In view of absurd rumours that have been circulated as to the injuries to the body, it is well to give Dr. Mollison’s next words as he uttered them: “I think those were all the abrasions and bruises.” It has got abroad that there were facts about this case that were unprintable. There is no truth in the report. With the exception of one coarse sentence said to have been used to Matthews, and one coarse word said by Harding to have been used by himself, there was nothing in the case, from start to finish, which has not appeared, either literally or euphemistically, in the reputable press. The child had been violated, but the cause of death, in the doctor’s opinion, was strangulation from throttling. The violation would have led to a considerable amount of blood being lost. The stomach was opened, and contained some thick, dark-coloured fluid, mixed with food. No smell or trace of alcohol was detected, but the doctor added that the smell of alcohol would disappear fairly rapidly. In this, it may be here stated, Dr. Mollison is not supported by a number of other medical men of standing. The post-mortem examination was held within a few hours of the discovery of the body, and within about sixteen hours of the child’s death, if she died between 6 and 7. “Alcohol,” said the doctor, “starts to be absorbed almost immediately it is swallowed.” This subject was discussed at the British Medical Association Conference in Glasgow at the end of July, 1922. Professor Mellanby, who has made a special study of the effects of alcohol on heredity, said that, “after a good carouse, it had taken from ten to eighteen hours for the alcohol to be cleared out of the circulation of a man.” Now, three glasses of sweet wine is a “good carouse” for a child who probably never drank a glass of wine before. Sweet wine contains a very high percentage of alcohol. Accepting the Harding story, the girl was dead within an hour or two of taking them, and the process of clearing the alcohol out of the circulation would cease, or be greatly retarded. And still the fact remains that no trace of alcohol was found in the body.
DETECTIVE BROPHY’S BLUNDER.
That was the full case as made by the Crown against Ross, with the exception of an admission said to have been made to Detective Brophy. This admission may be stated and dealt with at once. Brophy said that, on the 16th of January, he took a man named White to the Melbourne Gaol, and confronted him with Ross. White said: “Yes, that is the man.” Brophy then said: “This man has identified you as the man whom he saw in the Arcade speaking to the little girl, Alma.” Ross said: “Oh,” and then, turning to White, he said: “What time was that?” White said about 3.30. Ross said: “Yes, that’s quite right.” Ross’s version of the conversation, as given in evidence, was that Brophy said: “This man says he saw you talking to a girl in the Arcade at 3.30, and he said: ‘That is correct.’” Brophy made no comment. It is not only clear that Ross’s was the correct account, but it is extremely hard to see how an intelligent man could have any doubt about it. Let us look at the facts.
Ross had denied on December 31, when first seen by the detectives, that he had spoken to “the girl Alma,” but had said that he was speaking to a girl at the door at about the time mentioned; in his written statement on January 5 he denied that he had spoken to the girl; when brought to the Detective Office, under arrest, on January 12, Piggott said to him: “It will be proved that the little girl was seen in your wine shop on December 30,” and he promptly answered: “That’s a lie.” From first to last he had denied specifically that he had ever spoken to the girl Alma, and from first to last he had said that he was speaking to Gladys Wain at the saloon door about that time. Gladys Wain, it should be remarked, though a married woman, is very small, and extremely girlish in appearance. Yet we are asked to believe that Ross, by a quite casual remark on January 16, made an admission, the most important by far he had made during the course of the police investigation, and that one of the detectives in charge of the case turned away from him without the slightest comment on his startling admission.
But there is the further fact that White cannot have said that he saw Ross speaking to “the little girl Alma,” for the simple reason that White did not know Alma. From that it follows that Brophy could not have said, if he were speaking accurately—and a detective should be accurate—that “this man saw you speaking to the little girl Alma.” If Ross had intended to refer to Alma, he would not, and need not, have inquired “What time was that?” The time would have been quite unimportant. If he had another girl in his mind, the enquiry as to the time was natural. In any case, the evidence never should have been tendered or admitted, for if it was sought to be proved that Ross was seen speaking to the murdered girl the proper way to prove it, according to the “rule of best evidence,” was to call White to prove it. And White was not called, not because he had disappeared, but because it was known that he would not swear that he had seen Ross “talking to the little girl Alma.”
PART III.
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ANALYSIS OF THE EVIDENCE.
In seeking to show how doubtful it is that Ross should have been convicted on the evidence, it is not proposed to go deeply into the case for the defence, and argue that the weight of testimony lay with the prisoner. It will be shown later that not one word that Ross said as to his movements was shown to be false, and that every word he did say was supported by strong evidence, but in the meantime the Crown evidence will be subjected to analysis, with a view of showing that from it it was impossible to arrive at a certain conclusion that Ross was guilty.