The Nichols Murder
THE NICHOLS MURDER
Edward Ascher Now on Trial in Detroit.
ASCHER BOUGHT ARSENIC
Nichols After That Would Come Home Sick
The Prosecution Also Seeks to Prove That Ascher Bought the Wire Which Bound the Stones to the Murdered Man’s Body.
The trial of Edward Ascher charged with the murder of Valmore C. Nichols is now on in the recorder's court in Detroit. After the selection of the jury, Mr. Mandell opened the case, saying that he expected to prove that the prisoner lured Valmore C. Nichols from his home near Ypsilanti to Detroit to rob and murder him, that he would show that Ascher, known to Nichols as Lang, had advised the dead man to wear a large quantity of gold always on his person. He told of arsenic being found in Nichols' stomach and of the wound on the dead man's forehead and stated that the prosecuting attorney would show that the defendant previous to the murder had purchased arsenic and that someone thought to be Ascher had bought exactly the same amount and kind of copper wire as was found on the body of the murdered man. He said it would also be shown that Ascher was on Belle Isle the night of the murder and would connect the purchase of arsenic by Ascher with the fact that Nichols always returned home sick after it.
Evidence Wednesday was as to the finding of the body, the disarranged condition of the clothes and the missing money belt.
Yesterday the two ferry tickets dated Aug. 10, found in Nichols' pocket were put in evidence. The undertaker's assistant who brought the body to Detroit from Belle Isle testified this morning and corroborated previous witnesses. His cross-examination and that of the preceding witnesses developed the fact that the defense were proceeding on the theory that Nichols had committed suicide and that the gold belt had been taken after the body was recovered. The important evidence in the case is yet to follow.
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Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Argus-Democrat
Valmore C. Nichols
Edward Ascher