Newspapers: Bertha Ann (Gobel) Warner Suicide Article: Jackson Co., Oregon *********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** Transcribed and formatted for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Elizabeth Oct 2002 ************************************************************************ WARNER, Bertha Ann (Gobel), Medford (Oregon) Mail Tribune, Friday, 25 Oct 1940, p. 1 -- Woman Suicides After Wandering Night In Hills Husband Finds Mrs. Bertha Warner Hanging In Kitchen Suffered Mental Ill. -- Mrs. Bertha Ann Warner, 56, a resident of Murphy for the past three and a half years, was found dead by her husband, Henry A. Warner, about 10:30 p.m. Thursday. She was hanging from the rafters in the kitchen of their home near the Applegate store, and according to the coroner's and sheriff's office there was no doubt but that she took her own life. Mrs. Warner, who had been in mental ill health for some time and had occasionally threatened to commit suicide, wandered around in the hills near her home all Wednesday night and was found Thursday morning after a search carried on by state police, sheriff's deputies and residents of the district. Mr. Warner was quoted by the coroner's office as explaining that he retired for the night about 6 p.m. Thursday, tired from the previous night's long search for his wife. He awakened about 10:30 p.m., the coroner's office quoted him as saying, and upon missing Mrs. warner he looked around the house and discovered her in the kitchen with a table cloth around her neck, hanging from a rafter. She had used a small kitchen step-ladder to climb upon and step off after the tablecloth was knotted around her neck, according to the coroner's office. On the drain board in the kitchen were found two butcher knives with blood on them, some bloody hair and an empty bottle of bluing. It was believed by the coroner's office that she drank the bluing as there was some of the fluid on her lips. It was also believed by the coroner's office that, after hanging herself and before becoming unconscious, she attempted to cut herself down, as there was a small nick on one ear and deep cuts across the fingers of the hand. Although there will be no inquest, District Attorney Frank J. Newman said that an autopsy would be held to officially place the cause of death. Mr. Warner, according to the coroner's office, said that he saw his wife trying to put shells in one of his guns about 1 p.m. Thursday and that he took the weapon and a shotgun he had in the house and hid them, after taking them to pieces. According to the coroner's office, Mrs. Warner had been dead five or six hours when authorities reached the house at 11:45 p.m. after being summoned by Mr. Warner. Mrs. Warner, who had resided in Oregon for the past 13 years, was born in Zanesville, Ohio. She came west with her family in 1927, settling in Medford. Besides her husband she is survived by a daughter, Kathryn Baker of San Francisco; three sisters, Mrs. Alla Hampshier and Mrs. Lizzie Bobb of Ohio and Mrs. Hallie Frankenfield of Maryland, and two brothers, Charles and George Gobel of Ohio. Funeral arrangements will be announced later by the Perl Funeral Home.