It was a cold winter day on January 2, 1932 in Brookline, Missouri. The former village merged with Republic, Missouri in 2005. Sheriff Marcell Hendrix, a civilian, and a group of law enforcement officers descended on the Young family farmhouse. Sheriff Hendrix had received a tip that a wanted killer named Harry Young had returned home to visit his family. He was wanted for killing a lawman named Mark Noe. On June 2, 1929, Noe had pulled Harry Young and another man over for driving while drunk. Young responded by shooting Noe to death and leaving his body in a ditch. 
Sheriff Hendrix, a former neighbor and family friend thought he could convince Harry Young to turn himself in peacefully. Upon approaching the farmhouse, several lawmen strategically placed themselves around the house. From the outside looking in, Sheriff Hendrix didn’t know if anyone was home. Hendrix and Deputy Wiley Mashburn went behind the house and stood outside a door that led into the kitchen. Hendrix thought if Harry Young tried to escape, he would run outside and be captured by the waiting lawmen out front.
Sheriff Hendrix shouted for Harry Young to give himself up. After not receiving a response, Hendrix kicked in the backdoor. Hendrix and Mashburn rushed into the home. Within moments of entering the kitchen, Mashburn and Hendrix were both shot and killed.
Brothers Harry and Jennings Young occupied the house and engaged in a deadly gun battle with Missouri lawmen that left six of them dead. After the massacre ended, the two brothers fled with money and weapons they had stolen from dead lawmen.
A national manhunt was launched to capture the two brothers.
Missouri law enforcement tracked the brothers to a room in Houston, Texas after a carpenter named Tomlinson had recognized the brothers from a newspaper story. He had rented them a room earlier. On January 5, 1932, the police immediately surrounded the home. This time, law enforcement fully armed themselves with enough weapons to handle the situation. This time, the brothers wouldn’t escape. The brothers had locked themselves in the bathroom and wouldn’t be taken alive.
Police stormed the house and engaged the brothers in gunfire. Instead of giving up, the brothers shot each other to avoid capture. Before dying, one brother shouted, “Come on in, we’re dead.” Jennings Young died immediately while Harry Young survived long enough to die at the hospital. He never regained consciousness so he never confessed to anything. On January 13, 1932, the Young brothers were buried in Joplin, Missouri, at the Fairview Cemetery.
The events of this incident changed how law enforcement handles armed standoffs. Law enforcement also gives special attention to individuals who have committed prior violent acts against law enforcement.
After the massacre, the remaining Young family members moved away. Eventually, other people moved into the house. According to Troy Taylor, author of The Big Book of Missouri Ghost Stories, this wouldn’t be the end of the former murder house. Allegedly, people who later lived in the home reported hearing and seeing strange events inside the home.
Taylor’s book mentions temperature drops, knocking and banging on walls, footsteps, and voices. He also reported the story of a woman who saw a man wearing a fedora looking in her window. Her husband investigated and didn’t find anyone outside. Perhaps this woman saw one of the deceased police officers looking into the window trying to locate the Young brothers as he had done in 1932.
The former home of the Young family still exists today. Is it haunted? I suppose it depends on whether or not you believe that evil energy can leave behind a permanent fingerprint.
Marc is a longtime resident of Clermont County and an avid reader. Contact him through his website at www.themarcabe.com or through Facebook: www.Facebook.com/themarcabe or his Twitter account @themarcabe. Marc also has a podcast called Catch my Killer where he interviews family members seeking justice for their murdered loved ones. You can listen at www.catchmykiller.com.