The Gun Alley Tragedy: Record of the Trial of Colin Campbell RossBrennan, T. C. (Thomas Cornelius)
History
The Gun Alley Tragedy: Record of the Trial of Colin Campbell Ross
Brennan, T. C. (Thomas Cornelius)
Ross, Colin Campbell, 1892-1922 -- Trials, litigation, etc.; Trials (Murder) -- Australia -- Victoria -- Melbourne
There is one piece of evidence which causes some difficulty in that
it suggests that someone was in Ross’s saloon after midnight. It is
the evidence of the two Italians who swore that there was a light in
the saloon at 10 minutes to 1. There does not appear to be much room
for mistake in this evidence, for the Italians said they talked with
one another about the unwonted circumstance of the light. There does
not appear to be any reason to doubt their honesty, even though they
have since shared in the reward. During argument before the Appeal
Courts, it was suggested as a possibility that other persons might have
gained access to the saloon. It was proved in evidence by Mr. Clarke,
the Manager of the Arcade, that the door of the saloon nearer Bourke
Street could be opened by inserting a knife or piece of tin between the
bolts of the Yale lock and the part into which it fits, the lock being
loose and the door ill-fitting. Apart from Mr. Clarke’s unchallenged
testimony on this point, the fact may be accepted as being beyond
controversy, for Mr. Clarke, on the eve of the trial, opened the door
in the way mentioned without the slightest difficulty, in the presence
of the counsel and solicitors for Ross.
This being the fact about the door, it was not altogether improbable
that it would be known to some patrons of the wine saloon who were
tenants of the Arcade. The suggestion made in the Appeal Courts was
that other persons with a dead body on their hands, which it was urgent
they should dispose of, might have bethought themselves of the disused
cellars in the wine cafe as a possible hiding place. This would be
the more probable by reason of the fact that it was known that the
following day would be the last on which the wine saloon would be open,
the license expiring with the year. It was known in fact that the
police questioned, and detained for a time, at least one occupier of a
room in the Arcade whose reputation was far from good. In any event,
there is strong evidence that Ross knew nothing about the light in the
saloon if it was, in fact, there. On the day of his arrest, he was
interrogated for the third time by Piggott. Piggott said: “It will be
proved that a light was burning in your wine shop on the early morning
of the 31st.” Ross replied promptly: “That is a lie—a deliberate lie.”
Piggott said: “It will be proved that a little girl was seen in your
wine shop on the afternoon of the 30th.” Ross said: “That’s a lie.” “It
will be proved that she had a glass in front of her and was sitting in
the room,” continued Piggott, and again Ross answered: “That’s a lie.”
And being asked if he had any explanation to give, he added: “You have
got nothing over me.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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