My dad, Earl Richard, had a half-brother named Homer Warren from his mother’s first marriage.

Homer was born March 5, 1897 in Stoddard County, Missouri. He died on January 24, 1925 in Williamson County, Illinois.

Earl had gone to live with Homer, who was living in Herrin Illinois and working as a miner in the summer of 1924. Homer had also become involved in a local gang that was working to undermine the companies that owned the coal mines. He was also a bodyguard for one of the top guns in the gang, S. Glenn Young.

Earl shared two stories of his time in Illinois. The first he and Homer were riding in a wagon outside of town when some brush began to rustle just off the road. Homer without missing a beat or slowing the horses down, he pulled a pump shotgun from beside himself and emptied it into the brush.

The second story and the one that made Earl decide to go back to Missouri happened later in the fall of that year. He and Homer were living in a garage behind a house in town. One night when they came home they found that the garage was fully riddled with bullet holes.

Homer was killed in a shootout with the local Sheriff.

Homer is buried at Herrin City Cemetery, Herrin, Williamson County, Illinois, USA. He was survived by his wife, Mary E Harris Warren. She later married Clarence Rippy and moved to Flint, Michigan. Homer was preceded in death by his son, Willie Hoffer Warren (1917-1919).

Roy Richard
August 2022