Robert Lee Ruby, 54, of Blakesburg, died on January 11, 1936, after falling approximately 87 feet down the shaft of the Bidwell Fuel Co. mine located on the Henry Oswalt farm, one mile south of Christiansburg in Wapello County. Ruby, a longtime miner, was working around noon when the incident occurred. According to Coroner John Drake, Ruby had just unloaded a car of coal from the cage and was wheeling the empty car back toward the shaft when he apparently pushed it into an open, unprotected area. Both Ruby and the coal car plunged to the bottom of the mine shaft.
There were no witnesses to the accident, and the exact circumstances could not be determined. A July 13, 1936 report in the Ottumwa Courier noted that most of the bones in Ruby’s body were broken from the fall. Investigators believed it was possible that the horse used to operate the hoist system had moved unexpectedly, pulling the cage upward and leaving the shaft open. Coroner Drake stated that due to the lack of witnesses, he could not formally establish how the mishap occurred, and therefore no inquest was held.
Born near Ollie on July 7, 1881, to Phoebe Elvira Keasling and Charles E. Ruby, Robert Ruby married Myra Ellen Locke on January 17, 1905. Together they had seven children. Their daughter, Myra Lock Ruby, preceded him in death in 1926 from liver cancer. At the time of his death, Ruby was survived by six children: Lota Ruby of Blakesburg, Matie Ruby of Centerville, Katherine Couger of Blakesburg, Cleo K. Ruby of Blakesburg, Mercedia Sammons of Rome, and Fern Ruby of Blakesburg. He was also survived by three brothers—Jacob of Blakesburg, Barney of Ottumwa, and Jeff of Chillicothe—and three sisters: Mettie Cook and Caroline Weeks of Ottumwa, and Mae Lemmons of White Lake, Wisconsin. In total, he had 13 siblings.
Ruby’s body remained at the Needler Funeral Home in Blakesburg until funeral services were held on Tuesday, January 14, 1936, at 2 p.m. at the Christiansburg Church. The service was conducted by Rev. Orville A. Dillon of Blakesburg. Robert Lee Ruby was laid to rest in Memorial Lawn Cemetery in Ottumwa.
