Editing Maryville, Missouri (section)

=== 1931 lynching ===
In 1931, a notorious [[lynching]] occurred in Maryville when a mob of 2,000 to 4,000 people burned alive African American [[Raymond Gunn]],<ref name="theguardian1">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/26/lynchings-memorial-us-south-montgomery-alabama |title=How white Americans used lynchings to terrorize and control black people  |work=The Guardian |date=April 26, 2018 |access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref> who was awaiting trial, charged with the attempted rape and killing of a 20-year-old white school teacher.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9804179/raymond-gunn-did-not-murder-velma/ |title=Raymond Gunn did not murder Velma Colter. |newspaper=The Maryville Daily Forum |date=2017-03-25 |page=1 |access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Fear and frustration engulf Maryville | website=The Kansas City Star | date=19 October 2013 | url=https://www.kansascity.com/news/special-reports/maryville/article329897.html | access-date=1 August 2023}}</ref> One woman held her young girl up so the girl could get a better view of the naked man afire. A Maryville policeman directed traffic as Gunn burned.<ref name="google1"/> After the fire was out, hundreds of the mob poked around in his ashes for souvenirs, with the pieces of his charred remains and teeth and bone fragments divided among them.<ref name="theguardian1"/><ref name="google1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gyxWHRLAWgC&q=%22maryville%22+missouri+%22raymond+gunn%22&pg=PA359 |title=Dictionary of Missouri Biography |date= October 1999|isbn=9780826260161 |access-date=2020-05-09|last1=Christensen |first1=Lawrence O. |last2=Foley |first2=William E. |last3=Kremer |first3=Gary |publisher=University of Missouri Press }}</ref> While the Sheriff said he knew who had committed the killing, nobody was ever charged.<ref name="google1"/>

The lynching attracted national attention and was frequently invoked in the unsuccessful campaign to pass the [[Costigan-Wagner Bill]], which would have made it a federal crime for law enforcement officials to refuse to try to prevent a lynching.<ref>{{cite book |editor = Lawrence O. Christensen |title = Dictionary of Missouri Biography |publisher = University of Missouri Press |year = 1999 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmiss00unse/page/359 359–361] |isbn = 978-0826212221 |url = https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmiss00unse/page/359 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,740865,00.html |title=RACES: Lynching No. 1 |date=January 19, 1931 |magazine=Time |access-date=October 15, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nwmissouri.edu/library/courses/history/coltergunn.htm |title=Colter-Gunn Incident Bibliography |publisher=B. D. Owens Library, Northwest Missouri State University |access-date=October 15, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015130319/http://www.nwmissouri.edu/library/courses/history/coltergunn.htm |archive-date=October 15, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last = Raper |first = Arthur F. |title = The Tragedy of Lynching (African American) |publisher = Dover Publications |year = 2003 |isbn = 978-0486430980}}</ref>