MO d/c 36265--Widowed, parents unknown on death certificate. Burial location at Millport.

Occupation: Extracted poison from snakes.

1930 Census gives his marital status as widowed; 1940 Census gives his marital status as divorced.

JOHN CUNNINGHAM IS DEAD

Took Own Life at Virgil Shephard Home in Rutledge Friday

John Cunningham, who for the past few years has made his home with Mr. and Mr. Virgil Shephard at Rutledge, took his own life at the Shephard home sometime Friday afternoon.

Mr. Cunningham was said to have given Mrs. Shephard $25.00 at noon Friday and asked her to go to a sale near Rutledge and make some purchases. After Mrs. Shephard left home, Mr. Cunningham presumably went to the garage and closed the front doors and barred them. At the east or back end of the garage is a small door, and just inside this door was a part of the garage frame about 7 feet high.

Mr. Cunningham's body was found hanging from this frame with his feet touching the floor. A new dog collar was fastened tight around his neck and the hook on a log chain was fastened into the ring of the dog collar at the back of his neck, and the chain wrapped around the board of the garage frame. A small low table was tipped over a short distance from Mr. Cunningham's feet.

In a small room adjacent to his bedroom at the Shephard home, Mr. Cunningham kept a trunk with his belongings, and when officers were called and arrived there, his personal effects were gone through. Among them was a will in which he left Mr. and Mrs. Shephard most of his property and funds with the exception of a tract of land in Texas.

Mr. Cunningham was said to have bought and paid for his funeral services from the Bailey Undertaking Co., at Rutledge some time ago and had purchased a mausoleum and placed it in the Rutledge cemetery and being a stone cutter, had cut his own inscription on the mausoleum.

Sheriff D. A. Wise and Coroner P. M. Baker were called as soon as Mr. Cunningham's body was found and after viewing the body no inquest was thought to be necessary.

The body of Mr. Cunningham was found in the garage about 4 o'clock by a small boy who was passing. Mrs. Shephard had not returned from the sale when his body was found and Mr. Shephard who works for the Santa Fe had not returned home.

The supposition was the act was committed shortly after noon.

The Memphis Democrat, Memphis, Missouri • Thu, Oct 9, 1941, Page 1, Column 6

RUTLEDGE.

John Cunningham took his own life Friday in a garage at the Virgil Shepard home, where he had been staying. Burial was Saturday afternoon at Millport in a mausoleum he had purchased and had placed sometime previous.

The Edina Sentinel and Knox County Democrat, Edina, Missouri, Thu, Oct 09, 1941 ·Page 2, Column 5

AGED RUTLEDGE MAN HANGS SELF.

John H. Cunningham, about 65 or 70, of Rutledge, hanger [sic] himself in the garage at the Virgil Shepperd home, near the high school, where he had been making his home, Friday afternoon. The body was found by Gordon Shepperd, Virgil Shepperd's son, when he returned home from school about 4 o'clock. Mr. Cunningham is survived by a daughter in Texas, several step-children at Joplin and a brother in Milan.

The La Belle Star, La Belle, Missouri • Fri, Oct 10, 1941, Page 4, Column 1

~~~~~~~

1880 United States Federal Census

Name: John Cunningham

Age: 9

Birth Year: abt 1871

Birthplace: Missouri

Home in 1880: Fabius, Knox, Missouri

Race: White

Gender: Male

Relation to Head of House: Son

Marital Status: Single

Father's Name: James W. Talbot

Mother's Name: Margret C. Talbot

Mother's Birthplace: Missouri

Household Members: Name and Age

James W. Talbot 54

Margret C. Talbot 45

Elizabeth Cunningham 11

John Cunningham 9