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0-19 (Rev. 12-14-64) py Report October Trial Set In Killing of Malcolm X~ By Ed Smith NEW YORK(>- The trial date in the Malcolm X_ murder case has been se te October, accord- ing to an article by Abel Silver in the Sept. 22 New York Fost. Silver apparently was given this information while questioning the New York District Attorney's of- fice about the unusual delay in bringing the three murder suspects indicted last March to trial. Indicative of the lurid treatment the press will probably give this trial, after eight months of con- spicuous silence concerning police investigation of Malcolm’s kill- ers, Silver's article begins, “A po- lice guard will be thrown around witnesses called to testify at the tri {because] authorities fear threats may be made against some of the witnesses.” j Suspect Silver states that one of the sus- pects, Thomas Hagan (alias Talmadge Hayer), “was shot and wounded by Malcolm’s outraged bodyguard and had to be reseued Gu a Re 2S OD from lynching by police assigned to the hall.” There are two pieces of misinformation im this sentence. The first is that no one to this day, including the police, has identified the nerson who shot cohiied peecve, Fast Sate Thayer; the secand is that Thayer was not arrested by police as- signed to the hall, but was held by people from the audience in the hali until police arrived later (and, incidentally, Thayer would not have been arrested if he was not held by the crowd). The other two suspects, Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X John- son, Were arrested Feb. 26, five day, after the assassination, and Ma. 3, respectively. They are char with assaulting Malcolm X with weapons, which could only that they were in the Au- \/09- 3773 2/-A NOT PPCORDED 194 ACT 12 1965 7 Osta Hoe This allegation is noteworthy because both Butler and Johnson were well-known and leading fig- ures in the New York mosque of the Black Muslims and thay would erSth SAUSIS, and iney Would have been well- known to Mal- colm’s assistants who closely scrutinized the audience before the Feb, 21 murder. In January, Butler and Johnson and a third man wera arrestad after an argument with an ex- Muslim, Benjamin Brown, that ended in the shooting of Brown. Butler and Johnson were out on bail on first degree assault charges in that case at the time of the Malcolm killing. . All of the events surrounding the murder of the black national- ist leader are shrouded in mystery - and confusion. The role of the police has been highly suspect. The press has been conspicuously lack- ing in curiosity about the progress or the case. It remains to be seen whettkepplice will come up with / at the trial this fall. 5 mlefs Wasa v7 copies World Tolson Belmont Mohr DeLoach Casper Callahan Conrad Felt Gale Rosen Sullivan Tavel Trotter Tele Room Holmes Gandy 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 The New Leader The Wal! Street Journal The National Observer _ SE Date 10/4/65 THE MILITANT PAGE 1