In the Northfield Bank raid,
he was shot in the elbow in a close gunfight with A. R. Manning. Later wounded in the
chest during capture by posse at Madelia, September 21, 1876.
Bob, Jim, Cole and sister Henrietta
Younger 1889
Portrait courtesy Wilbur Zink.
Lee's Summit Cemetery, Lee's Summit Mo.
Photo courtesy Frank Younger.
Bob Younger was born in Lee's Summit, Missouri October 29, 1853. Unlike his brothers Jim and Cole, Bob was the one who saw the war at home close- up. He saw his father's body brought home after being murdered, saw his mother forced to set fire to her own home, and saw Union soldiers beat and attempt to hang his brother John. There are undocumented accounts of a sister who was sexually assaulted and other sister who died in a fire set by vigilantes. He was 12 years old when the war ended.
In the following years, Bob drifted as far east as Williamsburg, Virginia and as far south as New Orleans -- along with his brothers and a Sister he lived off and on in the Dallas area as well. All the brothers, as well as their mother and sister, travelled back and forth during the late 1860's between Missouri and Texas, and probably Bob first met the James brothers during one of their Texas stays. Like Jim, the first robbery he participated in was probably the Adair, Iowa train robbery on July 21, 1873, followed by another train robbery near Gad's Hill (near St. Louis) in January 1874.
During this time Bob became engaged to a Jackson County woman and allegedly wanted to settle down in that area to Farm. This may have been his motive for involvement in the robberies as he needed money to set up the farm he wanted.
During the Northfield bank robbery on September 7, 1876, Bob was one of the men inside the bank. In the following gunfight on the street he suffered a broken elbow but nevertheless managed to get away with the rest of the gang. When the Youngers were captured near Madelia, Minnesota two weeks later, Bob was shot through one lung and a contemporary newspaper account suggests he was suffering from severe hypothermia as well. Although he lived for 13 years after the Youngers were given life prison sentences, Cole wrote that Bob was "never strong physically" after the Northfield experience.
In prison Bob worked as a clerk and bookbinder. He became ill with tuberculosis in 1888. Despite the efforts of friends both within and outside the prison to keep him alive, and later to have him paroled so that he could die at home, Bob died on September 9, 1889. His body was returned to Lee's Summit for burial, where about 800 attended his funeral.
The Desparados.
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