The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1881-09-27

4 President Garfield died at Elberon,
! thirty-five minutes past ten, from the
A shot fired by Charles j. Guiteau at 10
I O'Clock, July 2nd, 1881. I'VE give our
readers brief history of his last day on
earth and the incidents connected with
his death and burial.
Monday morning he was attacked by Q
severe chill which greatly weakened
him. Toward noon, however, he rallied,
and throughout the afternoon he rested
and slept. During the day he called for
a looking glass, and having gazed into
it, observed that it was strange that he
could look so bright and be so weak.
Shortly before 10 o'clock Monday night
DR.. Bliss asked the President if he felt
uncomfortable anywhere and he answer.
ed, "Not at ALL" The President then
fell asleep and DIR. Bliss withdrew.
About fifteen minutes after ten o'clock
the President placed his hand near his
heart, and said he was suffering great
pain. DR.. Bliss returned Immediately,
and found the President unconscious.
The pulse and the action of the heart
were almost imperceptible. DIR. Bliss
said that the President was dying, and
directed the attendants to send for Mrs.
Garfield and Drs. Agnew and Hamilton.
The President remained in a dying con-
dition for about twenty minutes, when
life was declared to be extinct.
All the members of the Cabinet, ex-
cept Secretaries Blaine and Lincoln,
were at Elberon at the fatal moment.
Shortly after midnight the Cabinet
notified Vice President Arthur, who was
at his home in New York.
HE TAKES THE OATH OF OFFICE.
Upon receiving the notice of the death
of President Garfield and the official
summons from the cabinet, Gen. Arthur
dispatched messengers to invite a judge
to administer the oath of office. JUS
tice Brady, of the Supreme Court of
New York, responded and visited Gen
eral Arthur's residence. The oath was
administered at two o'clock Tuesday
morning. The ceremony is described
as peculiarly solemn and impressive.
POST MORTEM EXAMINATION.
BY previous arrangements post NOR.
tenn examination of the body of Presi-
dent Garfield was made Tuesday after
noon, in the presence and with the
assistance of Drs. Hamilton, Agnew
Bliss, Barnes, Woodward, Reyburn and
A. II. Smith, of Elberon, and Assistant
Surgeon d. S. Lamb, of the Army Med
ical Museum, of Washington. The ope-
ration was performed by Dr. Lamb. 1t
was found that the ball, after punctur-
ing the right eleventh rib, had passed
through the spinal column in front of
the spinal canal, fracturing the body of
the first lumbar vertebra, driving a
number of small fragments of bone into
the adjacent soft part and lodging below
the pancreas about two inches and a
half to the left of the spine and behind
the peritoneum, where it had become
completely encysted. The immediate
cause of death was secondary hemor-
7 rhage from one of the mesentoric arteries
adjoining the track of the ball, the blood
1rupturing the peritoneum and nearly a
pint escaping into the abdominal cavity.
This hemorrhage is believed to have
been the cause of the severe pain in the
1 lower part of the chest complained of
just before death. An abscess cavity six
( inches by four in diameter, was found
in the vicinity of the gall bladder be-
tween the liver and the transverse colon,
which were strongly adherent. 1t did
8 not involve the substance of the liver
and no communication was found be-
tween it and the wound. A long sup
purating channel extended from the
4 external wound, between the loin mus
cles and the right kidney, almost to the
! right groin. This channel now known
4 to be due to the burrowing of pus from
q the wound was supposed, during his life,
( to have been the track of the ball. On
h an examination of the organs of the
4 chest evidences of severe bronchitis were
< found on both sides with broncho pneu-
4 monia of the lower portions of the right
lung and-though to a much less extent
-of the left. The lungs contained no
assesses and the heart no clots. The
liver was enlarged and fatty, but free
4 from assesses. Nor were any found in
any other organ except the left kidney,
a which contained near the surface small
4 abscess about one-third of an inch in d.
ameter. In reviewing the history of the