recalling the student's description of the 1925 rape attempt. Gunn finally confessed, saying he had entered the school with a hedge club after seeing the teacher outside with a coal bucket. She resisted his assault, biting his thumb, so he hit her with the club. She struck him with the coal bucket, and he hit her again and again, killing her. He then stabbed her. Lynch mob atmosphere Anger and talk of a lynching began immediately after Gunn was taken into custody, and crowds began to assemble in Maryville. Gunn was transferred for safety to the Buchanan County, Missouri jail, 45 miles south in St. Joseph, Missouri. Crowds formed there as well, and the sheriff ordered a truck mounted with a machine gun to be backed to the door. The gunner appeared to aim the weapon at the crowd, though he said he was just oiling it, which caused the crowd to disperse. Gunn was transferred a second time, 100 miles south of Maryville to Kansas City, Missouri. On December 26, at 3:30 a.m., Gunn returned to Maryville for arraignment, and then immediately taken back to Kansas City. Velma Colter's mother was quoted as saying she could not bear a trial and would not testify. Her oldest son, Floyd Colter, had been killed in France during World War I. The lynching Gunn's court date was set for January 12. The Nodaway County prosecuting attorney insisted Gunn would get a fair trial and appealed (along with Maryville business leaders) to Missouri's governor, Henry S. Caulfield, to deploy the National Guard to prevent an anticipated lynching attempt. Caulfield complied and 60 guardsmen were ordered at 7:30 a.m. to stand by at the National Guard a block north of the courthouse (today's Maryville Public Library). However, by law, the National Guard could only be deployed at the written request of the sheriff, which was never made. Sheriff Harvey England later claimed he did not call up the guardsmen because he did not want them injured. By this point a large crowd occupied the Maryville square, between the jail block to the northeast and the Nodaway County, Missouri courthouse. The sheriff was transporting Gunn by car, and he drove directly into the mob. When he opened the door, the sheriff was pulled aside and Gunn was dragged out of the car. Witnesses later said the mob leader told the sheriff, "Either you move out