The Colourful and Tragic Life of Alice Tree: Part 1
Alice Tree was a prostitute working from Boddington Row in Adelaide’s West End. Boddington’s Row was a small group of cottages alongside the Shamrock Hotel (Colonel Light Hotel) that Thomas Boddington, owner of the Shamrock Hotel leased at inflated prices to prostitutes who frequented his hotel.
July 1881, Alice Tree and her partner, Thomas Cunningham, a
labourer, was arrested by police on the evidence of Ah Kong, that Cunningham
had maliciously wounded him.
Ah Kong had sold a
jacket to Alice Tree, he went to her house on Currie Street to collect his
payment. Cunningham opened the door to Kong, but would not let him inside,
saying to Kong, “I will come out and kill you.”
Cunningham then rushed at Kong and
punched him in the face. Tree then rushed outside and struck Kong over the head
with a pot stick, knocking him unconscious to the ground.
A passing police constable noticed Kong
on the ground a little while later and sent him to the hospital where he was
treated. Once he gained consciousness, Kong told police what had happened.
Detective Webster arrested Cunningham
and Tree on Clarendon Street. Cunningham said to Tree, “I suppose we shall be
committed for this, Alice”. The two prisoners made no further statements and
were bailed at court, on the surety of 50 pounds each, and two others in 85
pounds each.[1]
Cunningham and Tree appeared in court in August charged with
unlawfully and maliciously wounding Ah Kong on 9 July 1881. Ah Kong, on the
witness stand, gave an entirely different account of what happened on the day.
Kong stated that Alice Tree owed him
money for drapery, so he went to her house to ask for the goods back. Cunningham
was there and told Tree to stay inside. He claimed Cunningham used threats and
bad language, then Tree hit him with a stick shouting “Kill the Chinaman!”
Kong claimed he fell to the ground and
Cunningham seized him by the throat, and asked Tree for a knife, with the
intentioned to slit his throat, that was when Tree struck Kong over the head.
He claimed another man came to his
rescue, and as he (Kong) escaped, he fell to the ground unconscious, only to
wake up in the hospital.
At this point, Kong was stopped and
examined. It was revealed that Kong had arrived at Tree’s house brandishing a
tomahawk and threatened to use it if Tree did not pay him.[2]
The Police Court
decided that as Kong's evidence could not be relied upon, that the case should be
dismissed. The Judge agreed and acquitted them both.[3]
Next week:
The Colourful and Tragic Life of Alice Tree: “Riotous
Behaviour and Death.”
Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2020
[2] 'Law and Criminal Courts.', Evening Journal, (13 July 1881), p. 2., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197757550.
[3] 'LAW COURTS. SUPREME COURT—CRIMINAL SITTINGS', The Express and Telegraph, (4 August 1881), p. 2., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208192678.
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