
Gun Alley
Murder, Lies and Failure of Justice
Kevin Morgan(Author)
Hardie Grant Books (Publisher)
Published on 1. May 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-1-74270-266-7 (ISBN)
Description
In the early morning of New Year's Eve 1921, 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke's naked body was found in Gun Alley, a dead-end Melbourne lane. She had been raped and strangled. In an atmosphere of public frenzy, the police were pushed to find a culprit and charged saloonkeeper Colin Ross with her murder. Rapidly convicted, and with his appeals to higher courts rejected, Ross was hanged - protesting his innocence to the end. Researching the case in 1995, author Kevin Morgan stumbled upon an envelope containing critical evidence: hair samples. During the trial the prosecution claimed hairs found on Ross's blanket matched a sample of Alma's hair. This was the first time such forensic evidence brought a conviction in Australia. Re-examination by modern-day experts has proven the hairs do not match ...Gun Alley is the riveting story of how botched policework, trial by media and lynch-law hysteria spawned a staggering conspiracy to convict and hang an innocent man, and reveals for the first time the vital clues-missed in the original investigation-that point, more than 90 years on, to the true killer.
Now updated, this edition documents the extraordinary events leading to the historic pardon and charts the aftermath for the Ross and Tirtschke families as a hanged man's body is recovered from an unmarked prison grave ...'Gun Alley is a masterwork of forensic detection.' - Ian Jones 'This is a winner ...a book written from the heart ...' - Kerry Greenwood
Now updated, this edition documents the extraordinary events leading to the historic pardon and charts the aftermath for the Ross and Tirtschke families as a hanged man's body is recovered from an unmarked prison grave ...'Gun Alley is a masterwork of forensic detection.' - Ian Jones 'This is a winner ...a book written from the heart ...' - Kerry Greenwood
Reviews / Votes
'Gun Alley is a masterwork of forensic detection.' - Ian Jones 'This is a winner... a book written from the heart...' - Kerry GreenwoodMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
South Yarra
Australia
Dimensions
Height: 208 mm
Width: 139 mm
Weight
470 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-74270-266-7 (9781742702667)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2012
1st Edition
Hardie Grant Books
€14.39
Available for download
Person
Kevin Morgan has worked variously as a photographer, teacher, librarian, historian, researcher and freelance writer. His previously published The Particulars of Executions 1894-1967: The hidden truth about capital punishment, and produced a photo-essay exhibition for the Jewish Museum of Australia on the experience of a Jew child under the Third Reich. He lives in Melbourne with his wife and fellow researcher, Linda.