The San Francisco call., 1906-10-01
AGED MAN FOUND
DYING IN BED
OF CREEK.
T. H. Hyatt of Suisun May
Have Been Murderously
Attacked in Oakland
HIS HEAD BATTERED
AND SKULL CRUSHED
Mystery Surrounds the
Case Of the Pioneer
Court ReDorter of Solano
SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE CALL

SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE CALL.
OAKLAND Sept. 3O.-Face
downward in the muddy bottom
OF Sausalito Creek, his head
crushed as though by heavy
blows. the unconscious form OF
T. H. Hyatt, 6-year-old
veteran court reporter of So
lano County and a. pioneer resi-
dent of Suisun, was found this az
ternoon under circumstances
which have set the Sheriff and
his deputies on a close hunt for an
explanation Whether Hyatt is
the victim of murderous attack,
for his injuries viii prove fatal, or
whether he was the victim of an
accident is yet to be determined.
Hyatt left his home at suisun yes
terdsy on business trip to this City.
He telegraphed that he would return
this morning and the members OF his
family We're at the depot in Suisun
10 meet him His non-arrival per-
picked them and not until they re-
cesved the message tonight OF hfs fatal
injuries was his absence explained.
How Hyatt came BY the crushed and
battered skull the fractures and the
Jagged wounds which marked hfs head.
IS surnise as yet His movements have
not been traced. All that has been
learned is the fact that he made oc-
cssional trips to Oakland on business,
most frequently to call upon Mrs. Car
RE Kennedy of e62 Seventeenth street,
2 stenographer. who had for years
typewritten his notes from court re-
porting. But Mrs Kennedy had not
seen Hyatt on his trip this time and
could offer nothing which might help
the authorities
DISCOVERED BY BOYS.
Some time this afternoon boys play
ing along the bank OF the creek, which
runs from East Fourteenth street
northward and short distance west
Of Fruitvale avenue. saw a mans form
half submerged lying in the mud at
the bottom Of the creek thirty feet
below the top OF the embankment The
lads ran TO the saloon Of Joseph F.
VeIladao. at Fruitvale avenue and East
Fourteenth street. and velladao. L. L.
Lee and c. F. Leydecker went to the
spot. They found the man lying about
$50 feet north of the stone culvert at
Fourteenth street and at point where
the ernbankment sharply cuts through
Jagged rocks down to the bottom.
AS soon as the men saw that life still
existed in the senseless form they has
tened to get the man to the Receiving
Hospital There DR.. o. D. Hamlin. DR..
L. L. Riggin andsDr. H Koford took
charge. The surgeons found a deep
cash over the left ear and another on
the back of the head as we'll as a con-
fusion under the left eye. The wound
on the back OF the head was the cause
Of a fracture of the skull. which was
extensive
HYATT was suffering also from expo
sure, the condition Of the injuries in
cicating that he had received them
twenty-four hours before he was found.
The surgeons believe that he was in
the mud for nearly. II not quite. day.
and they cannot understand how he
lived long enough to be taken to the
hospital
MANY HOURS IN CREEK.
After the examination DR.. Riggin
said:
..v. .o.... % - .ha+ 3. ,-,o,,,z -.
Teen impossible for Hyatt to have re-
csived his injuries by a fall His
wounds are on the top OF his head.
he back OF his head and on the left
side OF his face. How he could have
inflicted them by falling over the en-
.znkment is a mystery to me. It
Gems more probable that he was
struck with some sharp instrument and
-nocked 10 the bottom of the creek
zhe was found $50 feet away from
ne Fourteenth street culvert, he could
not have been struck by an automo-
fsle or an electric car. How he came
IS be lying in the middle of the creek
considerable distance from the bank
60 not attempt to explain II he had
.iien he would have been found near
he foot OF the embankment and it
would have been the same If he had
5een knocked over the brink"
It is possible that he might have been
carried TO the middle of the creek, but
that is a problem that the police must
solve.- The flesh around the mans
wounds is badly decomposed, incicat-
ing that he had been lying there for
from twenty-four 10 thirty-six hours,