THE TIRTSCHKE MURDER

Otago Witness, Issue 3542, 31 January 1922, Page 19

THE TIRTSCHKE MURDER

EVIDENCE AGAINST ACCUSED. MELBOURNE, January 25. The inquest on the little girl Alma Tirtschke was opened to-day. Colin Campbell Ross (the accused) was present in custody. After evidence had been given that the girl was seen in the wine saloon kept bv Rcss, Ivy Matthews, who was formerly manageress for Ross, said the prisoner told her: ‘ ‘The moment I am in the presence of children I lose my head. I did that to that child, and in a few minutes she was dead. I did not tie the cord round her neck. After she was dead I picked up a knife and couTd have slashed her to bits.’’ January 26. The mediehl evidence at the inquest proved that Alma Tirtschke had been outraged . Ivy Matthews, in her evidence, stated that Ross was in the habit of tampering with young girls, and admitted to her that he outraged Tirtschke. Other witnesses testified to seeing the girl in Ross’s wine bar shortly before her disappearance. Sydney Harding, a prisoner in the Melbourne Gaol, who is awaiting trial, gave evidence that Ross while in gaol confessed to him that he outraged the girl and then lost his head and strangled her with his hands. He then tore the girl’s clothing into strips, which he threw in the river. The coroner committed Ross for trial on a charge of murder. January 27. Sydney Harding (the prisoner whom Ross told that he had outraged the girl), in his evidence, said that Ross told him that he took the girl into his private room behind the bar. He gave her three glasses of wine. She went to sleep. When she woke she started to moan and cry. He tried to pacify her. Then he lost his head, and choked her. He washed the bar to destroy all traces, and returned late at night and took the body to where it was found, meantime arranging his movements so as to throw off suspicion. He added that if he was acquitted he was going for heavy compensation, but if convicted he must get hold of some cyanide.