Young Brothers massacre

Last updated

The Young Brothers massacre (sometimes referred to as the Brookline shootout) was a gun battle that occurred outside of Brookline, Missouri (now part of Republic, Missouri) in the Ozarks region on the afternoon of January 2, 1932, during the period known as the "Public Enemy Era". It resulted in the deaths of six law enforcement officers, making it the worst single killing of U.S. police officers in the 20th century. [1] [2] In 2024, the property that was the site of the massacre was demolished. [3]

Contents

Background

The Young brothers, Paul, Harry, and Jennings, were well known to the law enforcement officers of southwest Missouri in the 1920s as small-time thieves. Each served terms in the Missouri State Penitentiary at "Old Jeff" for burglary and theft, and Jennings and Paul also served terms at Leavenworth. By the late 1920s, the three had become household names with local law officers and had even earned the nickname of the 'Young Triumvirate'" [Stephen]. The local authorities considered the brothers non-violent until June 2, 1929, when Harry Young and an accomplice murdered Mark Noe, City Marshal of Republic, Missouri, after Noe stopped Young for drunk driving. Harry Young then disappeared with his two brothers, allegedly living under a false name in Texas for two and a half years. The brothers established a grand-scale auto theft ring, later described by the FBI as one of the largest of its kind. However, the Youngs still valued family ties, and by the end of 1931, Harry and "Jinx" decided to visit their family farm in Missouri. On January 2, 1932, Sheriff Marcell Hendrix of Greene County, Missouri, received reliable information indicating that the two Young brothers were at their family's farm near Brookline, a small village not far from Springfield. Hendrix quickly assembled a posse of lawmen and set out for the farm. The ten police officers and one civilian who went to arrest the Young brothers were by today's standards woefully unprepared for the job; they carried no weapons other than handguns, and most had no spare ammunition on them.The house where the massacre happened was burned to the ground by the current owners on December 10th 2024 [4]

The massacre

Upon arriving at the farmhouse, the police officers assembled in the front yard and yelled for the brothers to come out. They received no response, but officer Ollie Crosswhite said he had heard a person walking around inside. Sheriff Hendrix ordered tear gas to be fired into the house, with no immediate result. At that point, Hendrix and his deputy sheriff, Wiley Mashburn, decided to kick down the back door of the house and enter the home. When they did so, two persons, one armed with a 12-gauge shotgun and the other with a .32-20 rifle, opened fire from inside the house. (It is not completely clear who was in the house at the time of the gun battle, but all evidence points to the presence of Harry and Jennings Young.) Both Hendrix and Mashburn fell, mortally wounded. The officers outside began shooting into the windows of the house, while those inside continued to pour deadly fire on the exposed policemen. Another three officers, Tony Oliver, Sid Meadows, and Charles Houser were quickly gunned down. The surviving policemen, out of ammunition and pinned down, were forced to abandon their dead and dying comrades and flee for their lives. Unknown to the fleeing lawmen, Officer Crosswhite was still alive and uninjured, crouching behind a storm cellar at the rear of the house. Once the suspects inside the house became aware of Crosswhite's presence, one of them pinned him down with rifle fire while the other crept up behind him and killed him with a shotgun blast to the back of the head. While a relief party was being hastily formed in Springfield, the killers took both money and weapons from the fallen policemen and fled. [5]

The aftermath

A national manhunt immediately commenced, and the Young brothers were quickly tracked to a rented room in Houston, Texas. Houston police officers entered the home on January 5 and discovered the brothers had retreated to a bathroom. They called on the men inside to surrender, and were met with gunfire. After the officers returned fire, there was a period of silence, and then several shots were heard. A voice called out "We're dead-come on in". The officers found Jennings Young dead and Harry Young mortally wounded from multiple gunshot wounds. The guns taken from the murdered lawmen in Brookline were found on the bodies. The coroner's office in Houston concluded that the brothers had shot each other in a suicide pact to avoid capture. Some persons later questioned this version of events, suspecting that the officers involved had in fact fired the fatal shots.

