Bernard Crowe: The Threat, The Bullet, and the Reluctant Witness.

The Bernard Crowe story looks very different when the surviving Sanders notes are placed alongside Crowe's own courtroom testimony.

The handwritten Sanders notes are an independent contemporaneous account concerning Crowe, while the trial transcript records what Crowe himself said under oath. They should not be treated as interchangeable sources—but together they illuminate some remarkable circumstances surrounding Crowe's role as a witness against Charles Manson.

At the center of it all is a threat.And, according to the Sanders notes, Crowe admitted that the threat was true.

That statement deserves careful attention.

Crowe and the Threat

The Sanders notes describe Crowe in connection with a threat against Manson and the "Manson family," including the threat that the entire family could be destroyed. Most importantly, the notes record that Crowe admitted the threat was true.

When questioned about the threatening words said over the telephone, Crowe acknowledged that he knew those words had been spoken. When asked whether he knew they had been uttered, his answer was unequivocal: “Oh, yes, certainly.”

Crowe testified that his own objective was to recover his money or the marijuana. When questioned about the discussion concerning wiping out the people at the ranch, he insisted that he did not approve of such a plan.

He said:

“I didn't approve of anything. I didn't say anything.”

He further explained that doing anything to anybody was not in his mind.

Elsewhere, when directly asked whether he approved of the threat, Crowe answered:

“Under no circumstances.”

And that is precisely what makes the record so interesting.

Crowe Didn't Want To Testify Against Manson.

According to the handwritten account, Crowe originally refused to testify against Manson.

The notes go further, stating that Crowe apparently felt guilty about testifying against Manson.

That is a striking detail.

The conventional image of a prosecution witness is someone eager to tell authorities what happened and help secure a conviction. The Sanders notes instead describe a man who apparently had serious reservations about becoming a witness against Manson.

That reluctance becomes even more significant when considered alongside Crowe's own testimony.

Crowe eventually took the witness stand—but the Sanders notes indicate that getting him there was not necessarily easy.

The Bullet In His Back

The Sanders notes also record an extraordinary detail concerning Crowe's physical condition.

Crowe had been shot, and the bullet remained in his back.

According to the notes, Aaron Stovitz offered Crowe the best medical attention available in an effort to have the bullet removed.

And even with that effort, the notes state that Crowe initially continued to refuse to testify.

Eventually, according to the Sanders account, Crowe was persuaded to testify.

The chronology is striking:

Crowe was shot.

A bullet remained in his back.

Efforts were made to obtain the best medical treatment to remove it.

Crowe initially refused to testify against Manson.

The Sanders notes say he felt guilty about testifying against Manson.

And ultimately, he became a witness.

Why did he become a witness? that will be coming in part 2. A hint is given in the documents above. 

  The $2,400 and the Marijuana

Crowe's courtroom testimony supplies the context for the confrontation.

The dispute involved $2,400 and marijuana. Crowe acknowledged that the $2,400 was his money, and his testimony repeatedly returned to the question of recovering either the money or the marijuana. It  gives us Crowe's stated motive without having to speculate.

He wanted what he believed was owed to him.

  Crowe Wanted to Protect His People

After the shooting, he explained that he did not want Rosina, Del and Steve unnecessarily dragged into the consequences. He testified that they had not committed the shooting and that he did not want them becoming entangled in the legal aftermath.

Whatever else may be said about Crowe, his testimony does not portray him as someone casually indifferent to what happened to those around him.

A Reluctant Witness With His Own Problems

There was another complication.

Crowe himself had legal problems.

During his testimony, questions were raised about his own criminal matters, and at one point he invoked his right against self-incrimination concerning a pending case.

 Crowe was not entering the courtroom from a position of complete detachment.

Yet eventually he took the stand.

The Manson Identification 

There is another important limitation.

Crowe's testimony does not provide an airtight basis for saying that he recognized Manson as the person with whom he spoke on the telephone.

The transcript indicates that Crowe did not know who the man on the telephone was at the time of the conversation. Manson was encountered afterward.

That means we should not turn Crowe's testimony into something it wasn't. Contrary to what Tex Watson said, We have no physical proof that T.J. know Crowe and that T.J. was in on the burn. Tex Watson is not the most reliable source of information.

The result is not a simple story.

It is a story about a drug burn, a threat, a shooting, a bullet, a reluctant witness, personal loyalties, legal complications and an admission that sits uneasily beside Crowe's courtroom denials of personal involvement.