The Craddock Matthew Gilmour Papers, 1925-2001A Register of the Collection at the
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The machine-readable finding aid for this collection
was created by the Collections Management staff, Utah State Historical Society.
Utah State Historical Society
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Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List Summary Description |
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| Repository: | Utah State Historical Society |
| Call number: | Mss B 1387 |
| Creator: | Craddock Matthew Gilmour |
| Title: | Craddock Matthew Gilmour Papers, 1925-2001 |
| Quantity: | 1.25 lin. ft. (3 boxes) |
| Note: | Video cassettes have been retained with the collection. Audiocassettes have been pulled and are located with the audio materials. |
| Abstract: | The collection includes research materials regarding the 1925 lynching of Robert Marshall in Price, Utah. Gilmour organized a "Day of Reconciliation and Forgiveness" 4 April 1998, and the collection includes correspondence, speeches, and newspaper articles about the Price ceremony. |
Topics: |
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| Lynching-Utah | ||
Persons: |
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| Craddock Matthew Gilmour | ||
| Robert Marshall | ||
Organizations: |
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| St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Salt Lake City, Utah | ||
Places: |
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| Salt Lake City (Utah) | ||
| Price (Utah) | ||
Form or Genre: |
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| Correspondence, speeches, newspaper articles, research notes, criminal case files, programs. | ||
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Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List Background |
Background Note |
| Although Robert Marshall's lynching was not the only one that occurred within Utah's borders, it was the last in the West. |
| In the twilight of 15 June 1925, J. Milton Burns, a marshal of Castle Gate (a mining community in Price Canyon) was murdered while he was making his rounds. Two boys said they saw a black man running from the scene. Rumors spread through the town of a black murderer, and the story became more violent with each retelling. Marshall sought refuge at the shack of an elderly black man named George. Afraid of being implicated in the crime, George turned Marshall in to the authorities three days after the murder. Mine company officials caught Marshall, met with the county sheriff and deputies, and accompanied Marshall to Price's jail. Marshall was sitting in the backseat of a car when a crowd overtook the car and drove it southeast toward Wellington. A procession of cars followed the mob that took Marshall. |
| Once deputies arrived at the site near Wellington, Marshall's body was hanging from a tree. Deputies cut the rope, but when Marshall uttered a moan, the crowd yelled to string him up again, and the officers accommodated the crowd. As many as 4,000 people witnessed the lynching, and some brought picnic lunches for the occasion. Marshall's body was put on display at the local funeral parlor, and photos of the hanging were sold to the townspeople for 25 cents each. |
| Two days later, eleven men were arrested for Marshall's murder. However, none of the 125 people called to testify before the grand jury would identify any of the participants. The Ku Klux Klan did not organize the lynching, but the eleven men who were charged with the lynching were known Klansmen. Since efforts to investigate were stymied, the charges against the men were dropped. |
| It is not clear if Marshall murdered Burns-no evidence points to his guilt or innocence. What is clear is that Marshall was, as it says on his new gravestone, a victim of intolerance. |
Biographical History |
| Craddock Matthew Gilmour (1909-2004) was a longtime advocate for world peace and justice. In 1998, he organized a "Day of Reconciliation and Forgiveness" in Price to atone for the lynching of Robert Marshall, an event that, as a youth in Price during the lynching, he would never forget. |
| Born in Kenilworth, Utah to Scottish and Swedish immigrants, Gilmour graduated from Carbon County High School. He received his bachelor's degree from Stanford University, his Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School, and studied English law at Downing College, Cambridge, England. |
| Gilmour practiced law in London and New York, but after Pearl Harbor was bombed, decided to volunteer for the army in 1942 as a private. He served stateside, training with the armored division forces in the South and was promoted through the ranks to colonel. His work on war contracts at the Pentagon during the last year of the war earned Gilmour the Legion of Merit. |
| After the war, Gilmour moved his family west, where he served as general counsel during the 1950s to the Utah Tax Commission before entering private practice in Salt Lake City. He served on Governor Clyde's council on aging in the 1960s and established many programs for the elderly. Gilmour also served on the State Bar Association as chair of the Dangerous Drugs and Narcotics Committee for six years. Later, Gilmour retired from law to form a company that produces chemical lime products for industry and municipalities. |
| When Robert Marshall was lynched in Price in 1925, Gilmour was 15 years old. He had taken a business trip with his father to Salt Lake City, and on the way home they stopped at the Castle Gate store. They saw a man exiting the store with a rope in his hands, who said there was going to be "a necktie party." When Gilmour and his father returned home, they found that their mother was already fuming about the news. |
| Gilmour did not witness the lynching, but the event and the silence that shrouded it stayed with him. He organized the "Day of Reconciliation and Forgiveness" around the thirtieth anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination on 4 April 1998. Gilmour aimed to seek reconciliation and forgiveness as steps toward ending racial injustices, something he felt was still prevalent in Utah over 70 years after Marshall's lynching. |
| The interfaith service included participation from Episcopal, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Baptist, and local LDS leaders. Three hundred students from the University of Utah and members of the black Calvary Baptist Church congregation in Salt Lake City drove to Price for the event. Officiators dedicated a monument for Marshall's unmarked grave, reading: "Robert Marshall, Lynched June 18, 1925, A Victim of Intolerance, May God Forgive." |
