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Malcolm X — Part 35
Page 50
50 / 101
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
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