The Mississippi court basement contained an unissued warrant of arrest for Emmett Till, a white woman who accused Emmett of inappropriate behavior. It was found nearly 70 years ago when Emmett was kidnapped as a 14-year-old Black boy and lynched.
The warrant that charged Carolyn Bryant Donham, a teenager who was killed in Till’s brutal 1955 killing, was discovered by searchers searching for evidence. Her relatives want her to be arrested. The Associated Press reported.
Donham was identified “Mrs. Roy Bryant”Elmus Stockstill, Leflore County Circuit Clerk, said that the document was found in a folder within a box. The warrant, dated Aug. 29, 1955, is genuine, Stockstill said.
The searchers included members of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation and two Till relatives: cousin Deborah Watts, head of the foundation; and her daughter, Teri Watts.
“Serve it and charge her,”Teri Watts spoke with the wire service during an interview.
Donham’s husband, Roy Bryant, was acquitted with his half-brother, J.W. Milam was convicted of the murder of Till by an all-white jury from rural Mississippi. The trial was covered extensively by the media in the racist south. Additionally, details about Till’s violent kidnappings and murders helped to galvanize Civil Rights.
Donham started the case by accusing Till, of making inappropriate advances at her family’s store in Money (Mississippi), Till’s cousin, who was present at the scene, said that Till whistled at Till, a 21-year-old woman of color.
Till, who grew up in Chicago, was just arriving in the Deep South to see his family. After Donham’s accusation, Till, who was from Chicago, was brutally beat and dragged to his great-uncles’ home on Aug. 28. He was then tied with barbed wire to an oversized metal fan and dumped into the Tallahatchie River.
His broken and bloated body was found three days later.
Bryant and Milam were not convicted of murder but later confessed to the crime in an interview with a magazine. Although both men were listed in the warrant accusing Donham, authorities didn’t pursue any case against them.
Donham, now at 88, and the last person to have been living in North Carolina at the time, is the only living witness. She has not commented publicly on the calls for her trial.
Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks was contacted by The AP Wednesday. “This is the first time I’ve known about a warrant.”
Banks was 7 years old at the time Till was killed. “nothing was said about a warrant”The case was investigated by a former district attorney five to six years ago.
“I will see if I can get a copy of the warrant and get with the DA and get their opinion on it,” Banks said. Banks indicated that the warrant could still be served if Donham is able to talk with law enforcement officers in the area where Donham lives.
Dewayne Richardson (District Attorney) declined to comment on the warrant, but was cited as an example.December reportabout the Till case from the Justice Department, which said no prosecution was possible.