Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-05-23
AUTOPSY OF PROFESSOR ODLUn

Inc strong, peaceful lace OF Prot. Robert
Odlum was framed in IL bed of white roses
rs he lay in his coffin in New York Wed.
nesday. Ever since he was taken from the
dark river into which he leaped from the
Brooklyn Bridge long line Of men and
women had filed past the catafalque in
Pearl street upon which the dead swimmer
lay. There were sighs and some tears. Car
nations and violets and heliotropes were
tangled among the roses and sweet per-
fume filed the air. The two strong arms
were folded and the eyes were closed
A fussy little doctor, with q red beard
rushed into the quiet scene with beads of
perspiration upon his brow.
81 ran two blocks" he said "for l was
afraid would get here late, and l wouldn't
miss the autopsy for ~ good deal. It's Il
most interesting case"
And the Doctor rubbed his hands glec-
fully. Later on the friends of O1lum re-
| quested Coroner Kennedy not TO have an
| autopsy performed, as any mutilation would
shock the mother and sister of the dead
man, who were waiting in Washington for
the body. They urged that thousands Of
persons had witnessed the wild leap to
destruction and that the marks upon his
back showed tho cause of death. But in
the afternoon there came into the calm
little room party of jolly doctors. They
brushed the flowers rudely away and laid
the white corpse upon board. Then they
produced sharp knives and little scissors. A
most business like, cold blooded company it
was, and when the doctors tried TO look SOL
emu they made u failure Of it. In the par
ty were Deputy Coroner Conway, DR.. Jen-
kins, DR.. Justin Herold and DR.. s. G.. Kerr
nr Tpt ipoi frn
groin almost to the neck, through the splen-
did sinewy chest that looked like a stone
carving. Then, with their hands dripping
with blood the doctors -prodded and mau!sd
sliced the spleen, and they cut curlosl.ies;
from the liver to keep When they reached
the left kidney DR.. Jenkins turned his eyes
up in ecstacies, as he saw marked symp-
toms OF cystic degeneration.
''Oh, what beautiful cysts those are! Amt
they lovely?n he cried.
'Td like to keep that kidney" said Dr.
Herold
"Certainly," said DR.. Conway. IS he cut
ou1 the, organ and handed it TO DR.. Herold.
After the bloody entertainment Was over
IT.. doctors stuffed shredded hickory. with
which pillows are filled, into the body:
Over this they laid 8 sheet Of muslin ana
on top Of this the great red seam was sew
ed up.
And the mother and the sister IN far away
Washington waited to shower kisses on the
mangled body.
DR.. Conway said that Odluyi,s death was
due to shock and hemorrhagc from ruptures
of the liver, spleen and kidneys and frac,,
lures of the first, second, third, fourth ana
fifth ribs. The base Of the left lung was rup-
| tured when the body struck the water on
the left side. The certificate of death de
clared that it was mot suicidal" There
were slight tubercular deposits in the apex
of the right lung, and the heart was perfect.
" normal. The right kidney was full OF
cystic degeneration and the left kidney
showed a slight fatty degeneration. The
stomach was filled with partly digesteedi
food, and scarcely any trace ofalcohol could
he found. ;,
1.-THE injury is such as man would re,
ceiye when crushed in sand bank" SAID
DIR. Conway HE was fattened and the
most important organs burst. This IS the
first case we ever had of a man who fell lao
feet, and yet saw the body of longshore-
man who fell only eight feet and the In]u-
ries were almost precisely the same. Odium
had a most remarkable physical develop
ment. The cysts in his kidney were caus'
ed by athletic exercise. ."-New York Herald