The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-09-18
THE DOCTORS DISAGREE.


cause of the Presidents death. But they
have gone further than disagreement;
they have opened fire upon one another
and the controversy promises to be Bit
ter and perhaps even a scandalous one.
The dispatches indicate that Drs. Mann,
Park, Mynter and Wasdin disagree among
cal points in the case, and that they agree
at only one point: They all say that DR..
McBurney, of New York, was directly re-
sponsible for the public impression that
MIR. Mckinley was certain to get we'll;
that from the first moment of his appear
ance in the case he was most optimistic;
men and gave them first optimistic and
then positive assurances that Mr.. McKin-
ley would recover. They say that they
let DR.. McBurney have his way because
they deferred to his established fame as
one Of the very greatest, IL not the great
est of American surgeons, and that his
lie. They account for DR.. McBurney's un-
duly hopeful statements to the public on
the ground that he was influenced to
make them by ]. Pierpont Morgan, who
recommended him in the case, and who
was seeking time to steady the markets
and save his own great financial inter-
So much for the attack on McBurney.
Now for their own disagreements. They
are thus summed up by New York
World correspondent:
AS to the track of the wound made by
the second bullet DR.. Park says that it
penetrated the pancreas. The others say
that it did not.
AS to the cause of the gangrene, DR..
Wasdin says it looks TO him like poison
from poisoned bullet. The others think
not.
DR.. Park says he thinks the pancreatic
fluid is responsible for the gangrene The
others deny that the pancreatic fluid es-
capped from the pancreas.
AS to the extent of the gangrene, DR..
Mann said he found gangrene in the sur
face of the wound made by the second
bullet when he opened it on Tuesday, and
that he cut away the mortified flesh there
before sewing it up again.
DR.. Park says there was no gangrcne
found there at that time. AS to the
cause in general, some say that it is a
rare case, others that it had few extra
ordinary features.
furthermore, 1t has now come out that
underneath the skin where the first bullet
struck and made a slight abrasion, they
found at the autopsy a large patch Of
gangrened flesh several inches in diam
eteT.
Out OF this unseemly wrange there
comes from the doctors but one comfort
ing assurance: That they did not kill. the
President. The autopsy revealed the fact,
they say, that from the first there was
no hope for him; that he could not have
recovered in any case; that nothing that
might have been done would have helped
him; that nothing that was done hurt
him. They tell us that it matters little,
stomach or kidneys or pancreas were
injured whether solid food or liquid food
was administered; that death came from
the gangrenous condition of the tissues
and was inevitable. They go further and
tell us that it is we'll known that a gun
shot wound kills the tissues around the
course of the bullet, and it is said that
there are no cases on record of man
over forty-fve years of age getting we'll
of shot through the stomach; that af-
ter forty five the flesh is too old, and
does not heal properly, but easily falls
prey to gangrene. We are reminded that
Mr.. Mckinley was So and his physical
to repair the damage, which in younger
and more vigorous man she might have
overcome
All of which is very interesting, but
wholly at variance with their statements,
official and unofficial, made during the
Presidents illness.
Then question that the public would
like answered is. What has become of the
second, the fatal, bullet with which the
dastardly Czolgosz shot Mr. Mckinley?
Where is it? The surgeons did not find
this bullet when they operated on Mr..
Mckinley. They did not find it at the
autopsy.
Were the bullets poisoned?
Any careful autopsy ought to have made
answer to these questions.
Will they ever be answered?