Morris Cleveland (1911-1934)

CLEVELAND

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 16:05:25

Morris Cleveland and Ruby Minnick
PHOTO AVAILABLE of Ruby MINNICK

Iowa couple found suffocated in car
Had Planned to be wed in spring; Girl was Teacher
Avoca, Ia. Jan 2----Special Dispatch to the (Omaha) World Herald
Morris Cleveland, 23, of Oakland, and his fiancée, Ruby Minnick, 21, a school teacher, were found dead of monoxide gas fumes in an automobile parked along the road, two miles northwest of Hancock today.
The bodies were discovered by Raymond Barton, at whose home the young woman lived while teaching at the Barton school nearby. Her parents are Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Minnick who live southeast of Hancock.
Mrs. Barton said she heard the car stop near the house about 10:30 o’clock last night, and had presumed they would be in the house shortly. Apparently the couple had been overcome as they sat chatting in the car.
Cleveland had rented a farm on which the couple had planned to live following their marriage in the spring.
Coroner Belford, at Council Bluffs, was notified of the case, but decided no inquest was necessary.
From the Scrapbooks of Bessie Gross Gustafsen
Source: Omaha World Herald

The Walnut Bureau, Walnut, Iowa, Thurs., Jan 4, 1934, p.1
Couple Asphyxiated Near Hancock
The Barton school, north of Hancock, to which students returned Tuesday morning to discover nearby their teacher and her fiancé, both dead from carbon monoxide gas poison, will remain closed the rest of the week it was decided Tuesday night. Miss Ruby Minnick, 21, teacher there three years, and her fiancé, Morris Cleveland, 23, a farmer were found dead in Cleveland’s coupe shortly before 9 a.m. Officials believe they had been dead since early Monday night, when Cleveland drove Miss Minnic from her home south of Hancock where they spent New Year’s day with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jess Minnick. They were on their way to the Raymond Barton home, across the road from the school house, where Miss Minnick roomed while school was in session. Official decided they were accidentally killed by carbon monoxide fumes from the auto engine while the car was parked by the side of the road. The couple had planned to be married during the Christmas holidays, but postponed their wedding until spring for fear Ruby would lose her position teaching in the Barton school. Cleveland had arranged to rent a farm in the spring near Oakland. The motor of the auto had stopped but the ignition key was on. The radio was turned on but had run down. The window was down half an inch on the right side, but evidently the ventilation was not sufficient to overcome fumes from the leaky exhaust, officers said.