EXECUTION OF ROSS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18080, 3 May 1922, Page 9

EXECUTION OF ROSS.

GUN ALLEY MURDERER. END FACED CALMLY. PROTESTATION OF INNOCENCE. , Protesting-" his innocence to the last, , Colin Campbell Ross, condemned to death . for the murder oi ! Alma Tirtschke, whose body was found in Gun-alley on the morning of December* 3:1, was executed at Mel bourne Gaol at 10 a.m. on April 24. Present at the excution were about 50 people, comprising officials, police and press roprasentatives. In the precincts of the- gaol j buildings, however, both in Russell and , Victoria Streets, the crowd must have J numbered over 1000. The governor of the gaol, the sheriff, and | the official party arrived at two minutes to 10. and punctually on the stroke of the hour, the hangman, heavily masked, emerged from a cell at the side of the , gallows platform, 110 was followed by a masked assistant. Crossing over the scaffold the two men entered the conj demned cell at tho.'opposito side in which \ tho prisoner had been placed earlier in the I morning. '; Ross was then brought from tho cell, ■ I where for three-quarters of an hour ho had : been with his spiritual advisers, to the I centre of the platform. He walked firmly j the few steps between the cell and the gallows, and needed no assistance. With his hands and feet bound and a I white cap on his head, Ross stood per--1 fectly erect and listened, without any ! apparent, distress, while Rev. W. L. Feni ton read some verses from the Bible. Hi? I hand twitched slightly; otherwise the j prisoner was far more impassive than the 1 1 chaplain. In accordance with custom, the sheriff then asked Ross whether ho had anything to say. For a moment tho prisoner remained silent; then, speaking in a subdued, but clear, voice, ho briefly protested his innocence. "I am now face to face with my 1 Maker," Ross declared, " and I swear by Almighty God that I am an innocent man. jl never saw the child; I never committed tho crime", and I don't know who did. I never confessed to anyone. Task God to forcive those who have sworn my life 1 away. I pray God to have mercy on my poor darling mother and on my family." Immediately he had finished speaking the cap was pulled down over his face, ! and at a given signal from the sheriff ! Ross was executed. Death was instantane- ! ous. . Outside the crowd waited on after those who had witnessed the execution had long gone their way. They neither heard nor saw anything,* but it was eleven o'clock before they dispersed. t The Attorney-General, Mr. Robinson, declined to divulge the nature of tho addi- | tional evidence secured by the Crown ! against Ross. Although Ross died protest- ] in"- his innocence for the crime for which i he" was hanged, the fresh evidence, it is 'believed will not be made public. The I Attorney-General declared that Ross had i had an" absolutely fair trial. According to official directions, the 1 Government reward for the conviction of j the murderer of Alma Tirtschke will be ! apportioned by the Police Department. ' j Several witnesses for the Crown will parti- | cipate in the reward. SHOT FIRED AT WITNESS. INCIDENT IN FTTZROY. A. and N.Z. MELBOURNE. May 1Olive Maddox, who was a witness for the Crown in the Ross murder trial, reported to the police that a man fired a shot at her on Saturday night in a street in Fitzroy. The police are unable to trace the man. \ _ _ ■