The Missouri Ozarks farmhouse where six law enforcement officers were killed in a 1932 shootout — which became widely known as the Young Brothers Massacre — was intentionally burned to the ground Monday.
There was no marker or memorial to observe the staggering loss of life that happened on that property in southwest Missouri nearly a century ago. But, it was revered by local historians, police officers and sheriff’s deputies who paused as they visited or passed by.
“As a law enforcement person, it would resonate with me,” said John Sellars, executive director emeritus of the History Museum on the Square. “It was the sacrifice and the commitment to their job of those people, and the people that came before them, and the people that came after them. It needs to be recognized.”
The Jan. 2, 1932 massacre was the worst incident of its kind in America during the 20th century. Time passed but public interest was renewed after the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001.
“It was a horrendous thing and as time went on it became more and more horrendous because it was the largest loss of life by law enforcement in the United States up until 9/11,” Sellars said.
“You can’t diminish that in any way. Good people doing their job and doing the right thing paid a terrible price that day and their families lived with it for many years after.”
In 1932, a posse of 10 lawmen and one civilian showed up at the two-story farmhouse searching for fugitive outlaws Harry and Jennings Young, who were wanted for questioning about a stolen automobile ring.
The arrest team included Sheriff Marcell Hendrix, deputies Ollie Crosswhite and Wiley Mashburn, Springfield police detectives Tony Oliver, Sid Meadows and Owen Brown, city patrolman Charles Houser, detectives Frank Pike and Virgil Johnson, and officer Ben Bilyeu. The civilian was Ralph E. Wegman.
Six were killed and others were injured, grabbing headlines across the U.S. Following a national manhunt, Harry and Jennings Young died in Texas days later.
Republic Fire Chief Duane Compton said his department was dispatched to the property at 5321 W. Farm Road 148 at 2 p.m. Monday. The Republic Police Department was also there.
Duane Compton
He said an excavation company was hired by the owner to clear structures, including the barn and house, to make way for new construction on the property. He said the fire was “intentionally set.”
Compton said neighbors approached first responders and told them about the history of the property. He said the owners bought the property with the plan to build a new home.
By the time firefighters were dispatched, the company had toppled the barn and pushed the pieces into a pile to burn. The house was burning.
“The home had already started to collapse,” he said, noting the structure had been partially stripped and only one wall was upright. “There was nothing left to save.”
Part of the first-day coverage in the News-Leader of the massacre.
Compton said demolition and excavation companies typically push structures over, break them into smaller pieces and then remove the materials.
“Just to set it on fire like this is highly unusual,” he said.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources prohibits burning carpet, asphalt roofing material, hazardous materials, durable goods and treated wood, among other things, because of the potential release of toxins into the air and other dangers. Contacted by the News-Leader on Tuesday, Missouri DNR said it was working with the local fire department to investigate the demolition and fire.
Compton said he hated to see the house leveled by fire, given what occurred there, but added he was not aware of any efforts to officially acknowledge the historic location.
“If Greene County was going to do something for historic preservation, they should have done something years ago,” he said. “There is not even a marker that commemorates what happened out there.”
Asked if there had been a push to preserve the farmhouse, Sellars could not recall one.
“It had been updated and redone … It was the house, it was the outside shell but the inside of the house was different. The lawn and everything around it was different,” he said. “In 1932, it was just a farmhouse out in the middle of the farm country. It was totally different.”
More: Springfield Revealed: Courthouse marker honors 1932 Young Brothers massacre victims
Sellars said many of the trees on the property were lost to time.
“There was trees all up around the place and that’s where (law enforcement) hid and took fire and then were ultimately killed, hiding behind those trees around the house,” he said.
Sellars said the story of the Young Brothers Massacre will live on through the History Museum on the Square and an exhibit at the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.
“We’ve had things up about it the museum from time to time but that was the last piece of the puzzle,” he said of the house. “With that being gone, there is nothing left.”
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Owner burns Missouri farmhouse site of 1932 Young Brothers Massacre