Twelve-year-old Alma Tirtschke lived with her grandmother in Jolimont.
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Her mother died on the journey to Australia.
Her father, a mining engineer, worked in Maffra.
On December 30, 1921, her grandmother gave Alma an errand.
She was to collect some meat in the city and deliver it to her aunt.
Alma never returned.
The next morning, Alma’s naked body was discovered in Gun Alley, two metres from the Australian Wine Saloon.
She had been raped and strangled.
Nauru House now stands on the site of the old Gun Alley, near the old Eastern Market.
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Shortly after discovery of Alma’s body, Colin Campbell Ross, owner of the Australian Wine Saloon was charged.
Ross’ saloon was a dive frequented by the lowest types.
Tragically, Alma’s father died of a shotgun blast on January 4, 1922, while rabbiting in Maffra.
Accident or suicide? We shall never know.
The evidence against Ross at his trial in January 1922 relied on perjured evidence of three witnesses and some strands of red gold hair apparently belonging to the dead girl.
The first witness was Ivy Matthews, a barmaid who had been Ross’ mistress before he threw her over.
She gave evidence that Ross had confessed the murder to her.
She would not give her evidence until she could confront Ross across the courtroom.
She was a woman scorned.
The second witness swore that Ross had stated that she had seen Alma sitting down in the saloon.
She stated that Ross said he had evil intentions toward the girl.
This was Olive Maddox, a prostitute and a married woman separated from her husband.
She appeared to have had a relationship with Ross in the past.
The third witness, a prisoner in the same cell as Ross, stated that Ross had confessed his guilt to him.
Ross had an alibi.
He had been with Mrs Glady Wain.
She corroborated his statement.
The most damning evidence against him were two locks of red gold hair.
One lock was found in blankets at Ross’ family home.
The other was found in Ross’ saloon.
Although Wain stated that she had brushed her red gold hair in the saloon that night, the government analyst said that Wain’s hair did not match either lock of hair.
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Ross’ barrister, Thomas Brennan KC, fought hard for his client through three unsuccessful appeals.
Still protesting his innocence as he had done throughout the ordeal, Ross was hanged in old Melbourne gaol on April 24, 1923.
The Forensic Science Laboratory moved from its old dilapidated city premises to the new Victorian Forensic Institute in the 1990s.
During the move the two locks of hair that had damned Ross at his trial, together with a lock of hair from Alma, were re-discovered, all still labelled and packaged.
They were tested using new forensic techniques.
The two locks of red gold hair had not belonged to Alma.
Ross was pardoned posthumously on May 22, 2008.
A great lot of good it did him.
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