Murder of Nell "Alma" Tirtschke

Nell "Alma" Tirtschke named after her mother was born on 14 March 1909 at a remote mining town in West Australia, Australia. She was the oldest child and in 1911 her father Charles Titchke accepted a position with a mining company in Rhodesia and the family moved there. Soon after in 1912, her little sister Viola was born. During Nell's third pregnancy she died and Charles unable to take care of his daughters full time sent them to their grandparents. The whole family helped raise the two girls.
By 1921 Henry, Alma's, and Viola's grandfather died and the grandmother took all parental duties. Alma was described as shy, studious, and well behaved and excelled in her studies. Her grandmother raised the two girls and was a strict disciplinarian and would restrict the girls from social activities with other students this could have been the reason why Alama was shy and didn't make friends readily. Alma was also described as having soft speech and a soft manner.

On the afternoon of 30 December 1921, 12-year-old Alma was sent on an errand by an aunt. She was supposed to get a package of meat from her uncle's butcher shop in Swanston St. Melbourne and deliver it to a customer on Collin's street. It wasn't supposed to take more than 15 minutes and Alma was typically fast with her errands.

When Alma didn't return her family began to worry because they knew she was reliable and responsible. She was reported missing and the family and police searched for the girl through the night. It wasn't until early the next morning that her nude body was found in Gun Alley a laneway off of Little Collins Street. The poor girl had been raped and strangled to death.

She was last seen alive between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m. at the corner of Alfred Place and Little Collin Streets close to where her body had been found. Among the men interviewed about the murder was 29-year-old Collin Ross, a saloon manager, and was seen with a girl matching Alam's description that day outside his saloon.

Collin was known by the police and had recently been acquitted in the shooting and robbery of his customers.  He claimed that he had been tending the bar the whole night and had not killed the girl. He nominated several witnesses who did see him tend the bar that night. Police were convinced it was him, he was arrested on 12 Jan. 1922.

Even though police were convinced of him being the murderer family members of Alma didn't believe it to be him. Collin had, throughout the trial, claimed innocence. The trial then began on 20 Feb. John Harding who was previously found of perjury was in jail with Collin. He testified against Collin and claimed that Collin made a confession to killing the girl.

A detective noticed several strands of blonde hair on a blanket inside of Collin's home. Alma's hair was compared to the blanket's and Charles Price a trained chemist looked at the hairs and claimed they came from the same person. This helped lead to a conviction against Collin. He was sentenced to death on April 24, 1922 by hanging

 In 2008 hairs that were claimed to have come from Alma were tested. It was found that those hairs did not belong to the girl and the man who claimed Collin made a jailhouse confession had been subject to perjury and it's possible he lied about the confession. Collin has been pardoned for Alma's murder. It's unknown who had attacked and killed the young girl.

Collin Campbell Ross

SOURCES:
Murderpedia

Wikipedia

The Wonnangatta Murders: Murders of Jim Barclay and John Bamford

Government Gazette page 6

On December 14, 1917, James "Jim" Barclay hired a cook named John Bamford worked for the Wonnangatta Station he managed in a secluded valley in the Victorian Alps in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. The two workers were last seen when they left Talbotville on December 21, 1917, after voting. They then returned to the Wonnangatta Station. 

On December 28th the Goold brothers went by the station. They didn't see neither worker but heard them and a dog moving cattle. They were out of sight and the Goold's left a note for the two in the Station. 

On Jan. 22, 1918, Harry Smith, a good friend, and stepson of the original owner of Wonnangatta Station went to the station to drop off mail. He found that Jim and John were not there. The crops had been cut which Jim stated he was going to mid-Jan. Their bedroom doors were locked and "Home Tonight" was written on the kitchen door in chalk. The note the brothers left weren't there and the note on the door wasn't there when they visited almost a month before. It's assumed Jim and John had been at the Station between Dec. 28th and Jan. 22nd.

Harry had stayed for two nights and they never arrived. He left on the 24th thinking they were probably doing work in another area. When he arrived back on Feb. 14th and the mail he left was still untouched and the message on the door was still there. The dog that Jim owned looked bad as he had been starved. The next day he arranged for a telegram to be sent to Arthur Philips the current owner. He was afraid something had happened to the two.

A search ensued and lasted several days. On Feb. 25th Jim was found in a shallow grave near the Conglomerate Creek which was 420 paces from the Station. Jim was shot in the back possibly with his own gun. Jim's clothes and a handgun he recently purchased were missing, but they left other valuables and Jim's shotgun at the station. John's horse was missing also. Food in the homestead was found to be covered in strychnine, but neither one (Johns body hadn't been found yet) was found to have been poisoned.

It was initially thought that John with his short temper had gotten in a fight with Jim and killed him. But in November his body was found buried under some logs near Howitt Plains Hut on Mount Howitt. He had been shot in the head. It was possible that John and Jim had stayed at the Hut to fix a fence.

It's unknown what had happened to the two or even the motive as some of Jim's personal items had been stolen(including a handgun he recently purchased), but other valuable items were left behind. If Jim and John were killed by the same person or person's why did they take John so far away to be killed and Jim so close to the Station? Or did the murders start at the Howitt Plains Hut while they stayed there to fix some fencing? Or it could be possible that Jim was at the Station while John was at the Hut and the murderers knew this and used the opportunity to kill both. 

Some assume that John had killed Jim and Jim's friend killed him in retaliation. But there's no proof in this and why would they allow it to take so long for them to be rediscovered. Jim also wrote to a friend that he was in fear of his life and hearsay claims he said he was scared of "three blokes". He had bought a handgun to protect himself. The crops he planned in mid-Jan. Were cut when Harry arrived on Jan 22nd and it's believed he may have been killed around that time. 

No one will really happen that night and it may never be known.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

The Line Up

Harry's Hut

ABC