Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1901-09-13
GARFIELD AND THE SURGEONS.
As in Mckinleys Case They Gould Not
Find Bullets.

The attempt to assassinate President
Mckinley, and above all the failure of
the surgeons to locate the second bull
let, of course turns the thoughts OF
every one to the plight OF President
Garfield when he lay for eleven weeks
and more suffering from the effects OF
Guiteau's bullet, the whereabouts OF
which the surgeons failed to discover
until the knife laid bare it's course at
the autopsy
Guiteau's Bullets.
Gen. Garfield was shot at $3.50 o'clock
in the morning of Saturday, July 2,
1881, in the ladies' waiting-room of the
Baltimore and Potomac Railroad in
Washington, while he was walking
arm in arm with James G. Blaine. He
vas taken first to a private room in
the station and thence removed to the
White House. He had been shot twice,
first in the right arm, just below the
shoulder, and the second and fatal
time in the back, just above the right
hip and near the kidney. The sur
geons who were hastily summoned
probed for the bullet without success,
downward and forward into the groin,
and that the wound was serious but
not likely to be fatal. The wound in
the arm did not amount to much, save
for the pain it caused. The President
retained consciousness, and when he
reached the White House he dictated a
telegram to Mrs. Garfield, who was at
Elberon. When he was shot down he
was on his way to meet her in Jersey
City, whence with some members OF
his cabinet he was to make a trip into
New England
Shock Caused by Shooting.
President Garfeld's recovery from
the shock Of the wounds was very
gradual. Later attempts to find the
bullet failed, but there were no signs
at once Of serious internal hemoc-
rhage and there was little external
bleeding. Both of these symptoms de-
veloped later in the afternoon, with
vomiting, and at $3.50 o'clock the ply
sicians said that the patient could not
recover. A former physician of Gen.
Gartield's said that the President had
very few chances. The President MAIN
tanned his courage, kept a clear head
and continued cheerful through Sum-
day. but he asked the doctors to tell
him if he was going to die. Hopes OF
the medical men rose on Sunday, but
on Sunday at midnight they had van
ished Serious Inflammation had set
in during the evening and at 8 o'clock
Vice President Arthur was awaiting a
summons to the White House to take
the oath of Office.
Relieving tho Pain.
BY noon of Monday the doctors Sad
relieved the pain, which till then had
been constant and which the patient
had complained of all the time as be-
ing in his legs and feet. It was due
to the injury of the nerves supplying
the extremities. One New York .Ir-
geon said after tie Presidents death
that these pains he complained OF
showed that there was trouble in the
sciatic muscle region and that this in
dication should have led the surgeons
to make an incision there which would
have let out the pus which afterwards
caused SO much trouble. At 2 O'Clock
on Sunday afternoon Gen. Garfield said
he felt better than at any time since
he was shot. He had then a pulse OF
10, temperature 100 and respiration
"a. The examination up to that time,
it was announced, had only demon
strated that the bullet was in the
neighborhood of the liver.
Error of Physicians.
From then until the autopsy dis
closed their error the surgeons spoke
of the Presidents wound as having
penetrated the liver and statistics
We're evoked for an illustration Of the
chances of life with such a wound. 1t
was found that of 16O or ITO cases OF
similar liver wounds in the Civil War,
twenty three were treated successfully.
The great danger in President Gar
fields case was acknowledged to be, as
in the case of President Mckinley now,
in peritonitis which it was said then
was almost always fatal On the first
evening brandy and cracked ice helped
Gen Garfield to rally. But presently
he could not retain that. On the Sec
ond evening champaign and cracked
ice aided him. Then his diet fell to
milk and lime water, with, later, some
chicken broth and rum of ole. vintage.
Waiting for Developments.
On the Tuesday following the shoot
ing the patient had as comfortable a
day as could be expected and on We'd
nesday there was the same waiting
for developments, which it was hoped
might be good, but feared would be
bad. All that the Doctors could do
was to try to keep the patients
strength up. They feared blood pois-
oning all the time, but could do moth
ing to prevent it. as they did not