HUTCHINSON, KS – Fred Nussbaum and Earl Jackson of Peabody were among today’s visitors to the State Fair. They also made a trip through the Reformatory. The Daily Independent, Hutchinson, Kansas. Tuesday, September 17, 1907. Page 1.
PEABODY, KS – A Coroner’s jury at Peabody, Kan., returned a verdict that Miss Mary Morris, 23-year-old Peabody school teacher, was murdered in his automobile on a lonely road by Fred R. Nussbaum, 29-year-old insurance agent, who then committed suicide. The Wichita Eagle, Wichita, Kansas. Saturday, May 23, 1936. Page 9.
PEABODY, KS – A coroner’s jury late today returned a verdict of “murder and suicide” in connection with the deaths of Miss Mary Morris and Fred R. Nusbaum, found shot to death in an automobile on a lonely road 5-1/2 miles northeast of Peabody last night. Officers who investigated the shooting had expressed belief Nusbaum had shot Miss Morris and then killed himself.
They said Nusbaum apparently was despondent because the girl was about to return to her home at Emporia to marry James McGuire, an employe of an oil company there. Nusbaum was in the insurance business and Miss Morris was a teacher in the Peabody High School.
Seven witnesses appeared at the inquest including Charles Forney, Salina; Arvi Berry, El Dorado, salesmen who found the bodies; Sheriff Lou Richter, Mrs. Grace Whiting, Peabody, Nusbaum’s landlady; P.S. Hansen, rancher, and Dr. E.H. Johnson, coroner. Richter and Hansen testified no tracks were visible on the road other than those made by Nusbaum’s car, and no footprints, other than those of Nusbaum and Miss Morris, were found in the vicinity.
Mrs. Whiting told the jury Nussbaum had a gun in his pocket when he left his room Wednesday night. Dr. Johnson said the couple had been dead “something more than 15 hours,” which would place the time of death at late Wednesday night. Two bullet wounds were found in Miss Morris’ body, one in the temple and the second in the side. Nusbaum was shot three times in the body. Only four exploded cartridges have been found, but no extended search had been made for the fifth, the officers told the jury.
Miss Morris’ body was stuffed in a back seat of the car and covered with a blanket. Nusbaum was slumped over the steering wheel. The sheriff said the girl apparently had been shot while standing by the car and her body placed in the seat and covered by Nusbaum, who then climbed into the seat and shot himself. An automatic found under Nussbaum’s hand was identified by the sheriff as property of the dead man. Fred Nusbaum was the adopted son of J. Nusbaum, Marion County treasurer at Marion. Fred was single and was employed in an insurance and loan company at Peabody, of which his father was an official.
Miss Morris, who was 25 years old, was engaged to James McGuire of Emporia, son of Mr. & Mrs. Harry McGuire and had planned to be married this summer. Mr. McGuire operates a filling station at 12th & Mechanic streets. The young woman was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Morris of 1001 Market Street in Emporia. She was graduated from Emporia Teachers College in 1933 and had been prominent in student activities. The Manhattan Mercury, Manhattan, Kansas. Friday, May 22, 1936. Page 1.
HUTCHINSON, KS – Mr. and Mrs. Albert Thomson motored to Peabody to attend the funeral services of Fred R. Nussbaum, the young man who killed himself and his sweetheart on Thursday. Mr. Nusbaum has frequently visited in Hutchinson at the Thomson home. The Hutchinson News, Hutchinson, Kansas. May 23, 1936. Page 3. © Transcribed by Darren McMannis for the Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies, Inc.