New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-26

|
| III one day with a gunshot wound in the breast.
| lie was suffering intense pain. At that
| time number of volunteer surgeons,
the best in the North. had come to the
Capital. Dr. Pancoast, of Philadelphia then in his
prime was with me in the hospital every day. He
1oiowed me around from place to place all day. L
was very dcsirous to Pancoast operate. | adj
| mlrcd him, of course. begged him to operate for
me more than once. AT last, one afternoon he con-
S'hted ana performed an amputation, most beautl
fully too. | asked him and my brother II very cX-
pert surgeon, now dead, to look at the man to whom
l have referred. He was in agony. | asked them to
place him on the table to cthcrzc HIM and with the
probe To trace the course of the wound They placed
him on the table, they put him under Ito influence
of ether and they tried with the probe to
find the bullet They did not succeed.
But they determined that it must have passed INTO
the back and that it was lodged therein somewhere
near the spine | had had theory all the time,
ana had stated it to them, that the bullet had
lodged i'll the shoulder joint They insisted that it
had not But they did not know where it was and
they could do nothing for the poor fellow lie lay
III terrible pain on his cot and appealed to in
pitcous tones. He knew me; he was from my
town, and he begged me to do something for him. |
said: fou have had the best surgical skill in the
United states. would not presume to set my
opinion up against theirs. They cannot find
the bullet and we can do nothing for you He
fingered through two days and on the third morning
he died. had an autopsy performed. and the bullet
was found just where said it was in the shoulder
JOINT Had 1t been extracted, it could have been,
the mans life would have been saved. But those
great men, the most skifu i'll their profession didn't
know where to operate.
But in the Presidents case all the Indications
confirm our theory We know the general trend of
the wound know that a sore spot WAS found on
the front of the abdominal walls know that
PARTICLES of clothing probably carried in with the
bullet have been carried ont by the pus.7
1t was stated this morning that if YOU found
that the bullet creating disturbance YOU would
cndcavor to extract il ."
1--WE certainly should.'
"lou see no immediate necessity of so dongRr
THE BULLET NOT CAUSING TROUBLE.
No, the bullet is not troubling him. In fact, so
far rs we know, the inner portion of the wound is
doing well as could DESIRE"
You only know, though, about the outer portion
Of the wound r.
We should know very quickly if any disturbance
should occur in the inner portion of the wound It
would manifest itself at once and would act at
once"
Doctor, four or five men right here in the White
House have been taken sick with malaria Do YOU
not apprchend difficulty i'll that respect with your
patient -
"lou will find malaria all over town; hut We have
SO far failed to detect the first sign of malaral af-
fcction in the President"
"A things considered, You are feeling quite con
dcnt that the President is making progress toward
recovery. are You not =
"lcs, quite confident. You cannot. of course
gather from the bulletins all that see in the sick
| room TO inspire confidence The general appearance
of the patient the lines of Xprcsson are better in
diccs of his real condition the practsed eve than
anything which be written, and these al iudi-
cate improV cmcnt'
Is the President gaining in strength9r
Yes that IL, lac is not losing strength, and that
is CONSIDERABLE
Can he raise his hand ~
"Oh, yes; he raises his hand and shakes hands
with every one that comes into the room. and has
done so every day Of his Illness lie is cheerful and
erccts one cordially. winch is most encouraging
sign III itself"
Did he rest we'll 2"
Yes he passed very comfortable night and a
comfortable forenoon. This fever is hardly
noticeable, aud would not be noticeable at all to
you probably. The President is hardly conscious
of it himsclf.'
AT 10 o'clock this evening" all the visitors and all
the Cabinet officers except Secretary Wndom had
left the White House feeling hopeful half hour
later Secretary Window went home, and Senator
Blaine arrived. After making careful inquiries re-
spcctiug the Presidents condition. Mr. Blaine
in answer to inquiry as to what he
thought of it, replied: "1hc President has not done
quite so we'll to-day IA hoped. His temperature
ana pulse have been higher and the flow of pus not
| so abundant as would have desired: but then my
opinion is an unprofcssonal one, Of course" ..,
In conversation with TuBUNE oorrcspon-
dent late this evening, General Swain,
who stayed at the Presidents bedside
| until ! o'clock this morning, and who is on duty
again tonight. said: "'lhe President il doing rs
well probably as could be expected. He received
one-eighth of grain of morpha tonight, and
| about o'clock fell into quiet sumbcr. lie has
slept most oi the time since His pulse
| has fallen below 100, and his respiration and tenn
| peraturc III II corresponding degree. His skin is
moist but not too much last night he pcrspircd
| rather too freely This afternoon he had some
slight symptoms of chill but experienced no rigor
and his fever did not increase to an alarming de-
| gree"
| 4" Is he any weaker than he was four or five
| days agoi'
| No, think not. He can move his limbs freely,
ana frequently throws his arms above his head and
otherwise changes his position slightly. He shakes
| hands daily with the doctors and others about his
bedside"
| THE PRESIDENT STILL. RETAINS COURAGE.
| y Does he retain his composurc and cOuragci"
| Perfectly he has not lost cither or lost any
| Of his cheerful spirit"
Does the wound discharge freely rs il ought 7"
| Well there was considerable discharge Of
pus tonight, but | cannot say that it as
| free as expected. We can tell better about that
after the wound is dressed again in the
! morning Nearly quart Of carbolizcd water was
sent through the drainage, tube to-day, so that il
was not quite 30 easy to tell about the natural dis
| charge. one thing is hopeful, however; the Ircs-
| dent stood the dressing of the wound better than
| usual TINS evening and remarked that if had not