Cluver, August (1857 - 1929)

CULVER, KLUVER

Posted By: Linda Mohning, volunteer (email)
Date: 9/30/2022 at 18:19:44

The LeMars Globe-Post
Monday, April 1, 1929
Page 1

[alternate spelling CLUVER]

REMSEN MAN ENDS LIFE WITH A SHOTGUN.
August Kluver Sets Weapon Against Wall and Pushes Trigger.

Coroner L. E. Mauer was called last night about supper time to the Bartel Ruba farm to investigate a suicide of August Kluver, 61 years old and unmarried, who shot himself just as members of the family, returning from the home of a neighbor where they had been visiting, drove into the farmyard.

Kluver placed the butt of the gun against the house and stood against the muzzle. He then pushed the trigger with his finger, receiving the full charge in his chest, over the heart. The charge passed clear through the body, coming out in  back. The powder gases expanded with explosive effect inside the chest cavity, and this, with the loss of blood, caused almost instant death. He was dead before a doctor could be summoned.

The reason for Kluver’s death is not known, but according to information given Coroner Mauer, he had been drinking heavily and the reaction caused him to get very despondent at times.

The dead man was well known all over the Remsen trade territory, in which he has lived for the past 41 years working on farms and other jobs. He was unmarried and boarded around at different places after he quit working.

When Coroner Mauer was called last night he had no difficulty getting as far as Remsen, but from there on he had a lot of trouble on account of snow drifts. Two and a half miles south and four miles east of Remsen he had to leave his car at the Haverkamp farm and from there it was only possible to get through with a lumber wagon. 
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Remsen Bell-Enterprise
Thursday, April 4, 1929
Page 1

Farm Hand Ends Life with Shotgun.
August Kluver Dies Soon After Shooting at Barthel Ruba Home Sunday. 

Despondent, presumably over his inability to find steady work and a permanent home after many years of hard work and shifting from place to place, August Kluver, a well known farm hand who had been in this vicinity for many years, ended his life Sunday afternoon by shooting. Writhing in agony, and with life nearly extinct, Kluver was found lying on the kitchen floor at the Barthel Ruba farm home four miles southeast of Remsen at 5 o’clock in the afternoon by Mr. and Mrs. Ruba on their return from a visit with neighbors. He died soon thereafter.

Mr. Kluver had been admitted to the county home last fall, and failing to find this to his liking, he applied to Mr. Ruba for shelter for the winter.  Mr. Ruba, having been acquainted with the man for a long time, admitted him to his home and Kluver worked for his board. He had been in a rather despondent mood for a number of weeks.

The fatal act was committed with a .12 gauge shotgun, which apparently had been placed against the base-board of the room and discharge with the use of a curling iron.  The charge struck him directly above the heart and some of the shot scattered and struck him in the face and head. Coroner L. E. Mauer pronounced it a clear case of suicide.

The body was taken to the Nothem undertaking rooms and held there until the time of the funeral. The body was taken in charge by the county, and was laid to rest in the city cemetery at Le Mars Tuesday afternoon at 3 o’clock.

But very little is known hereabouts concerning the birthplace of the unfortunate man, but it is known that he was a native of Germany and came to this country as a young man. Kluver is believed to have been about 65 years old. He spent about 45 years in this part of the country, and for many years was in this county and around Remsen.
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August Cluver
Buried Block 11-C
LeMars City Cemetery