HYATT, NORTH

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Monday, June 08, 2009 at 04:38:24 :

Marin Journal
Thursday, December 3, 1914
Page 5

Soldier Killed At Ft. McDowell

Through a mistake of the officers at Fort McDowell, on Angel Island, in overlooking the requirements of the state law, the body of Thomas H. Hyatt, a soldier who was killed in a fight Thanksgiving Day by an army prisoner, was shipped to Oakland for burial without the formality of securing a removal permit from Coroner F. E. Sawyer.

As a result it was necessary that the body be returned to this county and an inquest be held before burial could be made.

The irregularity came to light Sunday when an Oakland undertaking concern applied to Dr. Sawyer for a permit. That was the first intimation received by the local authorities that a crime had been committed. Dr. Sawyer immediately notified Under Sheriff Charles Redding and District Attorney Boyd. Communication with the army disclosed that Hyatt had been killed by Joseph Marshall, who struck the victim on the head with a heavy stool, and that Marshall was immediately placed in solitary confinement and held for trial by court martial.

Notwithstanding this, District Attorney Boyd held, the provisions of the law must be observed, and a permit issued by the Coroner of this county only after full particulars of the cause of death have been ascertained.

The Sheriff’s office communicated with Chief Peterson of the Oakland police, who detailed a man to prevent a burial of the body until the controversy could be settled.

Coroner Sawyer gave permission to the relatives of the dead man in Oakland to proceed with the funeral arrangements and the ceremony was held Monday afternoon.

“It is far from my wish to cause trouble of any kind,” the Coroner said, “and I am sorry that I am compelled by law to interfere with the arrangements. But my duty is plain and the State Board of Health at Sacramento would certainly institute an investigation if this irregularity were allowed to go through.”

Following the funeral service in Oakland, the body was brought to the Coroner’s office here, where an inquest was held. The removal permit was then issued in regular form.

Hyatt was a cousin of Hart H. North, who made arrangements for the removal and funeral. North formerly was a U. S. Commissioner of Immigration. He was twenty-seven years old and had graduated from the State Normal school in Chico. He was a brother of Hilbert Hyatt, a teacher in a school near Marysville, and of Mary Hyatt, teaching in a school in Sacramento. Hyatt’s father was Thomas H. Hyatt, official stenographer for Solano county for many years. His grandfather of the same name, founded the Rochester (N. Y.) “Times-Democrat,” and had been American Consul to Morocco and to Amoi, China.