100 Years ago...
Ross is hanged for Gun Alley murder
April 24, 1922
Collin Campbell Ross was hanged at Melbourne jail today, protesting to his last breath his innocence of the murder of 12-year-old schoolgirl, Alma Tirtschke. As Ross walked firmly to the gallows, he declared in a subdued, clear voice: "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".
Immediately he finished speaking, the hanging cap was pulled over his face, and he was executed. Alma Tirtschke disappeared while on a message. She was found naked, in Gun Alley off Little Collins Street, on December 31 last year. She had been slowly strangled with a cord.
Article from "Chronicle of the 20th Century" ISBN 1 872031 80 3