The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-09-17
FACTS SHOWN BY THE AUTOPSY.

1t is evident from interviews with
the physicians and surgeons who at
tended the President from the time
! that he was wounded until his death
that he never had a chance to recover
| at any time. This was not known, of
! course, until the autopsy was made.
| The physicians who performed the
surgical operation thought they had
traced the entire course of the bullet
and had found every wound it made,
hut they were mistaken. They sewed
up the wounds in the stomach and the
wound in the abdomen, but they did
not see the wound in the kidney and
the wound in the pancreas.
A rather remarkable feature of the
case was that there were no signs that
any one of the bullet wounds was heal
Ing And it is further asserted that the
solid food given the President had no
effect in fastening his death. 1t is
claimed that even If solid food had
not been given him the probability is
that holes would have appeared in his
stomach within the next twelve hours,
permitting it's contents to escape into
the abdomen. OF course, in that event,
death would have followed quickly.
But what was the cause of the gan
CREME? 1t has been suggested that the
bullet shot was poisoned. This
suggestion does not meet with much
favor from the physicians. Only one
or two of them think it worthy of con-
sideration. Still, it is the understand
ing that a chemical examination will
be made of the bullets which remained
in the assassins pistol.
DR.. Park said that the cause of the
Presidents death was gangrene, which
produced poison, and this poison, on
entering the circulation, caused death.
On this point DIR. Park is quoted as
saying: "After the wound and incision
made by the operating surgeons had
been closed, it seems that the pancreas
fluid escaped steadily into the system.
OF course there was no way for us to
know this. or we should have discov-
cred some trace of the fact. We could
not cut through to where the bullet
had embedded itself and trace it's
course backward from there. The pam
creas fluid, which properly aids in the
assimilation of starchy stuffs, flowed
constantly from the wound and was
absorbed by the tissues. 1t reached the
veins, and through them the heart 1t
likewise provoked gangrene of the it's
sues"
1t seems from the foregoing that the
gangrene was produced by the fluid
which escaped from the wound in the
pancreas.
DR.. Mann, who performed the opera
ton, said that the autopsy showed two
unquestionable facts. First, that the
President never had the slightest
chance to recover, and second. that
the surgical steps taken immediately
after he was shot were what might
have saved his life under favorable
conditions In the course of his talk
DR.. Mann said: Even the first impulse
toward recovery never existed in the
Presidents case. The bullet wound
showed absolutely no intention to heal.
Nature did nothing whatever to mend
the damage. The bullet punctures in
the stomach were held together by the
sutures, preventing the escape of for
eign matter into the abdominal cavity,
but the tissues had shown no DISPOSE
ton to unite. The Presidents dea7h
was due to the gangreneous condition
of the bullet wound" DR.. Mann does
not say that the gangrene was caused
by the escape of fluid from the perfor-
ated pancreas. 1t is to be assumed.
however, that he would not have diff
fered from DR.. Park if he had been
questioned on that point.
1t Is evident now that the doctors
knew absolutely nothing of the actual
condition of the President from the
time that he was operated upon until
they were apprised by symptoms that
he was dying. In saying that the
wounds in the stomach had healed and
that be was making a rapid recovery
they were mistaken. We do not see.
however, that they are to blame. They
had at their command all that is
known to surgery and medicine, but
their knowledge of the Presidents
condition from day to day was at fault.
But even if they had known his real
condition they could not have saved
his life. His case was one with which
medical skill could not deal success
fully