John Younger and a Missouri Gunfight

The outlaw brother meets his end.

March 17, 1874. Outlaws John (photo) and Jim Younger are traveling a road between Roscoe and Osceola, Missouri. They run into two Pinkerton men and a local constable. Guns are pulled. John Younger is fatally shot in the neck. A Pinkerton agent and the area lawman are both killed.

John Younger was perhaps the most violent of that clan. At the age of 15, in 1866, he shot and killed a man who hit him with a fish. Five years later, he gunned down two Texas deputy sheriffs. John likely never rode with the James Younger Gang.