Family, Friends & Fellow Officers Remember...

JUSTICE STORY: Cop killing brothers’ reign of terror
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
MAR 12, 2022

Sheriff Marcell Hendrix was first to die.
“They’ve got me,” he called out to his men as a shotgun blast ripped into his chest. “You’d better run.”

Another volley hit deputy sheriff Wiley Mashburn, splitting his face.
Within minutes, four more Springfield, Mo., officers lay dying. Three others were wounded.

Their deaths on the cold, gray afternoon of Jan. 2, 1932 became known as the Young Brothers Massacre. It conferred a measure of immortality upon a pair of lowlifes.
That day, the brothers — career criminals Harry, 27, and Jennings, 35 — made it into the record books of American crime. Their shootout is said to be the largest single mass killing of police officers in the United States until the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The police bloodbath was the culmination of lengthy criminal careers. The three delinquents were among the 11 children of James David Young and his wife, Willie, who settled in 1918 on a Missouri farm with nearly 99-acres, a barn, and a big two-story white house, wrote Paul W. Barrett and Mary H. Barrett in their 1988 book, “Young Brothers Massacre.”
James died in 1921, leaving the farm and family in the hands of his wife. She managed to keep things going but she could do little to rein in her three bad seeds.

Her sons Paul, Jennings, and Harry decided that burglary and later a car theft ring beat farming as a way to make a living. Around the time World War I ended, Paul and Jennings had criminal records and multiple prison stays. Hot-tempered Harry soon joined them.

By the dawn of 1932, Harry had been a fugitive for two and a half years, wanted in connection with the June 1929 shooting death of another law enforcement officer — Marshal Mark Noe, of Republic, a town about 14 miles from Springfield.

Harry and a buddy had been drinking and roaring wildly around in their Ford coupe. Noe tried to arrest them for drunken, disorderly conduct. Instead, he ended up in a ditch outside of town, two bullets in his brain. Harry vanished that night.

On New Year’s Day 1932, two young women drove a Ford into a Springfield used-car dealership. They asked the dealer for $250. He told them he had no cash and that they should come back the next day. When they left, he immediately called police and said he suspected the car was hot.
The women were Vinita Young and Mrs. Lorena Conley, the brothers’ pretty little sisters. The Ford was reported stolen in Houston, Texas, where police believed Harry had been hiding for more than two years. Photos of the girls in the Daily News on Jan. 6, 1932 showed two young lovelies, smiling at the camera.

They told police that Harry and Jennings were out at the family farm. No one else was there, not even their mother, who was staying at the home of a friend in town.

Toting pistols and tear gas, Sheriff Hendrix and a crew of nine lawmen and one civilian sped out to the farm and surrounded the house. The place was silent, and seemed deserted, until Hendrix decided to kick in a door. It was last thing he would ever do.
In seconds, Hendrix and Mashburn were mortally wounded and the other men ran for cover. Rifle shots felled Patrolman Charles Houser, Deputy Ollie Crosswhite, and Detectives Sid Meadows and Tony Oliver.

Bullets grazed city Detective Frank Pike as he dashed away from the farmhouse, zig zagging through a field. “You ever watch a jackrabbit run from a hound? That’s the way I ran,” he would later recall. Harry and Jennings had reputations throughout the region as crack shots, but Pike somehow managed to get away. Another officer made it to the police car parked at the gate and sped off for help.

It was dark by the time a posse arrived, but the killers were long gone. They managed to elude police, civilians, bloodhounds, and surveillance from planes.
In Texas a day later, a local farmer helped two men who had driven a Ford into a ditch, wrecking the car, which they abandoned. The farmer looked inside, found two rifles, and brought the Ford to the attention of authorities. Through a plate check, they discovered it was in Springfield the day of the massacre.
The searchers turned their attentions toward Houston.
A day after they fled, newspapers carried their mother’s prayers for her boys.

“I hope they will kill themselves,” Willie said. “I’d rather they would do that than have the law kill them. I can’t bear to think of them hanging. I hope they shoot themselves.”

