The herald., 1896-09-28
DYING IN THE HOSPITAL
No One Knows the Victim and lie Is In.
able to Speak
Had Evidently Been Shot for Hours Before
Found
Undoubtedly a Suicide, as His Re
volver Lay Under the Body With
One Chamber Disch;S ged-His
Clothing and Appearance.

Unconscious and bleeding from a
bullet wound in the center of the fore
head, an unknown man was found yes
terday afternoon alongside road in
Elysian park by two parties out for a
drive. The injured man now lies in the
receiving hospital in a critical condi-
tion, his identity remaining mystery,
as no one has yet been found who knows
his name, and the patient is unable to
tell it himself.
George F. Haker Of the wholesale mil
linery firm of Haker. Gerdts & Co., at
315 South Main street, and Ed King of
the Ramona saloon, were out together
for a drive, and about o'clock in the'af-
ternoon were bowling along Solano av-
enue, in Elysian park, about mile
from the Buena Vista street entrance.
Suddenly they deserted what appeared
to be the corpse of a man lying about
twenty feet from the road in little
clear space among the weeds and
bushes. They got out to investigate
and approached the body
Lying fiat on his back, his face COW
cred with dried and clotted blood, was
the unfortunate, breathing heavily, but
living. Directly in the center of the
forehead between the eyes was ghast-
ly bullet hole, and, partially concealed
under one of the limbs Of the fallen man,
lay a new 3S-caliber hammerless re-
volver, with one chamber discharged.
Leaving Mr.. Gerdts to watch the un-
conscious form, Mr.. King drove hastily
back to Buena Vista street, where he
found telephone and notified the po-
lice station. The patrol wagon was sent
| out and brought in the would-be sui
eide, for such 1t appeared to be, to the
receiving hospital
| Dr. Bryant, the police surgeon, at.
tended the sufferer apd probed the
wound. The ball had ranged downward
and back, probably lodging above the
roof of the mouth. From the appearance
of the wound the man had evidently
been shot some hours, either early i1
| the morning or the night previous. The
patient seemed to comprehend what
was passing about him and gave evi-
dence of it by squeezing the hand of the
physician when asked to do SO. Bu
ne was unable to speak and made no at
! tempt to do so.
| Physically he is finely formed man
five feet ten inches in height and weigh
ing about 1870 pounds. He is about 3.
years old, smooth shaven. f1orid com
! plexion, high cheek bones and nose tha
has at one time been broken, showing
a decided lump across the bridge. HI
would appear to be of Irish descent
| When found he was attired in darl
striped trousers, well worn, gray
brown checked vest, black and whit
striped shirt. He had on No 8 Congress
| shoes and wore an old black soft ha
with no band or leather. On the top o
the hat was a long cut or tear. No Goa
was on or near the body.
| In the pocket $3.50 cash was fount
| and also card on which name wa
written. The penmanship is poor, but al
near as can be made out it reads
James Dalton or Dayton" Several o
the police officers remember having seel
| the man on the streets at different time
! and they say he is a teamster. Every
thing about the case seems to point t.
an attempt at suicide, but the cause fo
| the act is a matter of speculation. To
day he may be identified and the fact
brought out. At the hour of going t.
press the victim was in precarious con
dition.