Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-31
JURY SAYS WILSON
IS MURDERER
KILLING OF BELDEN WAS WITH
MALICE AF0RETHOUeHT
Fires Bullets Into PROSTATE Man In
cutter-Spanlsh War Veterans
viii Attend the Funeral
Today
sneclal 70 The Herald.


thirty minutes had been occupied by
the taking of testimony at the Inquest
IN the death Of wallace B. Belden,
who was shot to death yesterday
morning, a coroner's jury returned the
following verdict:
1--WE find that the deceased, Wallace
r. Beden, came to his death by gun
shot wounds in hicted by w. t. Will
son. of his malice aforethought, ana
with intent to kill and murder the salo
Wallace B. Belden."
The personnel of the jury was
George RI. Meyer, L. L. Chambers,
Jacob Hill, f. A. Parker, ]. W. Meek
and II. A. Barnes.
The verdict was returned almost I'M
mediately after Coroner Trout asked
that all save the jury retire from the
room.
The testimony produced nothing
strikingly new but brought out in de-
tail the story of the shooting.
Woman Collector TestIfles
Mrs. Maud McCrary, a collector em-
ployed by the Home Telephone com
pany, was the second witness and the
only woman placed upon the stand:
She was riding past the corner OF
Second and Pine avenue on her BIZ
cycle when she heard the first shot
fired
she saw Wilson fire three more shots
and also testified that she heard
fifth shot, though in this she is sup
posed to have been mistaken.
DIR. George w. Campbell of Los An
geles, who performed an autopsy yes
terday, described the nature of Bel
denis four wounds. He said that he
found a fifth hole through Belden's
clothing with no corresponding wound
in the body. The explanation for
this, however, is supposedly that Bel
den's coat was thrown up over his
shoulders as he fell into the gutter
after he was struck by the first ball
from Wilson's revolver.
P S. West, Beden's father-in-law,
was placed upon the stand to tell who
Belden was.
Richard Loynes and L. w. Folsom,
a deputy constable, were called. They
testified that they had seized Wilson
and restrained him after he had fired
the fourth shot. Folsom swore that
he was personally acquainted with Will
son and Loynes said he could identify
the man who had done the shooting.
Beden's Last Words
Both men testified that, when Belden
into the gutter, his arms thrown up
in front of his face, he cried:
Don't shoot me againl"
Loynes. Folsom and H. G. Arnold,
who next took the stand, testified that
they saw Wilson stand over the pros
trate Belden and shoot three more
bullets into the quiverinG body.
Wilson was running after Belden
just before the first shot was fred
hot i'm
from behind and Belden clapped his
hand to his wounded side. Wilson
slipped and fell to his knees, but
quickly jumped up and started again
after Belden. Belden then fell into
the gutter.
Wilson stood over him and fired
repeatedly. He cooked the revolver as
though he was drunk or very weak"
The last witness was L. H. Pearson,
who helped carry the wounded man
into the store across the street where
he soon after breathed his last. Pear
son said that those who carried Bel
den to the store found no revolver upon
his person.
Funeral Today
The funeral of Belden will be held
at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning from
his late home. 740 Alamitos avenue
The Spanish War Veterans associa-
ton of this city, of which Belden was
a member, will attend in a body. The
Majestic rink band, to which Belden
played the drums, will play at his
funeral and Manager Mcdonald and
members of the band will act as pail
bearers. Burial will be in Signal Hill
cemetery.
Public sentiment is still divided con-
cerning the case.
Mrs. Wilson and her daughter, Ma
talie, refuse to discuss any phase of
the affair, Mrs. Wilson went to Los
Angeles this morning, presumably to
visit her husband in his cell at the
country jail.
Yesterday afternoon a man left a
letter at the police station which was
addressed to Wilson. In 1t Wilson was
informed that he had "done a noble
act that the sympathies of "the
southern people" were with him, and
concluded with a fervent "God bless
you" The letter was forwarded to
Wilson af ha 10