The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-18

| or sloughing. No inflammation of the | peritoneum. The wound in the from wall of the stomach was found held h. | tact by silk sutures, but the area o1 stomach wall around 1t was discolored l grayish green, and easily torn. The area around the wound on the posterior l wall of the stomach was also of a dull | gray color, but the sutures held the wound intact. Behind the latter wound there was spot of dscoloring which showed that the sloughing process had gone backwards in the track of the bull | let. The gangrenous cavity found be- hind the stomach involved the pancreas and the surrounding loose tissues, the
 bottom of the blind pocket being form ed by the upper end of the left kidney
 which was found to be lacerated at l that point to the extent of about two
 centimetres.
 | The track of the bullet was then l traced through gangrenous tissue in the fat behind the kidney to the muscles | of the back wall of the abdomen; the | direction of the bullet, however, could not be traced any further. The search | for the bullet was most thorough and painstaking but in spite of all efforts | it could not be found and the autopsy had to be discontinued because the time allotted to it by the family of the late president had already been exceeded.
 Dr. Gaylord adds:
 "As we are satisfied that nothing
 could be gained by loca ting the bullet which had set up no reaction, searching for it was, discontinued
 Examination of the heart muscle showed that it was affected with well marked fatty degeneration, and in some
 places the muscle flores showed groups of dark brown granules, demonstrating a diseased condition of the cardiac
 muscle.
 Dr. Gaylord believes that the repair
 to the stomach wounds had been eff
 fective and that the gangrene around
 these wounds does not seem to have
 been the result of any well defined cause. He attributes the gangren- ous condition of the tissues solely to lowered vitality in the parts. The appearance of the gangrenous tissues shows that the gangrene took place shortly before death.
 In speaking of the causation of the cavity behind the stomach he says that it must largely be attributed to the action of the missile. It may have resulted from the rotation of nearly spent ball or from the simple concus- sion of the bullet as 1t passed into the soft tissues. The injury to the nan creas producing a cavity within it oc- cured during the passage of the bullet because the cavity was found welled off by fibre in an advanced stage of organization. There was no leakage of pancreatic fluid into the surrounding tissues. The extensive gangrene of the pancreas seems to have been an important factor in the case though it has never been shown how much of this organ must be destroyed to cause death. The wound in the kidney is of no importance except as showing the track of the bullet. The diseased con- dition of the heart muscles shows why the pulse was so frequent and why it did not respond to stimulation at the critical time.
 The report of the bacteriologist Is largely what the doctors call mega tive,' i. e., it concerns rather the ab- sence of germs than their presence.
 A culture taken from the wound dur ing life showed several varieties of germs, but such showing is rather expected in such cases. There were present two of the ordinary germs of suppuration and one gas-forming germ of unknown identity. As the result of an examination of various tissues and fluids removed Dostmortem in very small supplies. Dr. Matzinger con- cludes that ''the absence of known pathogenic bacteria, particularly in the gangrenous cavity, warrants the con- clusion that bacterial infection was not a factor in the production of the condi- ton found in the autopsy"
 A chemical analysis by Dr. Hill of the remaining bullets and of the con- tents of the cartridge chambers in the murderer's pistol showed that there was no poisonous material, thus dispos- ing of the theory of a poisoned bullet