Missouri will soon celebrate the stateâs great achievements with bicentennial celebrations. A Kirkwood couple has been researching Missouri milestones of another kind. The project is a bicentennial collection of the stateâs most notorious crimes. Missouri has some experience displaying nefarious history, warts and all. Artist Thomas Hart Benton painted a mural in the state capitol, âA Social History of Missouri,â that shows terrible events such as shootings, lynchings and the shame of slavery. âWe shouldnât flinch from what has happened or try to ignore our history,â said James Erwin. He referenced the infamous Frankie and Johnnie shooting, which did not happen in a bar as shown in Bentonâs mural. Nevertheless, the shooting is a real event to ponder.