The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1882-08-03
Death by. Drowning.

| An autopsy of drowning case Just
made by members of the medical staff
connected with Coroner Janney's office
explodes the theory of the Malley prose
cution in reference to Jennie Cramer's
death, and is likely to lead to revolu-
ton in that branch of medico-legal testi-
mony which bears upon death from
drowning. The theory advanced by the
medical experts on behalf of the Com
monwealth, that the dead girl was not
drowned because there was no evidence
of water in the lungs, is one that has
| never been disputed, although frequently
members of the medical fraternity have
been found doubtine the soundness of
the proposition. since the Malley pro-
secution promulgated the old theory,
Prof John Reese, the Coroner's ana
lytical chemist, professor of toxicology
in the University of Pennsylvania, has
given the subject considerable thought
and attention. Prof Reese was sought
for by one of the attorneys for the NAL
ley boys as an expeT in arsenical pois-
oning, but preferred so remain at home.
1t is this. perhaps, that augmented the
Professor interest in the medical testi-
mony. However that may be, he has
been watching drowning eases very
closely of late, and at last found what
he expected to.
On the evening of June II, while pa
trolling his beat at Delaware Avenue and
Queen Street, about half-past nine
o'clock, a Second District policeman
observed an old and decrepit woman in
rags wandering aimlessly along Della
ware Avenue. She was clad in a dilap-
idated calico dress and scarcely anything
more. Her feet were bare, her gray
hairs were unprotected, and to the sur
prise of the officer, he found when he
approached the woman that she was
sober She told the policeman that she
wanted to go tosSouth Street, and he
took her to that thoroughfare, turned
her head in the right direction, and she
started off westward The next morn
ing very early her body was found float
ing in the Queen Street dock The YER
dict of the Coroner's jury was an UNI
known woman found drowned. 1t was
impossible to ascertain the old woman's
identity, but the evidence of drowning
was undisputed. 1t being an opinion
entertained by the Coroner's physicians
that the length of time body will re-
main under the surface depends upon
the quantity of water taken internally,
it was apparent that this case was an ex-
cellent one TO establish or shatter that
belief. On Friday last Prof Reese, ac-
companied by DR.. d. Willis Cadwalla-
der, who is also an attache of the Coro-
ner's Office, and who is also deeply in
terested in the subject, went to the
morgue and made a thorough examina-
ton of the drowned woman. Upon
opening the body there was no water
whatever found in the lungs, nor the
slightest evidence of having been there.
Neither was there in the stomach.
There was very slight congestion found
In the lungs, but from natural causes,
and the liver was considerably cirrhosed,
presumably caused by drinking. The
other organs of the body were compare
lively healthy. There were no marks of
abuse upon the body in any way, and
evidence whatever of drowning There
was not even anything in the gulIet to
indicate that water had passed the wo-
mans lips.
The physicians think that they have
discovered a demonstration of the falsity
OF the theory set up by the Malley pros
ecution, and, what is more important to
them, they feel that they are in posi-
ton to render some valuable aid to
science. This one case convinces Dr.
Reese, beyond any doubt. that persons
in jumping overheard, especially from
an eminence, can come to death from
suffocation or shock, and without taking
a drop Of water inwardly. The work
begun by the Coroner's physicians with
such remarkable developments will be
continued so that repeated autopsies of
drowning cases may confirm or deny the
medical point raised by them. DR..
Reese said that if his conclusion as to
the cause of death in the case of the
woman found in Queen Street Wharf
had been drawn from the autopsy alone.
without any other source of information.
he would have pronounced it death from
cirrhosis of the liver, there being no evil
dence of drowning about the internal
organs.-Philadelphia Cor. ST. Louis
Gtobe-Denocrat.
A Spanish Grandee.