National Republican., 1882-07-14
HARTIGAN--S SOW ERS.
OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE AUTOPSY
On the Late Guiteau by n Majority Of the Commit
tee-The Circumstances Attending the Prep.
aration OF Dr. Lambs Document
His UnprofeSsional Conduct.

Doctors Sewers and Hartigan, the majority o
the committee selected by Rev. w W. Hicks and
District Attorney Corkhll to conduct the autopsy
upon Guiteau's body have made their official re-
port Of the same The document is a voluminous
one, and treats extensively of the events that
led TO their connection with the autopsy, all OF
which were published in THE REPUBLICAN, last
week. and It's authors declarations are supported
by letters from District Attorney Corkhill, +. II
| 1ruesdell, of the United Press Association, who
states that he drew up the agreement under which
| the physicians acted in tue presence of Dr. HEX
and Colonel Corkhill, and that II was approved by
| both gentlemen, and letters affirming the assev-
| erations of Doctors Sewers and Hartigau from
Doctors A. L. Mcdonald, of New York; f. b. Lor.
| ing aud Maurice j. Levi, of Albany, NJ Y. Also
contained in the report are the letters and cards
| heretofore published in THE REPUBLICAN from
| Doctors Patterson, Murphy, and Reyburn. In re.
| lation to Dr. Lambs report, and the manner in
| which IL was conoooted,
DOCTORS sowER3' AID HARrIGAN SAY:
| AFTER completing the autopsy we fixed no time
or place when and at which we were to meet for
| the first conference relative to the report to be
celved notification from DR., Lamb, to whom the
| duty of collecting the notes had been deputod q.
aforesaid to visit him that evening at the Medical
Museum on repairing hither at the appointed
time, we found DR.. Lamb closeted with DTs. God.
ding and Eliot well. known believers in the in.
sanity of Guteau, the former fwhom had ayowsd
the insanity of the deceased Ses his letter to the
| Eue,,ing Star, July 3, and his connection with
efforts for a respite.l on the preceding Saturday
| when, of our own motion, we separately, and nj
different times called at the Museum to inquire
about and look after the official notes of the au
tOpsy, we both observed the same thing viz: the
| presence of Drs. Godding and Eliot aud theil
seeming close confidential relations with Dr.
Lamb. During the entire dine we were at tn,
| Museum Drs. Godding aud Eliot remained, aad
| finding it
IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE AN AUDIENCE
| with DR.. Lamb on the subject of our visit, un
trammeled by the presence of others-and espe'
| ci0lly those whose bias was strongly on the IN.
sanity side of the question, and who were inter
ested in the report sustaining as far as possible
that theory-we withdrew. IL is proper how
ever, to remark that before we withdrew, Dr.
| Lamb submitted TO us part of report which he
lad prepared from some notes already in his pos.
session, at the same time submitting the notes
| from which 1t had been prepared. Our review
of this report and notes was necessarily unsat.
isfactory, since we had to do it in room occu-
pied by two or more persons, employees of til,
| Museum, and without the Presence of Dir
Lamb, except for about five minutes, when
we suppose, his confidential consultation
with Drs. Godding and Eliot, who still occupied
this office, thus precludng its use by us III review
ing the aforesaid part of report and notes. Ev Il
with the unsatisfactory review we were forced by
| circumstances to thus give the subject, we de.
tected certain discrepancies in the report and
| called DR.. Lambs attention to them. The sugges-
tons we made in Correction of these discrepan.
cies were received by him SO coldly and uncouthy
the light of inerlopers. Indeed, it was plainl!
apparent to us throughout our aforesaid visit thai
he had been insgated to a policy of ignoring u'
in the matter of the report, and of dTrOIdting To
himself the preroga,ive of its preparation and pro-
mulgation. His subsequent conduct fully justi-
THE BELIEF WE THEN FORMED.
Dr.. Macdonald superintendent of the insan.
asylum New York city, and who had testified OF
The trial, as witness for the prosecution, his be
lief in the sanity of Guiteau, when requested by
Rev. Mr.. Hicks and District Attorney Corkhill t
assume charge Of the autopsy, unhe:ita,ingly de
clined OH the ground that II would be indeicatC
| for him to do SO, since he held to the opinion o
sanity and mad testified to that effect on the trial
But here were Drs; Godding and Eliot. believing
ness to that effect Dr GOdding), In close intimate
confidential intercourse with Dr. Lamb at the yer!
time appointed for a meeting of the committe,
| for conference about the forthcoming report, ant
then persistently failing TO withdraw upon th
announcement of our presence knowing, as the.
must have done, the object OF our coming there
! All this smacked of preconCerted arrangement
and such was the impression made upon u.s.
