Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-04-03
BULLETS IN THEIR BRAINS.

BULLETS IN THEIR BRAINS.
7sco Would-Be Suicides W7so Liue along
r~s~--~- tn Spite of the Doctors.
| New York Star.1
Ten days ago DR.. Trevonian Haight, a
leading physician of Newark, attempted
suicide by shooting himself in the head with
revolver. Although the bullet penetrated
his skull and lodged in the tissue of his
brain, the doctor is alive and does not suffer
much physical Inconvenience. He is able to
walk and talk and attend to such business
matters as do not require much exertion.
His case is regarded as the most extraordi
nary in the annals of the medical fraternity,
and many physicians have visited him to
hear from his own lips narrative of his re-
markable experience.
DR.. Haight was found in one of the par
lors of his handsome brown stone mansion,
No. "a Kinney street, Newark, yesterday, by
reporter. As he was feeling much fatigued
from previous conversations he did not feel
disposed to talk at any length, but brother
physician who was with him spoke in his
stead. DR.. Haight was lying upon couch
resting himself. What little DR.. Haieht
said had reference to his patients, and q
SEEMS to be very much worried in regsri to
two or three cases which he was attending
at the time he shot himself. He was ra-
tlonal, and his appearance was such that no
one who was not aware that there was bull
let in his brain would imagine that there was
anything the matter with the man.
The doctor who was with him said: eve
don't want the doctor to know that We are
alarmed about his condition, but the fact is
we consider that his death is only question
of time"
"But he doesn't seem in q dangerous
condition now," remarked the reporter.
"Oh, he is in no immediate danger, and
he may live for weeks, and even MONTHS
GLOW do you account for the fact that the
doctor retains His Consciousness and COM
parative physical health when he has ball
in his brain?"
"Although this is an extremely rare and
singular case" answered the attending
physician, sit can be accounted for on scien-
tidc principles. The bullet entered the doc
tors head little above aid in front of the
right ear. 1t lodged in the upper part of the
brain, in which are the intellectual faculties.
Had it penetrated the lower part of the
brain, where the motive organs are situated,
death would have been instantaneous, or
would, at the most, have been postponed
only few hours. The motive or animal
faculties of the brain are those which act
through the nerves upon the involuntary
muscles of the heart and lungs. The physical
| organization of the whole body is paralyzed
| when the basilar brain is injured. Under
! certain circumstances the top of q PERSONS
head could be cut into, and he mil ht still
| breathe and his heart would beat''
"But you have said that DR.. Haight must
die, and that his death is only question of
! time. If the bullet is, as you say, lodged in
the intellectual faculties, why is there no
chance of his ultimate recovery?''
~ will explain. The tissue of the brain
is very soft. Any heavy substance, like lead,
gradually settle downward in the delicate
tissue. The bullet in DR.. Haight's head, by
the mere attraction of gravitation, will, you
see, sink until it reaches the lower region of
the brain, and then death will ensue.''
Several physicians who have visited DR..
Haight have expressed the opinion that the
bullet might be probed for and extracted,
but as this operation would be extremely
hazardous it has not been attempted. If
the probe should touch certain portions of
| the brain, the patient would die almost in
stantly.
DR.. Haight is about As years of age, and
his naturally strong physical constitution
| has enabled him to endure what most other
persons could not. During the first two or
three days after he shot himself there was
| some engagement of blood in his wound,
but when that subsidized healthy suppuration
set in, and one or two of the Newark physi-
clans were sanguine enough to hope for the
wounded mans full restoration to health.
The at empt of DR.. Hight to take his
own life was great surprise to the COM
munity. He had large practice among the
wealthy people of Newark, and there was, so
far as known even to his intimate friends,
no financial, domestic or social trouble
which could lead him to commit suicide.
| The rumors that the doctor was on the verge
of bankruptcy are denied. It is thought
that he shot himself while laboring under
| fit Of melancholia. A somewhat singular
| fact in connection with the case is that for
several years the doctor has made diseases
| and injuries to the brain special study, and
| one theory is that he became temporarily in
sane from excessive application to this re-
| search.
Remarkably coincident in the case of DR..
Haight is the attempted suicide of Charles
Hoehnie, young German of Newark, who
shot himself III the head on the Goth of
February, and who is still alive. The case,
however, differs from that of the doctor in
that Hoehnie has not been conscious for
moment since the wound was inflicted. His
physical condition is marvellous, but from
the first his physicians had no hope of his
recovery. In Hoehnie's case the bullet en-
tered the brain two inches lower than the
doctors wound, but the motive organs are
untouched. Inflammation of dangerous
character set in several days ago, and at last
accounts death was momentarily expected.
A surgeon who was in the army during the
! rebellion said that he had seen all kinds of
gun-shot wounds in the head but he never
knew of such remarkable cases as those of
DR.. Haight and the young German.
DR.. Haight is carefully watched day and
| night, and no visitors are allowed to enter
into extended conversation with him. Al
| though he is rational the most of the time,
his mind will occasionally wander, and his
language will be vague and incoherent. He
perfectly realizes his condition, and knows
that he cannot recover, but he has not once
expressed. any regret for his attempt at
suicide. The pistol with which he shot him
self was an ordinary revolver, carrying a
medium-sized bullet.
The Bitter Bit.