It was 9.30 a.m. on June 17, 1911. Maniyachi Mail was at the Tirunelveli Junction. Robert William Ashe, the Collector of Tirunelveli, was on the train with his wife. As the train was about to leave the station, two youth boarded it, and as it reached Maniyachi at 10.35 a.m., the two young men moved towards the First Class carriage. The one wearing a coat shot Ashe in the chest with a pistol.
The book Ashe Kolaiyum Indiya Puratchi Iyakkamum (Murder of Ashe and Indian Revolutionary Movement - Kalachuvadu Publishers) by A. Sivasubramanian reads like a thriller. The youth who shot Ashe was R. Vanchinathan and his comrade was Madasamy, hailing from Ottapidaram, and a close friend of freedom fighter V.O. Chidambaram Pillai.
Madasamy ran across some paddy fields and fled while Vanchinathan hid in a toilet and shot himself. A letter was recovered from his pocket.