The Young Brothers Massacre was one of the events that persuaded law enforcement in the U.S. to take a more professional and cautious approach to armed standoff situations, particularly those involving persons suspected of previous violence towards police officers.[ original research? ] A monument bearing the names of the six slain officers stands today in front of the police headquarters building in Springfield and in front of the Greene County Courts building. [6]

Motion Picture

Terminus Pictures in Atlanta produced a docudrama written, directed and edited by Jim Hancock, and Produced by Alex Mionie, based on the story, released in August 2018 called "Come On In We're Dead."[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Valentine's Day Massacre</span> 1929 gang shooting in Chicago

The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was the murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang on Saint Valentine's Day 1929. The men were gathered at a Lincoln Park, Chicago, garage on the morning of February 14, 1929. They were lined up against a wall and shot by four unknown assailants, two of whom were disguised as police officers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian County, Missouri</span> County in Missouri, United States

Christian County is located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, its population was 88,842. Its county seat is Ozark. The county was organized in 1859 and is named after Christian County, Kentucky, which in turn is named for William Christian, a Kentucky soldier of the American Revolutionary War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Springfield, Missouri</span> City in Missouri, United States

Springfield is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 487,061 in 2022 and includes the counties of Christian, Dallas, Greene, Polk, and Webster, The city sits on the Springfield Plateau of the Ozarks, which ranges from nearly-level to rolling hills. Springfield is the second-largest urban area in the Ozarks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rogersville, Missouri</span> City in Missouri, United States

Rogersville is a city in Greene and Webster counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population is 3,897 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. Rogersville was formerly known as the "Raccoon Capital of the World". In 2006, 417 Magazine ranked Rogersville as the eighth-best place to live in Southwest Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">College of the Ozarks</span> Private college in Point Lookout, Missouri, US

College of the Ozarks is a private Christian college in Point Lookout, Missouri. The college has an enrollment of 1,426 and over 30 academic majors in Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pretty Boy Floyd</span> American bank robber

Charles Arthur Floyd, nicknamed Pretty Boy Floyd, was an American bank robber. He operated in the West and Central states, and his criminal exploits gained widespread press coverage in the 1930s. He was seen positively by the public because, during robberies, he burned mortgage documents freeing many people from their debts. He was pursued and killed by a group of Bureau of Investigation agents led by Melvin Purvis. Historians have speculated as to which officers were at the event, but accounts document that local officers Robert "Pete" Pyle and George Curran were present at his fatal shooting and also at his embalming. Floyd has continued to be a familiar figure in American popular culture, sometimes seen as notorious, other times portrayed as a tragic figure, even a victim of the hard times of the Great Depression in the United States. Floyd is viewed by many as a prime example of a real life anti-hero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Ozark Mountain Daredevils</span> American country rock band

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils are an American rock band formed in 1972 in Springfield, Missouri. They are most widely known for their singles "If You Wanna Get to Heaven" in 1974 and "Jackie Blue" in 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake of the Ozarks</span> Reservoir in Missouri, United States

Lake of the Ozarks is a reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in the northern part of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Parts of three smaller tributaries to the Osage are included in the impoundment: the Niangua River, Grandglaize Creek, and Gravois Creek. The lake has a surface area of 54,000 acres (220 km2) and 1,150 miles (1,850 km) of shoreline. The main channel of the Osage Arm stretches 92 miles (148 km) from one end to the other. The total drainage area is over 14,000 square miles (36,000 km2). The lake's serpentine shape has earned it the nickname "the Missouri Dragon", which has, in turn, inspired the names of local institutions such as the Magic Dragon Street Meet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silver Dollar City</span> Amusement park in Missouri, United States

Silver Dollar City is a 61-acre (25 ha) amusement park in Stone County, Missouri, near the cities of Branson and Branson West. The park is located off of Missouri Route 76 on the Indian Point peninsula of Table Rock Lake. Silver Dollar City opened on May 1, 1960. The park is an 1880s-themed experience. Silver Dollar City's operating season runs from March until December, with the park closed for two months. Silver Dollar City is owned by Herschend Family Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas City massacre</span> June 1933 shootout in Kansas City, Missouri, United States

The Kansas City massacre was the shootout and murder of four law enforcement officers and a criminal fugitive at the Union Station railroad depot in Kansas City, Missouri, on the morning of June 17, 1933. It occurred as part of the attempt by a gang led by Vernon C. "Verne" Miller to free Frank "Jelly" Nash, a federal prisoner. At the time, Nash was in the custody of several law enforcement officers who were returning him to the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, from which he had escaped three years earlier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Springfield Three</span> Unsolved 1992 disappearance of mother, daughter, and friend from their home in Missouri

The Springfield Three refers to an unsolved missing persons case that began on June 7, 1992, when friends Suzanne "Suzie" Streeter and Stacy McCall, and Streeter's mother, Sherrill Levitt, went missing from Levitt's home in Springfield, Missouri, United States. All of their personal belongings, including cars and purses, were left behind. There were no signs of a struggle except a broken porch light globe; there was also a message on the answering machine that police believe might have provided a clue about the disappearances, but it was inadvertently erased.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DeWitt Jennings</span> American actor (1871–1937)

DeWitt Clarke Jennings was an American film and stage actor. He appeared in 17 Broadway plays between 1906 and 1920, and in more than 150 films between 1915 and 1937.