Her prayers were answered on Jan. 5. Houston police traced the desperados to a rented room on the east end of the city, and lobbed tear gas shells into the house.
“We’re dead. Come and get us,” came a voice from the room where the two outlaw brothers were hiding. Then there were three shots, a pause, three more shots, and silence.

Inside, lay the body of Jennings Young. The next day, The Springfield News-Leader carried pictures of his bloodied, glassy-eyed corpse, a pistol still in his hand.

Harry, with bullets in his heart and head, would die later at a hospital. Their deaths were ruled a double suicide.
“The Young brothers, Jennings and Harry,” noted the Associated Press, “closed the case against themselves with their own pistols today.”

Retired Police Officer
NYPD 005

March 12, 2022

May you rest in peace, Marshal Mark Noe. The men and women of the Republic Police Department honor your sacrifice for the citizens of this great community. We will be working in 2016 to honor you and your family in a special way so the Republic Community will remember you every day.

Police Chief Michael Lawton
Republic, MO

October 1, 2015

Time may have passed but you are not forgotten. I believe as long as someone remembers you or speaks your name, you are still with us.
Thank you for your heroism.
GOD Bless

Detention Officer A.Zambito
Texas

June 2, 2015

To fully appreciate the heroes of the present, we must recognize our heroes of the past. Your heroism and service is honored today, the 83rd anniversary year of your death. Your memory lives and you continue to inspire. Thank you for your service. My cherished son Larry Lasater was a fellow police officer who was murdered in the line of duty on April 24, 2005 while serving as a Pittsburg, CA police officer.

Time never diminishes respect. Your memory will always be honored and revered.

Rest In Peace.

Phyllis Loya
Mom of fallen California Officer Larry Lasater, Pittsburg PD, eow 4/24/05

November 15, 2012

I just wanted to let your family and friends know that there are many out there who know the pain that you feel today. My brother Roger was killed 4 years ago today June 2nd. You are in the thoughts and prayers of many folks who care. I pray that God will bless you with many precious happy memories to help fill your heart "especially today".

Judy Coleman
Sister of Roger Lynch

June 3, 2009

May you always rest in peace knowing that you will always be remembered, just as a true hero should be.

Cpl/1 Steven Rizzo
Delaware State Police

January 2, 2008

The Ozarks has not forgotten despite the long span of years since your death nor will we.

RIP

Vanessa Foster
Springfield Resident

April 8, 2007

How coincidental that you would pay the same sacrifice on the same day several years prior to your law enforcement brethren by the same two suspects. We'll never forget any of you.

Cpl/1 Steven Rizzo
Delaware State Police

January 2, 2007

Thank you for your service Marshal Noe. Rest in peace.

Officer
Maryland

January 22, 2006

Just to let everyone know the whole City of Republic thanks you from the bottom of our hearts to the people the read this page.

Officer Bobby Smith DSN 035
Republic Police Department, Republic Mo/

July 15, 2005

Marshal Noe, I heard of your story one day from other officers. I came up with the idea after hearing of your story that this great city needed some way to remember your and for all the young people in the city to know what you stood for in the City of Republic, Missouri. I have be granted the time to try and come up with something that will show that to the citizens. Hopefully with prayer and help from the citizens, I can come up with something great for you. But Marshal Noe you are not a forgotten man in this town and you will never be a forgotten in my heart or other officers in Republic, Rest in peace Sir.

Police Officer Bobby Smith
Republic, Mo. Police Department

May 1, 2005

God rest your soul and thank you for your service. You will never be forgotten.

DE
St. Louis City Police

August 8, 2004

Each day I try to read the ODMP. Today I read your story. Any officer who dies in the line of duty will always be remembered for his sacrifice. You died a hero. Rest in peace Marshal Noe.

Captain Robert W Cannon, Ret.
Vermilion Co, Il. Sheriff's Dept.

May 20, 2004

I agree with a previous writer who wrote “No officer’s death should be without reflection.” You will never be forgotten.......RIP brother.

Trooper
Pennsylvania State Police

April 6, 2004