The St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office will be opening a permanent history exhibit on Monday, March 18th. An open house for the exhibit will take place from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. at the Sheriff’s Office, at 1170 Michigan Road in Port Huron. “We are excited to display artifacts from our history,” said Sheriff Tim Donnellon. “There will be pictures and items on display from as far back as the turn of the 20th century. We will also be displaying items from the shootout with Herbert Youngblood.” That shootout, which took place on March 16th, 1934, ended with the death of Youngblood and Undersheriff Charles Cavanaugh. Sheriff William Van Antwerp was wounded in the exchange of gunfire. The incident unfolded when the sheriff, undersheriff and two deputies responded to a man with a gun call on Moak Street. When they arrived, Undersheriff Cavanaugh took a gun from the suspect, later identified as Youngblood. When the undersheriff took that gun, Youngblood pulled another and shot the undersheriff and sheriff. Youngblood was also shot and later died from his injuries. Youngblood and then Public Enemy number one John Dillinger had earlier escaped from an Indiana jail. Dillinger was shot to death as he left a movie theater in Chicago that July. The public is invited to attend the open house. After the opening, the history exhibit will be available to the public free of charge during normal business hours, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
