure of Justice yesterday told The Age: "A big stain on the legal system has finally been expunged, and a shadow on two Australian families has also been lifted.

"That justice has finally been done for the Ross and Tirtschke families after 86 years is a tremendous outcome."

Alma Tirtschke's niece, Bettye Arthur, said: "It is a tragedy for everybody that the actual perpetrator was not caught, and an innocent man lost his life."

She said the tragedy deeply affected her mother, who had been two years younger than her sister, Alma.

The flawed prosecution case was that the 12-year-old chose to drink in Ross' wine bar instead of running messages for her aunty.

"The actual pardon has also helped restore the reputation of Alma, because it shows that she didn't enter the wine bar as was said in the trial," Mrs Arthur said. "She was a good girl."

Colin Ross' niece Betty Everett, said her parents had not told her of the family secret, but she read of the case in a magazine and realised the link when she saw the striking resemblance between her father and Colin Ross.

"I had lived with this fear and doubt for most of my life, the more so as I began to have children, that perhaps I carried the genes of a murderer," she said. "That shadow has gone."

Mr Hulls said: "The pardon is a tribute to the families of Colin Campbell Ross and Alma Tirtschke for their persistence.

"These families have come together to right a historical wrong.

"I trust the pardon will provide some relief from the suffering that this terrible human tragedy has caused the Ross and Tirtschke families, and allow these wounds to heal."

 
 

Pardon not enough, murdered girl's relative says

ABC.net.au

May 27, 2008

It is too late to save his life, but today a man who was executed for murder 86 years ago has been pardoned.

Colin Campbell Ross was hanged in 1922 for raping and strangling a Victorian schoolgirl, but the 28-year-old publican always said he was innocent.

Now, thanks to modern technology, he has been pardoned.

But while legal experts say justice has finally been done, one relative of the dead girl says the pardon does not go far enough.

The family of 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke always thought the wrong man had been executed for her murder.

A woman, identifying herself only as Joan, is the murdered girl's second cousin.

She told Fairfax Radio how the case has preoccupied people like her grandmother over the years.

"She didn't say who was the right man but she said the wrong man was hung," Joan said.

It was 1921 when Alma's naked body was found dumped in Melbourne's Gun Alley.

Kevin Morgan researched the case for 15 years and wrote the book Gun Alley: Murder, Lies and the Failure of Justice.

"The prosecution held Alma Tirtschke went into the wine saloon of Colin Ross and as the saloon continued its normal trading, remained there consensually from 3:00pm until 6:00pm drinking wine, at which time Ross had sexual intercourse with her and murdered her, and to us it just didn't make sense," Mr Morgan said.

Mr Ross was convicted on the basis of a jailhouse confession, and several strings of hair found on a blanket.

But a little research revealed the confession had been reported by a fellow inmate, who himself had prior convictions for perjury.

Mr Morgan says two weeks after Alma's funeral, Mr Ross was arrested.

"They took from him some blankets and on those blankets they found some hairs, and they had the government chemist of the day have a look at those hairs and he was willing to testify in court at Colin Ross's trial, that these hairs and I quote 'come from the scalp of one and the same person'," he said.

But when the samples were retested using modern techniques, the hair on the blanket was found not to be the girl's and the whole decades-old case unravelled.

Victoria's Attorney-General, Rob Hulls, has today granted Mr Ross a posthumous pardon.

"This really is a tragic case where a miscarriage of justice has resulted in a man being hanged. It is almost incomprehensible," he said.

"This pardon is a recognition that there are serious doubts about Mr Ross's conviction for murder."

'Not good enough'

But Joan says the pardon is not good enough.

"A pardon means, 'I am forgiving you for something you have done'. Shouldn't it rather be an exoneration, which means, 'I accept you didn't do this in the first place'?" she said.

But Victorian Premier John Brumby says the pardon does come close to exonerating Colin Ross.

"Science in particular has proven beyond reasonable doubt that he could not have committed that crime," he said.

The Premier says the case shows how far forensic technology has come - and it reinforces the decision to formally abolish the death penalty in Victoria in 1975.

Speaking on Fairfax Radio, Mr Brumby said it was not inconceivable there could be other instances of people being executed for crimes they did not commit.

"If you went back through every single case and you had the evidence still around to scientifically test, forensically test, there may well be some other cases," he said.

The president of the Law Institute of Victoria, Tony Burke, says the pardon serves a purpose, even if it comes too late to save Mr Ross's life.

"Justice reverberates beyond the particular victim to the extended families and it is a good news story for those family members that this verdict will now be set aside," he said.

Based on a report by Jane Cowan for The World Today

 
 


Colin Campbell Ross

 

The victim
 

Nell Alma Tirtschke, known as Alma, 12.

 

 

 
 
 
 
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