◆ SpookStack

Declassified Document Archive & Reader
Log In Register
Reader Ad Slot
Reader Ad Slot placeholder
If you would like to support SpookStack without paying out of pocket, please consider allowing advertising cookies. It helps cover hosting costs and keeps the archive free to browse. You can change this choice at any time.

Malcolm X — Part 35

101 pages · May 10, 2026 · Document date: Mar 29, 1965 · Broad topic: Murder · Topic: Malcolm X · 101 pages OCR'd
← Back to feed
1-26-66) 19 (Rev. bic Malcolm Xs -W X’s Widow to- Tela By James W. Sullivan | oOo; The Hereld Tribune Staff For 13 emotion-laden min- utes, Mrs. Betty Shabazz told 6 jury of nine men and three women yesterday what she knew of the murder of her husband, Malcolm n the Audubon Balirfoom last Feb. 21. Then, when attorneys for the three men accused of the shotgun-pisto] assassination _ declined to cross-examine her, . a court attendant ied her to- ward the exit. AS she passed behind the table where the three clean- eut young Negro defendants had sat for nearly six weeks, | she stopped and turned toward them. “They killed my husband,” she said in a low, quavering yoice. “They killed him.” The attendant took her arm and led her toward the exit | Norman at but she stopped again. Mh me sient bm 1811 a any had di bdB4ie bi Bll my husband,” she said. The dramatic incident brought an immediate warn- ing from Supreme Court Jus- tice Charles Marks that the jury should not consider state- ments made by the widow aftver-abc_laft the stand as part of the evidence in t in the case. Betty Shebazs Actually, she did not iden- tify as her husband's killers 3X Butler, 26; Thomas 15X Johnson, 36; or Thomas Havan 29 sles known acTUINSS OSGSI, aa, Gasu meee as Talmadge Mayer. . According to her testimony, the 30-year-old Mrs. Shabazz did not see Malcolm killed and was not immediately aware of the Biack Nationalist lead- er’s death. Dressed in black, the at- {tractive widow was brought to EEE stand at 12:20 p om. by assistant District ey Vincent Dermody immediately after her arrival in the Crim- Inal Courts Building. Under questioning by Mr. Dermody, she said she had arrived at the ballroom with “my four bables” shortly be- fore 3 p. m. Her daughters at that time were aged 6, 4, 2, and 6 months. Twin daughters were born seven’ months later. She and the children were in a booth at the right of the stage and when she heard her husband give a Muslim greet- ing to the 400 persons in the Audience, she said. “A few minutes later I saw someone stand and shout in a loud and demanding voice, ‘Take your hand out of my pocket.’ She said her husband's bodyguards had moved from the stage toward the dis- turbance and she haerd Bel. WR BU Ge El Bs colm say something to the effect that everything would be all right. Then she heard shots fired, chairs falling and people shouting. She pushed her crying babies babies under a bench to pro- tect therm. Then, whed-gasp, caysed he to look toward the ; stage. “T didn’t see my husband. I started running toward the Stage. but they wouldn't let me down there.” Eventually, the bodyguards “permitted her on the stage [ and she saw her husband's body, After testifying that she ac- companied the body to the Columbia-Presbyterlan Medt- cal Center and later formally identified it at the morgue, she left the stand. Throughout her brief ap- Pearance on the stand, Mra. Shabazz had glared at the three defendants. After she left the courtroom, William C. Chance, attorney for Butler, demanded s mistrial on the ground that, throughout her testimony, she was “staring inten d jclly af the de- eS ustice Marks_de- nied the motion. (c Tolson Se” Felson amma V2 oe per ——__.___ Callahan ——___ Conrad —— Felt sale Rosen a aaa | Tavel ao + «Trotter Tele, Reom Holmes Gandy 1 att), | Tanai that Nagan and Budleserceted the disturbance in the audi- Tpkhrene thar fired ence, that Jonnson then fired a sawed-off shotgun into}; f Malcolm X and fled while the two Pumped pistol bul- Seed ate .npsecution contends | The Washington Post and Times Herald The Washington Daily News The Evening Star New York Herald Tribune New York Journal-American New York Daily News New York Post The New York Times The Baltimore Sun The Worker FORK EE The New Leader The Wall Street Journal The National bserver People’s World EG S1138LF NOT hr
OCR quality for this page
Community corrections
First editor: none yet Last editor: none yet
No user corrections yet.
Comments
Document-wide discussion. Follow the Community Standards.
No comments on this document yet.
Bottom Reader Ad Slot
Bottom Reader Ad Slot placeholder
If you would like to support SpookStack without paying out of pocket, please consider allowing advertising cookies. It helps cover hosting costs and keeps the archive free to browse. You can change this choice at any time.

Continue Exploring

Use the strongest next step for this document: continue reading, jump to the topic hub, or move into the matching agency collection.
Continue Reading at Page 51
Jump straight to page 51 of 101.
Reader
Malcolm X — Part 38
Stay inside Malcolm X with another closely related document.
Topic
FBI Documents & FOIA Archive
Open the FBI agency landing page for stronger archive context.
FBI
Malcolm X Topic Hub
See the topic overview, related documents, and linked subtopics.
Hub

Agency Collection

This document also belongs in the FBI Documents & FOIA Archive landing page, which is the stronger starting point for agency-level browsing and for searches focused on FBI records.
FBI Documents & FOIA Archive
Open the agency landing page for introduction text, topic links, and more FBI documents.
FBI

Explore This Archive Cluster

This document belongs to the Murder archive hub and the more specific Malcolm X topic page. Use these hub pages when you want the broader collection context, linked subtopics, and more documents around the same archive thread.
Related subtopics
Osage Indian Murders
42 documents · 2075 known pages
Subtopic
Atlanta Child Murders
25 documents · 2715 known pages
Subtopic
john-joseph-gotti-jr
2 documents · 53 known pages
Subtopic
Aaron Hernandez
1 documents · 114 known pages
Subtopic
alvin-francis-karpis
1 documents · 18 known pages
Subtopic
assata-shakur-joanne-chesimard
1 documents · 41 known pages
Subtopic