Note: This is one of seven archival stories about the murder of Emmett Till that we are republishing as part of a reflection on our coverage from the period. The other six stories can be found here.
The bludgeoned body of Emmett Louis Till arrived at Central Station and set off a hysterical scene.
Mrs. Mamie R. Bradley, 33, of 6427 St. Lawrence, mother of the 14-year-old Negro boy who was murdered because he whistled at a Mississippi woman, jumped from her wheelchair Friday, when the Illinois Central R.R. Panama Limited pulled in.
She sprinted across three sets of tracks to the baggage car in which the body lay in a pine box. When it was lifted out, she fell to her knees and sobbed hysterically.
Kin Ring Body
“My darling, my darling,” she said, “I would have gone through a world of fire to get to you.”
Weeping relatives formed a ring, and a hearse backed into the scene. Above the loud sobbing, the voice of Mrs. Bradley could be heard again, “My darling,” she cried. “I know I was on your mind when you died. Oh, my baby…”
As the pine box was rolled into the hearse, she said softly: “You didn’t die for nothing.”
Spurred by demands for justice from Gov. Stratton, Mayor Daley and Gov. Hugh White of Mississippi, authorities and Tallahatchie County (Miss.) moved quickly.
Face Murder Charge
Roy Bryant, a storekeeper in the village of Money, Miss., and his half-brother J.W. Milam of nearby Glendora will be charged with murder on Monday, said District Atty. Gerald Chatham.
On Tuesday, a grand jury will meet to consider murder indictments.
The two men now are held on kidnapping charges. They admitted taking the visitor from Chicago on a pre-dawn “ride” for whistling at Bryant’s wife.
Later the boy’s body was found in the Tallahatchie River weighted down with iron and barbed wire. Young Till had been shot once through the head and beaten about the face. The two ex-soldiers denied the killing.
The body was taken to a funeral home at 41st and Cottage Grove, where the still hysterical mother demanded that the pine box be opened.
“Open it up,” Mrs. Bradley shouted. “Let the people see what they did to my boy.” The box was opened.
Brutally Beaten
Condition of the boy’s face indicated a beating far more brutal than first reported in dispatches from Mississippi.
Almost all of the boy’s teeth were knocked out. The entire right side of the face was caved in. There was a small bullet hole through the temple.
“Leave it like that,” said Mrs. Bradley. “Let the people come and see what they did to my boy.”
Services were set for 11 a.m. Saturday from Robert’s Temple of the Church of God in Christ, 4021 S. State St. Eulogy will be delivered by Bishop Lewis H. Ford, pastor of St. Paul’s Church of God in Christ. Burial will be in Burr Oaks Cemetery.
