The San Francisco call., 1899-06-11
LURED TO A
DOOR WAY TO
Be MURDERED
Weird Summons of H. K,
Beldin, Well-KnoWn In
surance Man Here.
ATTACKED WITH AK
Luckily the Capitalist ESCAPED.
Two Men Arrested for the
Crime A Dark Mystery.

one Of the most Doysteri-
Gus Otttr06es ever attempt
ed liz the baU cities 1c0s
perDetrnted last night on
H. K. -BeJden, MANAGER Of
the Hartford Insurance
Company, ut his O0hland
residence. He zCOs lnred
d01onsf0irs bY 100rd Of an
important message, and
1chen he appeared at the
door zc0s nttached zOith a5o
az 1Cjelded BIZ an 1t1-
kn01Cn nojscre0nf. The af-
fair is ShrO1tded in Doys-
terry. Mr.. BeldeD denies
all hno1cIded6e of any mo-
tire TOR the crime and is
happy, appwentJY, that
he escaped By. n n1U0cle.
TtCo arrests hare been
made, but the police are
0pD0re1tlU as much D1yS-
tilted us the 1cott!d-be Uic-
tim of the foul Ott0ch.
OAKLAND. June 1O.-A most fiendish
attempt was made late tonight to muir
der H. K. Belden in his own doorway.
About 11:40 o'clock. a stranger rang
the bell and was answered from up
stairs by MI Belden. The stranger
said that he had telegram for MIR.
Belden. and the latter said he would
come down.
AS soon as Mr.. Belden opened the
door the stranger struck at him with
an AK Mr.. Belden at once drew back,
and as he was closing the door the
would be assassins AK passed over his
arm and he was struck with the
handle. The ak wielder then ran off
and the police were called.
Two suspects were arrested, but Cap
tain Peterson says he has not much
faith that either of them is the man
wanted. Mr.. Belden is a capitalist and
lives in a fine mansion on Lake street.
H K. Belden is manager of the Hart
ford Insurance Company in San Fran
cisco and resides in Oakland. He has
always been considered a man of great
ability and of quiet and regular habits.
Mr.. Beldens account Of the attempted
assassination is as follows:
4 had just retired, when 1
heard a sharp ring at the front
door. l opened the window upstairs
and saw a man standing on the porch.
He told me to come down, as he had
an important dispatch for me-. l slip
ped on my dressing gown, went down
stairs and threw the front door wide
open and put out my hand to receive
the message. Instead of a message
saw a big AK in the hands of the man.
lifted the AK and made a violent stroke
at me. When I saw what he was do
ing / proceeded to shut the door as
fast as possible. This caused the handle
of the ak to strike my arm, and the
force Of the blow was so great that
when it struck me the AK flew out of the
fellows hand into the hall.
The man Immediately ran from my
doorway without saying a word |
then called for the police and put them
in possession of the facts and the ak.
The would-be assassin was a stranger
to me and l have not the remotest idea
why he should wish to murder me-"
The ak is an ordinary implement of
the woodchopper's style Had the blow
landed there is no doubt that 1t would
have severed Mr.. Belden's head Two
men who were in the neighborhood at
the time of the assault were arrested
a few minutes later and are now in
prison. The aX-wielder had chosen his
time carefully, as the policeman on that
beat had just gone off duty for a half
hour to get his dinner.