Murder Of A Messenger

Melbourne in the mid 1930's. A city being transformed architecturally and socially, but still a violent city, full of armed robberies and murder. Armed gangs regularly targeted large sums of cash being transported by messengers from business and government offices to banks at the end of each working day. It was late Friday afternoon in January 1936. The day's takings from the Stamps Office (£1800, a considerable sum), were about to be delivered to the bank by a messenger, accompanied by an escort. In a crime that shocked Melbourne, the messenger was robbed of the takings by three men and the elderly escort was shot and left to die on a city street. What followed was an extraordinary tale that linked the Collingwood underworld, police incompetence, and a number of trials of the accused. After a lengthy investigation three Collingwood criminals were charged-but were they the murderers or fitted up by the police? This little known story combines police procedures, courtroom dramas, crime journalism, and family and social history. Author Robin Grow tells the story of this incredible period of Melbourne's rich underworld and it's legal and social history.