The Battle of Ingalls was a gunfight on September 1, 1893 between United States Marshals and the Doolin-Dalton Gang, during the closing years of the Old West era, in Ingalls, Oklahoma. The Doolin-Dalton Gang had been involved in a number of train robberies and bank robberies, beginning around 1891. They had found a safe haven in the town of Ingalls, which unwittingly harbored many outlaws during that period. On September 1, 1893, a posse was organized by the new United States Marshal, Evett Dumas "E.D." Nix, which entered the outlaw town of Ingalls with the intent to capture the gang. The lawmen were engaged in a gunbattle in which three of the fourteen lawmen carrying Deputy Marshals' commissions would die as a result of the battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paden Tolbert</span>

Paden Tolbert was a 19th-century American law enforcement officer and railroad agent. He was one of the leading deputy U.S. Marshals in the Indian Territory during the 1880s and 90s and often worked with other well-known lawmen of his time including Bud Ledbetter, Heck Thomas and Bill Tilghman. He and his brother John Tolbert were both deputy marshals under "The Hanging Judge" Isaac C. Parker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Burlison</span> American politician (born 1976)

Eric Wayne Burlison is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from Missouri's 7th congressional district since 2023. He previously served as the representative for District 133 in the Missouri House of Representatives. A Republican, Burlison was elected to the Missouri House in 2008 and left office at the end of 2016. In 2018, he was elected to the Missouri Senate, representing District 20. He was reelected for a second term in the U.S House of Representatives in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barker–Karpis Gang</span> 1930s American criminal gang

The Barker–Karpis Gang was one of the longest-lived criminal gangs during the Depression Era, spanning from 1931 to 1935. The gang was founded by Fred Barker and Alvin Karpis, and later joined by Fred's brother Arthur "Doc" Barker. Along with the three core members, the gang's network spanned up to 25 members at one point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Hailey Owens</span> Child murder in Missouri, US

Hailey Owens was a 10-year-old girl from Springfield, Missouri, who was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered by 45-year-old Craig Wood on February 18, 2014. The killing caught attention nationally. Thousands of people attended a candlelight vigil for Hailey on February 23, 2014. A neighborhood park was later dedicated to her called Hailey's Playground. Her family and friends also advocated for improvements to the state's AMBER Alert system, ultimately leading to the 2019 passage of HAILEY'S Law, which empowers law enforcement officers to issue alerts quicker and to include a URL with each AMBER alert.

On February 26, 2015, a gunman shot and killed seven people in several locations across the town of Tyrone, an unincorporated community approximately 95 miles east of Springfield, Missouri, United States. The gunman, identified as 36-year-old Joseph Jesse Aldridge, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound the next day. It was the worst mass murder in the history of Texas County, which previously had experienced an average of one homicide per year. It is also the deadliest mass shooting in Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">January 1932</span> Month of 1932

The following events occurred in January 1932:

References

  1. ↑ "Young Brothers Massacre near Springfield, Missouri 1932 Paul and Jennings Young kill 6 officers in shoot-out". www.chrisanddavid.com. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  2. ↑ Plein, Chad (2022-01-07). "Ozarks Life Vault: Young Brothers Massacre of 1932". https://www.ky3.com . Retrieved 2024-12-10.{{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  3. ↑ Six, Chris (2024-12-09). "House connected to the 1932 Young Brothers massacre intentionally burned down". https://www.ky3.com . Retrieved 2024-12-10.{{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  4. ↑ Pokin, Steve. "Pokin Around: Ozarks history with Rogersville history teachers — Young Brothers, Baby Keet". Springfield News-Leader. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  5. ↑ Six, Chris (2024-12-09). "House connected to the 1932 Young Brothers massacre intentionally burned down". https://www.ky3.com . Retrieved 2024-12-10.{{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  6. ↑ Plein, Chad (2022-01-07). "Ozarks Life Vault: Young Brothers Massacre of 1932". https://www.ky3.com . Retrieved 2024-12-10.{{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  7. ↑ ChappelLocke: Young Brothers Massacre

Further reading

37°11′08″N93°23′33″W / 37.185434°N 93.392542°W / 37.185434; -93.392542

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.