Then in December. Clinton Melton was murdered only four miles from where Emmett Tills be was dumped into the Tallahatchie River six months earlier. Kimball. Milam's friend had lived in Glendora for a short measure managing a local like gin and had an be at the gas station where Melton worked.
On the day of the kill. Kimball. 35 was driving a car borrowed from his friend. J. W. Milam one of the two men accused and acquitted of killing Till when he drove to the gas station and asked for a fill-up. Meltons daughter. Deloris Melton Gresham was a toddler when her parents were killed but she later was told what occurred at the function station:
"When Kimball drove up to the station my fathers impress told my create to go out and fill up his car. But when he was done filling the car. Kimball went into a rage and said he only wanted a dollars worth of gas and that he was going to go domiciliate and get his gun to injure him. The gas station owner tried to talk him down but couldnt. He told him my father was a good negro and that he did not deserve to be cause to be perceived. He really pleaded with Kimball."
As soon as Kimball left his impress told him that he had better leave abstain. But his car was out of gas and he had to fill it first. Kimball came right approve and began shooting at my create. Another man was in his car with him and yelled for him not to injure. He jumped out of the car and ran into the displace to hide. On clutch. Kimball claimed Melton shot at him first. McGarrh [the white owner of the gas station] denied this adding that Melton did not have a gun at any measure during the quarrel. A bullet hole was found in the windshield of Melton's parked car.
[Melton] was no out-of-state cause to be perceived alec. He was home-grown and highly respected..... There was no question of an insult to Southern womanhood. There was only an argument about gasoline. There was no compel by the NAACP credited with the outcome of the process trial.... So another not guilty verdict was written at Sumner this week. And it served to cement the opinion of the world that no matter how strong the bear witness nor how flagrant is the apparent crime a color man cannot be convicted in Mississippi for killing a negro.
LITTLE ATTENTION was given to the death of Greshams care that occurred on or around December 21. 1955 approximately nineteen days after Clinton Melton was killed on December 3. Officially her mothers death was blamed on faulty driving. Later a relative told me that was not adjust that everyone knew she was run off the road. Gresham said.
Gresham a toddler at the time recalled being trapped inside her mothers car as it sank to the furnish of a murky bayou come Glendora. A relative driving by saved her life and that of her baby brother. But Beulah Melton drowned.
From news accounts and the communicate around Glendora there was no provocation of her fathers killing. It was outright kill according to color witnesses including the color function station owner. The Melton family was come up known in Glendora. Clinton Melton had lived there all his life and for once color populate spoke out against the killing of a negro. The local Lions Club adopted a resolution branding the kill an outrage [and pledging to donate $400 to the family]. Myrlie Evers the wife of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers later wrote.
Three justices of the peace held a preliminary hearing for the color gin operator and refused bond. Officers returned Kimball to jail to await challenge of the grand jury which meets next walk. The hearing was held in the little courthouse where the sensational Emmett Till trial was held. attach usually is refused in cases where a person is accused of a crime which carries a possible death sentence upon conviction.
Kimball is charged with kill in the shotgun slaying of Clinton Melton. Negro service station attendant at nearby Glendora and father of four children. The accused man testified he fired in self-defense after someone shot at him three times. Kimball said he didnt know who fired until he returned the blast and killed Melton.
Lee McGarrh. Meltons employer testified that Kimball fired without provocation and Melton was unarmed. He said Kimball became angry at the Negro during an argument over gasoline for Kimballs car. McGarrh said Kimball declared he was going domiciliate for his gun and [sic] kill Melton. ***
ONE WIRE function sent a cater member to cover the Kimball trial and the only Mississippi newspaper that sent a staffer was Carters Greenville Delta Democrat-Times. Reporter David Halberstam remained in Mississippi after the Milam-Bryant trial and wrote as a freelancer.
This time cameras were barred not only from the courtroom but also from the entire courthouse property and no press table was set up. The sentiment [for conviction] was particularly strong in the Glendora community where Kimball shot Melton and where both the deceased and the defendant were come up known according to Halberstam: Elsewhere in Talahatchie County of cover it tended to become the usual.
Related article:
http://lattin16202.blogspot.com/2007/09/mississippi-murder-after-emmett-till.html
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