Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-09-08

dition until arrived here in New York
about noon today
From the bulletins that you have seer"
asked the Tribune reporter, do you think
the President has improved since the opera
tion?"
81 do not" was the answer.
What leads you to that opinion?"
1.-The Presidents high temperature" was
the reply. IT learn this afternoon that 1t
Is 102. This would indicate q dangerous
condition"
1T has been said that a crisis has been
reached
There has been no crisis yet. Because
of the character Of the wound, the recovery
or the decline is gradual. 1t will take time
to determine what will be the ultimate re-
suits Of the wound"
us there not danger of peritonitis?'
There is always danger of peritonitis
where there is a perforation Of the peri
toneum. This membrane lines the abdomi-
nal cavity, but its perforation does not nee
essarily imply peritonitis, which is simply
Inflammation of this tissue. Nevertheless,
there are several reasons why should fear
peritonitis in the case of the Presidents
wound"
What are your reasons, doctor?'
DR.. Lee paused a minute before he
made an answer Then he said:
'In the first place, the contents of the
stomach oozed out into the peritoneal cavl-
ty; secondly, the bullet carried with 1t a
part Of the Presidents clothing; third, the
bullet is of lead, which is poison Of itself,
and fourth, it was an anarchists bullet,
which may have been tainted with special
poison to insure death"
The Course of the Bullet.
What was the course of the bullet?'
"As far as could be determined, it went
straight through the body"
Where do you think it has 1odged?'
Either in the muscles of the back, in
which case it is not far below the shoulder
blade, or it has dropped down into the alb
dominaI cavity"
could it not have veered to the right
sufficiently to have struck the yertebra?'
II do not believe so. The President
showed no sign of paralysis. which he
would have done if the spinal cord had been
affected"
Here DR.. Lee stopped a moment. as If
thinking of something important which he
had almost forgotten. Then he said, sud-
denly:
81 was thinking Of President Garield's
wound
THE bullet was not found which caused
his death, was it," asked the reporter.
1T was found, but only in a post-mortem
examination. 1t had broken into the ve1-
ZEBRA and was discovered lodged against
the spinal cord. In these days of surgery
it would have been removed by an incision
into the back. That was the advice of DIR.
j. Marion Sims at the time, I believe, out
the operation was considered too danger
ous."
do you consider the inability to find the
bullet as fatal?
81 do not. 1t does not make so much diff
ference now about the bullet. Men have
been known to live for years with bullets
in them. The bullet of Czolgosz has done
the worst of its work already"
No Crisis in Such u Case.
"Will not the crisis In the Presidents
condition be reached soon?
LAS have said before, there is no crisis
in such a CASE
Here DR.. Lee stopped for a moment, II
he dreaded to say it, and then he added:
Nevertheless. IL the Presidents temper
ature does ont go down during the next
forty-eight hours the outcome will be still
more uncertain
DIR. Lee started last night Tor Buffalo,
where he expects to call at Mr.. Milburn's
home and learn of President Mckinley's
condition. He plans to leave Buffalo at =
o'clock for st. Louis.
DR.. Edward Wallace Lee is a man Of
powerful physique, six feet in height. and
has bushy black hair and mustache. He
was for many years a physician and sur
geon in Omaha, where he was also profess
sor Of surgery at the Creighton Medical
College. In 1898 he was made the medical
director of the Omaha exposition. He has
made his home in st. Louis since 1882
There he is the consulting surgeon In the
City and Women's Hospital