Till-lynch accuser off hook
A Mississippi grand jury has declined to indict the elderly white woman whose claim that Emmett Till, a 14year-old black boy, whistled at her led to his lynching nearly 70 years ago, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The decision to not indict Carolyn Bryant Donham, 87, came after an unserved arrest warrant charging her with the abduction of Till was discovered in the basement of the Leflore County Courthouse in June.
Donham, who was 21 at the time of Till’s murder, was never arrested or charged in the 1955 lynching, but her ex-husband, Roy Bryant, and brother-inlaw, J.W. Milam, were both acquitted of his murder. They later admitted their guilt to Look magazine.
The county district attorney said that the grand jury reviewed evidence and testimony before declining to indict Donham on charges of kidnapping and manslaughter.