Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-03-27
ELLIOT +. sHkPARD's DEATH.
His Attending Pbysicaans Give Another De-
tailed Account Of It

His Attending Physioaans Give Another De-
tailed Account oft
At the special request Of Chsuncey n. De-
pew and the members Of the family Of the late
Elliot F. Shepard, Drk McBurney and McLane
Of New York last night gave out the following
statement for publication:
tin consequence Of the many misstatements
that have been made in the public press in re-
gard to the case Of the late Elliot +. Shepard.
the physicians in attendance, at the request Of
his family and many friends, have consented to
make the following statement:
ION Friday afternoon. March "A, we met ct
Col Shepard's house for the purpose OF max
ing thorough exemploration under ether Of
his bladder. and We proposed, il practicable, 70
remove the stone which it contained The
presence Of the stone had been determined at
2zssnd March 8. These were conducted with
ont an anssthetic and gave the patient some
pain.
Between February "a and March "a several
examinations Of the urine were made. but no
evidence OF any organic disease of the bidder
was found. His heart and lungs proved to bs
healthy. and after careful examination the exts-
tsucs Of any disease was excluded, such as might
interfere with the proposed performance of the
proposed operation, which was postponed. at
Col Shepard's own request until March "A. We
especially instructed him to eat very lightly at
an early hour on the day Of the proposed oper-
alton, and to take no food afterwsrd.
'.At 1880 o'clock, when we found him In his
study. he was apparently in good spirits, but
remarked that be felt = little nervous about the
operation. He went up at once to his bed
room, removed his clothes, wrapped himself in
his dressing gown. looked about the room at
the seemingly elaborate PREPARATIONS. which
had been made for the operation. and expressed
surprise at their detail He was told that they
related chiefly to surgical cleanliness and were
no greater than he would find in a good hos
pita1, and that we thought he deserved at least
as careful treatment as q hospital patient He
preferred to take the ether on the operating
table rather than on the bed.
"About 12:45 O'Clock the administration Of
the ether was commenced. It was explained to
him that by taking full inspirations and not
offering any resistance he would come more
rapidly under the influence of the anasthetic,
and for few minutes he inhaled the ether I'M
commonly well his breathing being full and Free
"His color now changed somewhat and it was
apparent that he was nauseated. In another
moment he vomited. After this his color was
better, but as his respirations we're not salts
factory, nor his pulse, the further administra-
ton Of the anssthetic was discontinued. As
yet not enough ether had been given to admit Of
proceeding with the proposed operation.
IAN our efforts were now directed to securing
proper respiratory action. As IL usual In all
cases where respiration is not perfectly salts
factory, the breathing continuing very labored,
an examination was made Of the larynx to dis
cover whether possibly some particle of food
had lodged in 1t, but such proved not to be the
case.
1.-THE patients condition was now so alarm
ing as to call for extreme measures, and in the
hope that the symptoms might be due to the
presence in the windpipe OF vonited material
accidentally inhaled, the operation Of trachsot-
omy, or opening of the windpipe, was per-
formed. No foreign material OF any kind was
found, and We even passed q rubber tube down
the windpipe and into the bronchial tubes,
making use Of powerful aspirating syringe,
without discovering the presence Of anything
but bloody mucous.
"In the meantime several careful examina-
tons were made Of the lungs. and the sounds
were heard such a. indicate oedema Of these or
gans. Oxygen had been previously sent for,
ard under its influence the patient slightly fe-
vived. Artificial respirations and every other
means which might possibly give relief were re-
sorted to. From this time on his breathing
became even more embarrassed, but still artifi-
cial respiration was continuously kept up,
although his pulse became steadily more feeble
'He sank rapidly into Inconsistencies and
In spite Of all efforts died a. 4:l0 o'clock. In
our opinion Col. Shepard died Of sudden edema
and congestion Of the lungs following the ad-
ministration Of ether, but primarily due to
some cause unknown to u.s."