New-York tribune., 1901-10-16
WHY M'KINLEY DIED.
REPORT OF SURGEON WHO
PERFORMED OPERATION.
DR. MANN THINKS ATRoPHY OF THE
HEART AND NECROSIS OF THE LIVER
WERE CHIEFLY RESPONSIBLE.
IBr TELEaRApH TO THE TRIBUNE.l ]

IBY TELEGRAPH TO TRTBUNEl
Rochester N Y Oct 15.-It was the privilege
OF the physicians OF Rochester. or, rather, OF
those who belong 10 the Academy OF Medicine
10 hear first the report OF DR.. Matthew D. Mann
OF the Buffalo Medical College, who performed
the operation on President Mckinley. Before
the meeting all OF the members OF the Academy
informed that Dr. Mann insisted on
secrecy. and until yesterday none but them
selves knew that the report had been read in
this city. although II took place last Wednes-
day. Neither the president nor the secretary
OF the Academy took any notes of the report
but newspaper reporter yesterday obtained
synopsis Of il.
The most significant statement made by Dr.
Mann was this: Gentlemen. I do not know what
killed the President. but think that the cause
Of death was the fact that the walls Of the
right ventricle Of the heart We're very thin and
atrophied" DR.. Mann laid particular stress
upon the fact that the right ventricle was af-
hicted with acute brown atrophy, and he seemed
to wish the physicians TO infer that this trouble
was the real cause Of death. DR.. Mann said
that during the Presidents illness his pulse
was rapid, but this symptom was not considered
TO be alarming. Dr. Mann also emphasized the
fact that the President had never taken any ex-
ercise beyond that obtained in walking.
On the second day after the shooting, Dr.
Mann said he found that two of the stitches in
the Presidents abdomen had pulled out. Moth
ing was thought Of this fact, because the spread
ing OF stitches is common in such wounds. DR..
Mann's report also touched upon the failure Of
the surgeons TO use the X ray in their endeavor
to locate the bullet
He did not think that it would have been wise
10 use the X ray under the circumstances. hold
ing that Il would have put the President TO a
opH hat was
not one chance in twenty of the machine reveal
ing anything OF Importance. DR.. Mann said
that if the bullet had lodged against the spine,
for instance the X ray would not have disclosed
IT, The use Of the machine would. without
doubt have killed the President at the time
without unfolding anything Of value TO the sur
geons. DR.. Mann considered the use of the
X ray dangerous before the operation, and more
so after II had been performed.
OPTIMISM WAS JUSTIFIED.
DIR Mann justified the action of himself and
his associates in sending out the optimistic
bulletins and in assuring the public that the
President was on the road TO recovery, because
as he stated, there was absolutely nothing in the
Executives condition to give them any cause lot
alarm He seemed TO be progressing hnely'
and none Of the doctors had any doubt that he
would make a complete and rapid recovery. On
the morning when the President took turn for
the worse he suffered sinking SPELL his pulse
going up and his temperature down. His pulse
action was not considered as alarming as was
his failure TO respond TO the hypodermic injec-
tions Of strychnine and whiskey, Which were
being administered 10 sustain life
DR.. Mann, in his report, gave the Presldent
blood count day by day ana saia tta1 an Gufs fa{
The Chief Magistrates illness the physicians feit
uneasy because OF the fact that the pauent
blood condition remained normal Under the
circumstances. and If the patient was inahLis
Favorable response to treatment, there should
have been a noticeable increase in the whlte
corpuscles This was not the case, ana the lack
of such an increase gave the doctors their first
scare. DR.. Mann said that the autopsy re-
vealed several important facts that helped IN d
way, 10 explain the Presidents demise
RELATIVES STOPPED SEARCH.
In searching for the bullet the surgeons knife
revealed. back Of the stomach. and in the region
of the spleen a small pocket containing ne
crotic tissue, the origin Of which remains mys-
terry 10 the physicians Even in the bacterio-
logical examination following the autopsy no
evidence Of septic poisoning was found disproV"
ing the assertion that surgery could nave pre-
vented death None of the germs usually re-
sponsible for death from blood poisoning was
found, even in the pocket containing the dead
tissue.
tor called attention 10 the fact that the Presi-
dents blood count failed 10 show the desired IN,
crease in the white corpuscles. de also lalo
particular stress upon the heart atrophy, but ne
did not state what, in his opinion, caused the
atrophy. He said. however that the 1allure OF
the surgeons TO find the bullet in the autopsy
was due 10 the fact that the relatives OF the
President positively forbade them TO go any fur
Their after they had only fairly begun their eX-
rloration. He said that il was the physicians
desire 10 find the bullet and that had they not
been moested the autopsy would nave reVeaIed
its location.
The autopsy showed that the bullet passed
through the upper portion Of the kidney, ana
that this organ was also necrotic. DIR. Mann
considered the necrotic condition Of the kidney
and the atrophy OF the heart chiefly responsible
for the Presidents death. He did not think
that n lay within the power Of any surgeon TO
save the Presidents life, in view of the defects
IN his bodily organism mentioned above
The report of DR.. Mann will be published IN
s'The Medical Record"