The Trial of the Killers and Its Aftermath
It was only three weeks after Emmett Till
was abducted that his accused
killers were placed on trial in Mississippi. Till’s abduction and slaying
had already made international headlines, and they continued throughout
the week in September, when Roy Bryant and J.
W. Milam sat accused of murder in a crowded courtroom.
Mississippi Governor Hugh White called for a special prosecutor to try the case, and this was found in District Attorney Gerald Chatham. All five of Sumner’s attorneys worked pro bono in defense of the accused. Circuit judge Curtis Swango presided. Over seventy reporters and photographers, black and white, descended upon the tiny Delta town. For the first time. Southern racism was not only a national story, but an international one.
By way of introduction, the trial, by its participants, may be summarized as follows:
State of Mississippi vs J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant
Held in Sumner, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi
September 19-23, 1955
Presiding:
Judge Curtis M. Swango
Prosecution Team:
Gerald Chatham
Robert B. Smith, III
James Hamilton Caldwell, Jr.
Defense Team:
Jesse Josiah Breland
C. Sidney Carlton
Robert Harvey Henderson
Joseph W. Kellum
John W. Whitten
Prosecution Witnesses:
Mary Amanda Bradley, Mamie Till Bradley, John Ed Cothran,
Robert Hodges, Chester Miller, Benjamin L. Mims, Charles Nelson,
Add Reed, Willie Reed, George Smith,
C. A. Strickland, Moses Wright
Defense Witnesses:
Lee Russell Allison, L. W. Boyce, Carolyn Bryant,
Grover Duke, Pete McGaa, Harry D. Malone,
Juanita Milam, Luther B. Otkens, Harold Perry,
James Sanders, Franklin Smith, Henry Clarence Strider
Jurors:
Howard Armstrong, Ed Devaney, George Holland,
Bishop Matthews, Davis Newton, Jim Pennington,
Lee L. Price, Gus Ramsey, James Shaw, Jr.,
Travis Thomas, James Toole, Ray Tribble
Alternate:
Willie D. Haven
Day One: September 19, 1955
Day Two: September 20, 1955
Day Three: September 21, 1955
Day Four: September 22, 1955
Day Five: September 23, 1955