| The collection includes research Gilmour performed surrounding the Marshall lynching, as well as the documents regarding the Day of Reconciliation and Forgiveness event. |
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Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List Scope and Content |
| The collection includes research materials regarding the 1925 lynching of Robert Marshall in Price, Utah. Gilmour organized a "Day of Reconciliation and Forgiveness" 4 April 1998, and the collection includes correspondence, speeches, and newspaper articles about the Price ceremony. |
| Correspondence |
| Research |
| Day of Reconciliation and Forgiveness |
| Miscellaneous |
| Videocassettes |
| Audiocassettes (stored with audio collection) |
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Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List Administrative Information |
Preferred Citation:Craddock Matthew Gilmour Papers, 1925-2001, Utah State Historical Society. |
Acquisition Information:Gift of Craddock Matthew Gilmour, 11 January 2001. |
Restrictions on UseThe Craddock Matthew Gilmour Papers are the physical property of the Utah Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. Literary rights, including copyright, may belong to the authors or their heirs and assigns. Please contact the Historical Society for information regarding specific use of this collection. |
Processing Information:Collection processed by Melissa Ferguson, 2005 Finding aid compiled by Melissa Ferguson, 2005 Finding aid edited by Linda Thatcher, 2005 Collection cataloged by Linda Thatcher, 2005 Finding aid encoded for the World Wide Web by Craig Ringgenberg, 2005 |
Sources"Gathering Aims to Close Book on Lynching." Deseret News, 31 March 1998. Gerlach, Larry R. Blazing Crosses in Zion: The Ku Klux Klan in Utah. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1982. Gilmour, Craddock Matthew Obituary, Salt Lake Tribune, 25 July 2004. "Gilmour Recalled as Healer of Social Divides." Salt Lake Tribune, 24 July 2004. "Lynching Still Haunts Price Residents." Salt Lake Tribune, 15 March 1998. "Religious Leaders Gather to Never Forget Lynching." Salt Lake Tribune, 5 April 1998. |
SeparationsThe collection's audiocassettes in Box 3 are located with the audio collection. |
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Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List |
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Box |
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Contents |
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Correspondence |
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1 |
1 |
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1 |
2 |
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1 |
3 |
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1 |
4 |
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Box |
Folder |
Contents |
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Research |
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1 |
5 |
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1 |
6 |
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Probably from Utah State Archives collection (Series 204) Governor Dern Correspondence, 1924-1931. |
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1 |
7 |
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Worth, Robert F. "The Legacy of a Lynching." American Scholar 67, no. 2 (Spring 1998): 65-77. |
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1 |
8 |
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Deffendol, Ted. "The Lynching of Robert Marshall in Carbon County." Utah History Special Research Project, 28 February 1970. |
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1 |
9 |
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1 |
10 |
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National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Documents from the Library of Congress, 1925 |
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1 |
11 |
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Seventh Judicial District Court criminal case file, State of Utah vs. Jones, Parmley, et al., 1925 |
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1 |
12 |
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In the Justice's Court in and for Price Precinct, Carbon County, and the State of Utah, In the Matter of the Inquest of Robert Marshall, Deceased, 1925. |
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1 |
13 |
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Box |
Folder |
Contents |
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Day of Reconciliation and Forgiveness |
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1 |
14 |
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1 |
15 |
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1 |
16 |
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1 |
17 |
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Gerlach, Larry R. "Justice Denied: The Lynching of Robert Marshall." |
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1 |
18 |
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Box |
Folder |
Contents |
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Miscellaneous |
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1 |
19 |
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Box |
Folder |
Contents |
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Videocassettes |
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2 |
1 |
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2 |
2 |
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Day of Reconciliation, Robert Marshall, Price, Utah, 4 April 1998 |
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2 |
3 |
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Robert Marshall Day of Reconciliation, filmed by Sandy Gilmour, Price, Utah, 4 April 1998 |
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2 |
4 |
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Robert Marshall Reconciliation Day, NBC Daily News, New York, and SWC Channel 4 News, Price, Utah, 4 April 1998 |
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2 |
5 |
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Box |
Folder |
Contents |
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Audiocassettes (stored with audio collection) |
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3 |
1 |
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Lynching Remembered: Morning Edition, National Public Radio broadcast, 6 April 1998 |
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3 |
2-3 |
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Robert Marshall Reconciliation featuring C. M. Gilmour, National Public Radio broadcast, n.d. (two tapes) |