How shonky evidence and greedy witnesses hanged innocent man for killing 12-year-old girl
After a hefty reward was offered to solve Melbourne’s Gun Alley murder, a parade of shonky witnesses with outlandish claims sent an innocent man to his death.
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The irresistible lure of £1250 in reward money to solve the Gun Alley murder helped send an innocent man to the gallows for killing a 12-year-old girl.
A parade of shonky “witnesses” lined up with fabricated claims that sealed the fate of Colin Campbell Ross in what became a staggering miscarriage of justice.
The Gun Alley murder is the subject of the latest episode of the free In Black and White podcast on Australia’s forgotten characters, available today.
It was the Christmas school holidays, and Alma Tirtschke was sent by her grandmother to collect a parcel of meat from a butcher in the city. She was never seen alive again.
The tragic story of the Gun Alley murder is told in the new Melbourne edition of the Grave Tales series of books by Helen Goltz and Chris Adams.
Goltz says when the girl’s body was found naked in Gun Alley in Melbourne’s CBD on New Year’s Eve, 1921, it ignited a wave of public hysteria.
“Parents were terrified to let their kids out of their sight,” she says.
Police were desperate for an arrest, and soon set their sights on Ross, 28, the owner of a wine bar near where the body was found.
Thanks to the testimony of a string of so-called witnesses who received hefty rewards, and one piece of now-discredited physical evidence, Ross was found guilty and executed.
At least three witnesses claimed Ross had confessed the murder to them.
Goltz says barmaid Ivy Matthews, who had recently been sacked from Ross’s bar, initially told police she knew nothing, then changed her story to say her ex-boss had confessed to the murder.
Matthews scored £350 of the government’s £1000 reward money, and £87 out of the £250 offered by The Herald.
Madame Ghurka, who had a shop near Ross’s and disapproved of his bar, claimed Ross confessed to her also, which earned herself £25.
Ross’s cellmate after his arrest, convicted criminal and perjurer John Harding, testified that Ross had confessed to him in prison, and scored £200.
Prostitute Olive Maddox claimed she saw Alma having a drink in Ross’s bar on the afternoon of the murder, and pocketed £170.
In all, Goltz says more than a dozen witnesses lined up to claim a share of the £1250 in reward money – the equivalent of well over $100,000 today.
Yet, Ross proclaimed his innocence right to the end.
“It was reported that his voice tremored at the time and he said, ‘If I’m hanged, I’m hanged an innocent man. My life has been sworn away by desperate people,’” Goltz says.
“And that’s just what they were; they were desperate and greedy for money. And basically his life was worthless compared to what they could make out of him.”
Incredibly, it took more than 80 years for the truth to emerge, thanks to a joint effort by the extended families of both the murdered girl and her accused killer.
In the 1990s, modern forensic techniques were used to prove a key piece of physical evidence presented at trial – strands of hairs on a blanket of Ross’s – did not belong to the murdered girl.
In 2008, Colin Ross was given a posthumous pardon, the first such pardon issued in Australia for a judicially executed person.
Meanwhile, the true identity of Alma Tirtschke’s killer remains a mystery.
“I think it’s a great tragedy for both them and their families, and I think someone got away with murder,” Goltz says.
Listen now to the interview with author Helen Goltz in today’s new free episode of the In Black and White podcast on Australia’s forgotten characters on Apple/iTunes, Spotify, web or your favourite platform.
And listen to our previous episodes including the bushranger who came back from the dead, how a quirk of fate ended Melbourne serial killer’s reign of terror, and the Essendon Football Club trainer who was a quack doctor, drug fiend and serial crook.
Buy the Grave Tales books in book shops or atgravetales.com.au.
And see In Black & White in the Herald Sun newspaper Monday to Friday for more stories and photos from Victoria’s past.
inblackandwhite@heraldsun.com.au
Originally published as How shonky evidence and greedy witnesses hanged innocent man for killing 12-year-old girl
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