Alexander MCulloch

Alexander M'Culloch was beaten to death.

He was an instalment accounts collector employed by the Provident Clothing Supply Company, a credit drapery company in Dunda Street, Glasgow. Six men were initially arrested on suspicion of his murder and three were later tried but they were acquitted after two witnesses withdrew their evidence.

Alexander M'Culloch had lived at 33 Langa Street in Mary Hill, Glasgow.

His body was found in a pend (a back court) in Wigton Street early on Saturday morning by a woman that had been out emptying ashes there.

He had died from asphyxiation after his dentures became displaced as a result of the assault.  A professor said that Alexander M'Culloch's heart was far from normal.

The six men initially arrested were arrested in their homes in the northern part of the city between 1.30am and 4am on 21 March 1949.

The charge against the men was that while acting in concert on 18 March 1949, in Wigton Street, Glasgow, and in a common pend at 51 Wigton Street, they had assaulted Alexander M'Culloch, struck him several blows on the head and body, as a result of which he died. The men were also charged with robbing him of two wallets, £22, a watch and a cigarette lighter.

Alexander M'Culloch had left home at about 6pm on his usual Friday night round of collecting in the Port Dundas and Garscube Road areas and it was believed that he had been attacked near the end of his collection at a time when he would have usually carried a substantial sum of money.

When he didn't return home after work, his two sons aged 49 and 34 visited many of his customers and phoned hospitals trying to locate him and appealed to the police. None of his customers said that they had seen him after 9.30pm on the Friday night. His last call had been at a house in Wigton Street and it was thought that he had been out collecting for three hours by the time he was attacked.

Pieces of broken glass, which were thought to have been from a pair of spectacles, were found in the street which indicated that he had been attacked in the street and rendered unconscious and then dragged into the back court where his pockets were rifled. The police found some silver near his body.

In the hunt for his watch and cigarette lighter which had been taken from him, the police issued descriptions of the items which were circulated to all pawn shops in the city.

The six men were arrested on 21 March 1949 but three of them were discharged on 29 March 1949. The trial took place on Wednesday 4 May 1949 at Glasgow High Court where the other three men were acquitted after two witnesses denied statements which were alleged to have been made by them to the police.

After the two witnesses refuted their statements, the prosecution said, 'In view of the evidence left by these two witnesses I do not propose to lead any further evidence for the Crown and I desert the diet'. The Lord Justice Clerk then instructed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty.