Morris tribune., 1881-09-01
ASSASSINATION.
sgkw IS 4-ss.41}.l
HISTORY OF TIE CASE.


When the attending physicians Htst d.
agnosed the case they claimed that the
ball had penetrated the Kidney then
amended their diagnosis by substituting the
liver, less vital organ Then tho case began to-
assume a more hopeful aspect The public
seized upon the bulletins announcing those
successive discoveries as drowning men clutch
atstraws They were assured that the case
was hopeful and after the patient had,
through his phenomenal physique and he roio
4, forttude rallied from the shock, of the shot
. they began to have faith in the
ultimate recovery of their be-
loved president who became cndeared
to them from the very fact
of his fortitude in suffering and
his patient endurance of a sore trial This
faith grew stronger from day to day until the
I'D of July, about three weeks after the fatal
Saturday morning in the Baltimore & Potomac
depot when he was stricken by the assassin's
bullet All at once this faith suffered a shock
from which the public never rallied For
hours the pulse of the patient mounted up.
until the attending physicians, in their de-
spair, concluded it would be wiser to call Dr.
Agnew and DIR. Hamilton into consultation than
to allow the patient to die on their hands So
Nhe great surgeons were summoned by special
trains. They soon located the trouble A pus
cavity had formed along the track of the wound
and the waste was disturbing tho circulation
poisoning The skilltul hand of DR.. Agnew
was applied to the patient, and the accnmu-
lating matter was released, and the patient
soou rallied from the pus and from the shock
from the scalpel Then the public pulse be-
came normal for season, yet tho more
thoughtful and skeptical still apprehended an
other cavity, which came in the course of
time, and two incisions were found necessary
TO relieve that Then the hopeful aspect
of the case began to assume the
form OF dubious doubt The usual
stereotSped bulletins were issued from
day to day to deceive the public aud lull them
= INTO fancied security for the patient The at
tending physicians pointed to the endorsement
of their treatment made by Drs. Agnew and
Hamilton whom first called into consultation,
out the public lost faith in their treatment and
their protestations that the patient was dong
we'll. Tho public argued that the consulting
+, surgeons had approved the treatment of the
case up to the time of their call because too
late to remedy any evil it had wrought and
because 1t would hardly be the proper thing to
shake PATIENTS confidence in his physicians,
and further, it would not be ethical
This relapse of thespatient and the sudden
discovery that he had been chronic lyspeptic
Tor years was too great strain, and confidence
departed to return 30 more. DR.. Hammond
anu other eminent authorities said that this
theory OF the case was absurd, and certainly
the admirable physiquc of tho patient in health
would tend TO strongly support this view of
al, q loss for reliable data upon which to base
an opinion The record of pulse, tempera-
ture and respiration is about all they have
had To guide them to conclusion.
THE RECORD.
The following table shows the pulse, temper
AZURE and respiration since the shooting, at the
hour of issuing the evening bulletin: