The Gun Alley Murder was the rape and murder of 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke in Melbourne, Australia, in 1921. She was a schoolgirl and had last been seen alive close to a drinking establishment, the Australian Wine Saloon; under these circumstances her murder caused a sensation. More recently, the case has become well known again as a probable miscarriage of justice.
Alma’s task that day had been to go from her grandmother's house in Jolimont to a...
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The Gun Alley Murder was the rape and murder of 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke in Melbourne, Australia, in 1921. She was a schoolgirl and had last been seen alive close to a drinking establishment, the Australian Wine Saloon; under these circumstances her murder caused a sensation. More recently, the case has become well known again as a probable miscarriage of justice.
Alma’s task that day had been to go from her grandmother's house in Jolimont to a Swanston Street butcher's, collect a parcel of meat, drop it at an aunt's Collins Street home and return to Jolimont.
It was uncharacteristic for Alma to take so long on her errands. A witness said he saw a man following Alma. Reliable witnesses who had nothing to lose or gain by telling police what they knew said Alma was dawdling, apprehensive and obviously afraid.
Just a few metres away from the Australian Wine Saloon in the Eastern Arcade, between Bourke and Little Collins Roads, where Alfred Place runs off Little Collins Street, Alma...
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