A Chicago mother will go to Mississippi to testify against two men accused of murdering her Negro son.
Dist. Atty. Gerald Chatham announced Thursday at Sumner, Miss., that he was preparing a telegram inviting her.
In Chicago, Mrs. Mamie Bradley, 33, of 6427 St. Lawrence, said she would accept her lawyer’s advice on whether to go.
The lawyer, William Henry Huff, promptly said he wanted her to be at the trial, if she would be “adequately protected all the way.”
Protection Promised
The Mississippi prosecutor said he would see that no harm befell her, so the matter apparently was settled.
Mrs. Bradley is the mother of 14-year-old Emmett Louis Till, beaten and shot to death after he allegedly whistled at a white woman in Money, Miss.
The district attorney said he believed her testimony would be important in the murder prosecution of John W. Milam, 35, and Roy Bryant, 24.
They had accused the Chicago boy of “wolf whistling” at Bryant’s young, pretty wife.
“I will assure Mrs. Bradley of any reasonable protection she may request in Mississippi,” Chatham said.
Seek a Quick Trial
“Also, I want to express my personal regret to her and the regret of the State of Mississippi for the death of her son.
“I believe that certain evidence she can give will be important to the state’s case.”
A date for the murder trial was scheduled to be set Thursday, but a court session was delayed because of illness of Circuit Judge Curtis M. Swango Jr.
Both the district attorney and five defense lawyers said they wanted to go to trial quickly.
The current courts term ends in three weeks and there will not be another until March. The defendants, half brothers, are held without bond.
The two men admitted taking the Till boy from his uncle’s home but deny killing and throwing his weighted body into the Tallahatchie River.
They said they let him go unharmed after making certain he was not the boy who “insulted” Bryant’s wife.
Dragged From His Bed
It was Aug. 28 when the Till boy, son of Mrs. Bradley by a previous marriage, was dragged from his bed in the home of relatives near Money.
His aunt and uncle charged there were three men in the party, but only two had been arrested. A woman was sitting in a car used by the men, the relatives said.
Mrs. Bradley declared she warned her son to be courteous at all times toward white person’s on a summer vacation trip to Mississippi.
She said she told him always to apologize if he made the mistake of making a “fresh remark” to anyone. The boy’s body was returned to Chicago and funeral services were held Tuesday.
