from The Republican (Danville, Indiana)--issue of Thursday, April 23, 1908—page 1, column 5:
LIFE'S SAD TRAGEDY
MRS. LUTHER ASHER SEEKS RELIEF IN DEATH BY POISON
STORY OF TERRIBLE CRUELTY
Burden Becomes Too Great for Woman to Bear
Weary of life, worn by the threats of her husband, crushed by the hopelessness of existence and her apparent helplessness, Mrs. Luther Asher, living south of Pecksburg, committed suicide Thursday afternoon. She had bought rat poison and took all she bought, dying in less than two hours despite medical aid.
Mrs. George Woods and Mrs. Emma Henderson, neighbors, were called to the Asher home by Mrs. Asher's little girl. The ladies saw that Mrs. Asher was in a serious condition and called Dr. White, of Amo. But her condition was such that she could not be saved.
Coroner Curtis held an inquest Friday and he says that the community is very much wrought up over the death of the woman and the manner in which the husband had treated her and her children.
Some weeks ago Mrs. Asher filed suit against her husband for divorce. The case was taken to Greencastle on change of venue and the Court issued a restraining order forbiding [sic] Asher from going about his wife's home. It appears that notwithstanding the order he annoyed the family greatly. And the family was too terrified to apply to the Court or neighbors for protection. There are eleven living children—eight girls and three boys. The oldest girl is married and lives in Indianapolis.
Iva Asher, a daughter, testified to the coroner that four or five weeks ago that her mother said that her husband was so cruel that she would take her life or apply for divorce. Ila [sic] said she thought she had talked her mother out of the thought of taking her life. She testified that her father had beat her mother and knocked her down many times. He would beat the children unmercifully. One sister is an invalid on account of treatment received. Witness said she had spinal trouble which she believed to be the result of beatings received. Witness said: “My mother was a hardworking woman who supported her family and raised them the best she could because father did not provide. My mother was a good and true woman. Father took the wages of my brothers and used them for some other purpose than to support the family.”
Mrs. Emma Henderson testified that Mrs. Asher had said to her that she had trouble enough to kill any woman, that her husband had threatened to burn the house over her head. Mrs. George Woods testified to the same effect. Other Asher children testified in support of Ila's statement and one of them told how the mother on the day of her death had asked them to take care of the baby while she rested. The mother went up stairs and they found her in great agony and called the neighbors.
Dr. White testified that he saw her and she said: “Stomach tube. Poison. Give me something.” He asked her what she had taken and she said: “Arsenic.” He told her: “No.” She then said: “Rat poison. Strychnine.” She said she had bought it for rats and took all of it.
The helpless children were cared for by the kind neighbors and the body of the broken-hearted woman was laid to rest Saturday.
The coroner's verdict is that Anna Asher came to her death as a result of excessive cruelry [sic] on the part of her husband, repeated threats that he would take her life if she revealed acts of his with members of her family, the difficult task of providing for and maintaining the family opposed by him, a pending divorce suit in the circuit court wherein she had hoped to get some relief, his threat to take her life if she testified against him in his divorce suit and that he would burn her house over her head, his slanderous talk in the neighborhood where she lived charging her with infidelity, and her living in dread and great fear of his coming to her home in the night time and take her life influenced her to commit suicide by strychnine as her only relief.
from The Republican (Danville, Indiana)--issue of Thursday, April 23, 1908—page 4, column 2:
Arrested
Luther Asher, husband of the woman who committed suicide Thursday under tragic circumstance, was arrested Sunday by Sheriff Mendenhall on a warrant charging him with assault on one of his daughters. The alleged offense was committed some time ago. Asher was bound over to circuit court by 'Squire Kennedy.