Then follows the correspondence between Dr.
| Lamb and themselves regarding the notes take
at the autopsy, and their criticism thereon, claim
ing DIT. Lamb again Violated the proprieties b,
the preparation Of the report The report state
that Drs. 7. j. Murphy, G. II. A. Kleinschmid
and A. C. Patterson were selected by the commit
tee TO take notes of the autopsy, and then give
the technical history Of
THE AUTOPSY AND THEIR FINDINGS, AS FOLLOWS;
The exa minaton was conducted as nearly Il
possible as follows: The three gentlemen pre-
yousy m entioned agreed to take the official note.
| The body being placed i'll position ii was found l.
be still warm, the eye-balls slightly protrudug
| limbs fla Geld and we'll rounded by adil ose tissue
| II was hat of man five feet five and three quar-
| teis inches high, ana weighing 135 pounds Tn
skin bore yellowish tinge over the general sur
| face. Thee was slight discoloralion on the lei
| side of the face, and Il brownish red mark mad
by the rope was observed just above the thyro
cartilage, and extending about three fourth
TO the back Of the neck.
DR.. Lorlng's examination of the eyes is the
given, and then the longitudinal made by Di
Lamb was supposed TO be Simply with a view {
exposing the contents of the thoracic and abdom
inal cavities, but he removed the heart and lung
and cut through the great vessels. In the mean
time DR.. Hartigan made vertical ncision throug
the scalp, saving horizontally. In every essentiu
feature, save slight congestion and few sma
bodies resembling military tubercles, the lung
were normal. The heart weighed 1917 ounces
and there was slight 9therOma at the beginning {
the aorta, probably accounted for by high livin
and close confinement The viscera in the abdo
men were normal, except an enlarged spleeI
which weighed fifteen ounces, and the remark
bowels and trembled percepubly on the gallow
before the drop fell, rs was learned from tn,
guard who pinioned his legs. When the foregoin
was completed the
HEAD WAS THEN PROCEEDED WITH.
The first thing noticed was scar on the scalp a
inch long, situated longitudinally just above an
9endd sne ie ,emPe put thsTs was no
bone was slightly iatteued in its upper and ante
ror part, covering about two inches square, an,
terminated at the corona1 suture. This lattenin!
was confined to the outer plate, ani was at In
expense of the dploec structure, as there was IL
bulging Of the inner table Immediately beneat
| that could be discerned 1t was regarded of suc
trivial nature as 10 make II unnecessary to tax
accurate measurement by transverse sections @
the skull at this point or to remove the skull
the Museum for more minute examination, am
1t was buried with the remains There wer
no other points of asymmetry noticeable
no visible trace of a frontal suture, the tw
halves of the frontal bone being thorough
welded. On the inner surface of the skull tn
usual bony prominences We're well marked, ais
the pacchionian depressions. No abnormtie
were discovered. The thickness of the skull wa
ot to the unaded eye was mo normS The hdHs diameter
and cubic content is of the skull were not taker
nor the relative size of the fosse, owing also t
lack of facilities.
Brain MemJranes-The dura mater was quit
strongly adherent in places 10 tue inner suriug
of the SKULL viz: Near the lrunks of the middl
meningeal arteries, also near the longitudinG
sinus in front, but could be stripped cleanly iror
the bone at all these points of attachment, us ther
was no roughenng of the skull here or else
where there was no eXudation ON any .pai
OF the inner surface Of the dura mater Quite
number of pacchionian granulations were dis
tributed along the course of the longitudina
sinus. The cerebral sinuses contained but little
any blood. The dura mater, pa mater, aud brail
were adherent to each other on both side
along limited portion OF Tho longi iudinu
tissure adjacent to the pacehionian granulutlons.
Arachnoid. There We're very well marked milk
opacties OF the arachnod, but 40 apparent thick
ening, extending over tue upper portion Of tn
convex surface of the hemispheres only, as else
where the membrane was perfectly normal. Thes
opacities were confined to the upper portion of th
sulci in this vicinity exclusively, and were sue
US are often found without previous history I
disease. The sub arachnOid space contained yer
little fluid; pia mater was easily stripped frol
all parts of the brain.
The blood vessels Of the membranes and bra
were empty, and the general appearance OF tn
brain was an9mic or bloodless Both these con
ditions can be readily accounted for by the unfor
| tunate removal of the lungs and heart aud tn
severing of the large blood vessels by DR.. Laml
before the brain or It's membranes We're expose
or examined, aud on this account nothing of i'm
portance was attached to this condition, as tn
blood that was in the brain, at the time the au