Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-09-16

could be detected by. the doctors. 1t
brought about those conditions of the
heart and of the intestines which. dur
ing the last TWO days, showed the doc
tors that something was wrong, but
what it was they never knew, to a GER
,tainty, until they made the autopsy.
K Judgment of the second bullet in the
abdominal wall back of the stomach
had nothing to do--Mith the president
death. 1t did all of its damage in the
abdominal cavity.
That bullet remains a mystery. 1t
was not located during the presidents
life, and the two hours of careful search
foi it after death failed 10 find it. The
fact that this bullet remained in the
presidents body without setting up any
disorder where it stopped initiates
been poisoned.
The fatal bullet did more damage to
the presidents vital organs than the
doctors ever knew until after death.
They have assumed that when they had
repaired the wounds of the stomach
they had attended to all that was nee
essary. Damage to the suprarenal cap
sule and the left kidney was never dis
covered by them during the operation
which was supposed TO save the presi-
dents life Why this was so has not
been explained.
The autopsy shows that the bullet
passed thru the stomach near its lower
quarter and then entered the muscles of
the backbone behind the kidneys and
aorta, From that spot surgical skill
would have been utterly powerless TO
extract it if it had been discovered. On
its way the bullet tore away the suprar-
email capsule and pierced the left kidney,
destroying the upper part os that organ.
When the gangrene which developed
also affected the pancreas th,. set free
peisons which entered the blood and af-
fected the heart and 90. in the end ro-
auced death. The absorption of these
poisons was What caused the weakness
and exhaustion of the president.
The cathartics administered Wednes-
day and Thursday morning are causes
for Weakness but death would have
been inevitable without them.
The wounded kidney of itself was not
a serious matter, according to DR..
Mann. He says the injury to that or
gan might have developed an abscess,
but that it was not necessarily a part of
the fatal conditions The gangrene
which developed in the stomach wounds
primarily and which was communicated
to the pancreas which supplies diges-
tive fluids TO the stomach, was the basic
cause Of death.
The doctors commenced work on the
autopsy about noon. as soon as Coroner
Wilson had officially examined the
presidents body and had given them
permission The abdominal cavity was
laid entirely open and the breast bone
was taken off.
They found that the first bullet fired
at President Mckinley by the assassin
did not pass thru he skin. 1t probably
struck button on his shirt or vest, and
was DETECTED.
When the cause of death had bene de-
ternained the doctors searched for the
second. or fatal bullet. They looked for
two hours, DIR. Mann says and finally
gave it up. a suggestion was made that
the N-ray apparatus be used TO obtain
s,l1iagraph of the wounded region, but
| it was not done.
After the autopsy the official report
was made written by DR.. Mann, the
surgeon who performed the operation
in laparotoomy on the Presidents sto,n-