A 1936 death in Wapello County that was originally considered a mining accident has continued to raise questions among the victim’s family decades later.
Robert Lee Ruby, a 54-year-old farmer and coal miner, died January 11, 1936, while working at the Bidwell Coal Mine in Polk Township, south of Ottumwa.
Ruby was working at the mine on the Henry Oswald farm near Christiansburg, a community that has since become a ghost town. According to historical accounts, Ruby fell approximately 87 feet down the mine shaft, suffering fatal injuries.
At the time, Wapello County Coroner John Drake suggested Ruby may have fallen when a horse operating the mine equipment moved forward, leaving the shaft exposed. However, there were no witnesses to the incident, and the exact circumstances surrounding Ruby’s death could not be determined.
No inquest was held, and no further investigation into the death is documented in the account.
Years later, Ruby’s family revisited the circumstances after a newspaper clipping about his death was discovered among family belongings. The article noted that authorities could not determine exactly how the fall occurred because there were no witnesses.
That discovery prompted questions within the family. Relatives reportedly believed Ruby may have been pushed rather than accidentally falling into the shaft. One family member recalled that they believed he had been murdered, although no one knew who might have wanted him dead or why.
Ruby’s death remains surrounded by uncertainty. There is no documented motive, and the available historical account does not establish that his death was a homicide.
Born July 7, 1882, near Ollie, Iowa, Ruby was the son of Phoebe Ann Elvira Keasling and Charles Edward Ruby. He married Myra Ellen Lock in 1905, and the couple had seven children. Myra died from liver cancer in 1926.
Following his death, Ruby’s funeral was held at the Christiansburg Church, with Rev. Orville A. Dillon officiating. He was buried at Memorial Lawn Cemetery in Ottumwa. His headstone bears a simple inscription: “Father.”
More than 90 years later, the circumstances surrounding Robert Lee Ruby’s death remain a question in his family’s history: Was it a tragic accident, or was Ruby pushed into the mine shaft?
With no witnesses and no known investigation beyond the original coroner’s assessment, the answer may never be known.
Source: Nancy Bowers, Iowa Unsolved Murders: Historic Cases
