The National tribune., 1881-09-24
A HISTORY OF THE CASE.

and the circumstances surrounding it have been
unusual. A very careful record has been kept of
observations made more or less frequently ac-
cording to the gravity of the symptoms, from the
day of the shooting down to the present. The
main points which have been given to the public
the pulse, temperature, and respiration, to-
gether with such general facts as the doctors saw
fit to embrace in the bulletins, with more or less
frequency every day from the date of the shoot
ing, which took place at 9.20 a. III. on the ID of
July. The bullet which made the ugly wound
was of Al calibre, and struck the President about
four inches to the right of the spinal column.
THE SHOCK FROM THE WOUND
was so great that the doctors in attendance have
said that they never saw man come so near
dying from this cause and live did the President
the first day he was wounded. 1t seems that the
first physician to reach him at the depot was DR..
Smith Townsend, who made slight examination
of the wound-simply enough to determine where
the President had been hit. The alarm was
given. and an ambulance procured, and he was
driven hastily to the White House. The usual
nervous effects of the severe shock followed the
shooting, and the patient was affected with
nausea, vomiting and extreme prostration during
the first day. He was so weak, indeed, that
it was not until five o'clock in the evening
of that day that his clothes were all removed
and he could be put in shape for the beginning
of the treatment. 1t seems that the surprise and
panic were so great at the time that there was
no one to direct the medical operations, and as
the result various Government physicians and
leading surgeons who were in the city volun-
teered or were called in attendance and brief
Lotto in, +Ia alton e
the shooting, but
NOTHING WAS DONE TO RELIEVE THE PATIENT.
The ball having entered over the liver, it seemed
perfectly natural to the physicians that it had
tinued in a direct course and passed through that
organ: hence for some days it was confidently be-
leved that the liver had been pierced this proba-
bly, being one cause why the physicians despared
of the patients recovery and believed he would die
at once. The only examination to determine really
what course the ball had taken, and whether the
theory Ofits passing through the liver was correct
made by SurgeOn-General Wales, who thrust
his little finger in the wound and discovered that
the tenth and eleventh ribs were more OF less
fractured. So low was he that night that one of
the attendants reports when General Swain pro-
posed to clear the room and give the patient air
one of the attending physicians said: "There is
no doing anything. There is the death-rat-
tie in his throat now" The General insisted.
however, and the room was cleared The Win
dows were raised, and the patient did rally at
245 on the morning of the 3D. He was then able
to take and retain a little n0urishment At this
time it was not known that the ball had been
DETECTED downward by the rib and had passed,
as subsequently was shown, to the satisfaction of
Il
the heavy muscular tissue. and had
ENTERED THE PERITONEAL CAVITY.
The large number Of physicians who were in
consultation the first day and the following
morning formed body of men too great for the
convenient treatment Of any patient, and DR..
Bliss assigned, it is said, by the President
himself to take charge of the case. with authority
to select his own corps Of advisers. This he did
by choosing Surgeon General Barnes of the army:
Dr. j. j. Woodward, also medical officer of the
army and a wellknOwn and accomplished micro
scopist, and Robert yburn, a physician who had
made a favorable record as a surgeon in Govern
ment institutions All through the day Of July
Sd the fluctuations of pulse temperature, and
respiration Of such a character that the case
appeared to be very critical and it was still feared
by many that
DEATH WAS IMMINENT.
At three o'clock on the morning of the Sd so
serious did the matter appear that one of the
level-headed of the Cabinet officers remarked:
"HOpe is dead" With so important case as this. !
involving the life or death of the President of the
United States, it was not strange that the people
of the country felt interest in it. and were not
to be satisfied with any treatment that might be
afforded by local physicians, be they never so
skillful, and it was deemed necessary, in order to
silence criticism and satisfy public demand that
consulting surgeons of national reputation be
employed TO assist the corps in constant attend
ance, who had more special charge of the case, /
under the direction of DR.. Bliss. The result was
that Drs. Frank H. Hamilton, of New York and /.
ID. Hayes Agnew, an eminent surgeon of Philadel- |
phia, were telegraphed for on the morning of the |
4th. They started at once on a special train fur
nished by the Pennsylvania Central Railroad /
and arrived here on the afternoon of the same
day. Throughout the day of the 4th of July. and
for several days succeeding, the patient was trou-
bled with
INTENSE PAIN IN THE LOWER LIMBS AND FEET |
which he himself described as being "like the
sticking of a million needles into him." From
this il was feared that the spinal nerves had been
in some way injured. Toward the night of the
4th, however there turn for the better and
the patient was safely launched into the next