The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-08-27
Examina Sion ofDr. Ordway.

Benjamin H. Ordway, eclectic physician, was
arranged Tor the mutilation OF Abiezer An
drew's hand, and preliminary examination
had. Nathan Webb, Esq, appeared for the
State and John H. Williams Esq, for the re-
spog lent. Mr.. Webb openedithe case at some
length, stating the law which his opinion gov
erned the case, and called as the first witness
Geo. A. Andrews, who testified as follows:
I lam the son of Abiezer Andrews and reside
at his house; was not at home at the time Of
the operation; went away Monday and re
turned Friday, the day after the operation
when l went away my father was improving
he had been suffering from a lame thumb, the
result of jam for two or three weeks; he had
three physicians Drs. French, Merrill and
Ordway; no surgical operation had been per-
formed when left; no other part of the hand
was affected; when ! got back found him 10
bed; he had five cuts on the thumb, Que on
the back and two on the front Of his left hand
DR.. True was attending him.
DR.. H. q. Mace tesli6el.-Reside in Cape
Elizabeth and have been in the practice since
1867; attended the medical lectures at Bruns-
WICK; have diploma; know Ordwav and
Andrews by sight; went to Ordway's Office on
Thursday; the Doctor came for me at the
Cape; it was about aquarter to three when
got to Ordway's; Andrews was in the Office
sitting by the window, Ordway told me to look
at the wound; he had not given me any de-
scription of the nature of the case before;
asked Andrews what caused it and he said it
: was the result of jam; and DR.. French had
given him prescription which he applied to
it and which smelled like tar. Judged from
his description that it Vas carbolic acid; there
The Doctor gave lengthy description of the
condition OF she thumb, stating that it was
yer much swollen and dscoored. and a
portion had sloughed leaving sore through
which matter as,oozing.) Ordway said he
did not know what he should do; said he was
afraid the bone was diseased; and said he
might have to lay open the flesh in three or
four places; he talked without referring to me
aud 1 offered no suggestions. O7dway then
proceeded to administer an anaeSthetic agent,
either ether or -choroform; he took a large
sponge ofthe some kind and poured some of
nose sat back to him booking about the ar
tices in the room; he told me might thread
some needles; when looked again the patient
was under the influence of ether; Che then de-
scribed the relative positions lof Andrews and
Ordway, the former reclining on lounge and
the latter in an arm chair, leaning forward
with sponge at Andrews nose;) he and An
drews talked together, said nothing to me;
Ordway took the hand and made an incsion
along the inner surface extending nearly to
the wrist; when he had made the incision 1
spoke to Ordway and said Thought it was un
necessary to do more, and advised him to ap
ply the same remedy Dr. French had before
used; to keep it wet with carbolic acid and
avail Tue result, uOn know the Oeptn OF JOe
incsiOu or whether it reached the bone; there
was a discharge of pusSfrom the back of the
thumb before the incisiou was made and had
been from the sore or where 1t had sloughed
away; pus did not follow the knife but there
might have been some on il when it was with
orawn; Ordway said he wanted to allow the
matter to escape from around the bone; after
the first incsiOn he took a sponge from bowl
of water and soaked up the blood; carried
out the water aud got some new; he N lde two
A.,s.. At
flrSt and about the same length; the nail was
not involved but it commenced at the joint just
below it; told Ordway shouldn't do any
more; took the bowl and procured some
water at his request; he made another incisou
on the line of the ioCex fingec;it CONNIE need
at the first joint aud was in a line with the
other cuts; he had not used the sponge with
the ether since he commenced operating while
! was there; was out but a minute; when he
made the incison along the finger, l said
cannot recognize euch procedure aud must
leave; he said something did not understand
left; when / went there was some evidence
of returning consciousness on the part of An
drews; he and Ordway both spoke some words
when | came in with Ordway from the Cane,
We stopped at drug store and got some ether !;
did not drink anything; Andrews had small
bottle and l heard him say he was going to
take drink; did not see him drink; did not
offer any to me or Ordway; the Doctor did not
drink anything to my knowledge; have not
had any talk with Ordway since the transac-
ton.
N. L. Stevens testified Went into Ordway' s
the night of the trasaction, Ordway was in an
easy chair, his head leaning forward on his
breast, his eyes closed and his lower lip drop
ped; Andrews was on the floor, which was
sprinkled with blood; saw pocket case with
surgical instruments which had been picked
up on the floor, and larger case in the book
case; there was blood on the doctors face and
clothing; DR.. True came in and felt of Ord
~ r.,.la H. L.
the floor; DR.. True then went to Andrews and
examined his hand and had him taken up
and carriefhome; DR.. True asked me if L had
reasons to suspect anything stimulating in the
room; some one said "Yes," and there it it,
pointing to a small bottle on the floor; it as a
eight ounce phia'. " it'll about great spoonful
OF whiskey in it; later in the evening saw Ord
way again; he was very much excited, talked
loudly aud inceherently, his words were badly
muttered aud his voice was thick; when the
policeman told him to put on his boots, ''if my
boots are put on they will be put on me dead
said be thought it was pity a man couldn'
perform simple surgical operation withou
such a fuss about il; there we're many appear
ances about him which are found in men sui
fering from liquor; Mr.. Stevens also describes
the cuts on Andrews hand and stated that on,
was dressed with plaster; he also stated tina
Andrews clothing was much disarranged ant
the bosom Of his shirt cut.
DR.. YIN. II. True testified Have been in
pI dCIiCo touItttu years, STuuuhttu dG DDSLor
Medical Scno0!; visited Abizer Andrews; saw
him first week ago last night; iC was abou
half past seven; examined Andrews hand ant
found eight cuts on the hand; quite extensive
uic grafton on the thumb; found gangrene pres
ent and all the muscular tissue below the Skin
eaten up; the cats were all above the ulcerat
ed portion; thele wa, loose bandage abou
the hand aad three pieces of adhesive plaste
across the back of the hand; the patient an
peared like man partially under the nflu
euce of either: asked Ordway how hs felt
hemade no reply, and shaking him agian ask
ed the same question; he said he felt prett
we'll and asked me to sit down; the tone O
Ordway's voice seemed clear and DISTINCT
had suspicion as to what caused his eonditio
but made no examination in PARTICULAR
should hardly expect man under the influ
ence ofether to answer me so directly as th
doctor did, though it may be possible; smell
ed ether but saw none; saw o bottle wit
something in it which l thought was whlskey
saw him Saturday last; he said you are at
tending Mr.. Andrews; he asked me about TIL
cuts and stated the last be remembered wa
when he made the first ipoison; we remarke
that it was strange that another should SIT
and see man mutilated in that way; Ordwa
told me Mace was present; said he did NJ
known when Mace left; in my Judgment
would not be probable that a person could |
affected by ether in the manner DR.. Ordwa
did; from the account of DR.. Mace there W.
no statement or anything that indicated tia
Ordway was unier the influence of ether
never knew man to have been affected