The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-15


 ley turns the thought to plights or Presi- weeks and more suffering from the effects of Guiteau's bullet. the whereapouss c, until the knife laid bare its course at the
 General Garfield was shot at s:so o'clock in in the ladies waiting room of the Balti- more and Potomac Railroad In Washing ton, while he was walking arm Tn arm with James G. Blaine. He was taken first to a private room in the station ana 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 surgeons who were hastily summon- ed probed for the bullet without success, but announced that it's course had been and that the wound was serious but not likely to be fatal. The wound In the arm did not amount to much, save Tor the pain 1t caused The President Ie.siHeo d esa White House he dictated . telegram to Mrs. Garfield, who was at ElbeTon. when he was shot down he was on his way 70 some members of his Cabinet he was to make a trip Into New England
 Kept His Courage.
 President GarfieId'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 or .seri- ous internal hemorrhase and there as vas symptoms developed later in the aiteT- noon, with vomiting. and at S;3o o'ciock the physicians said that the patient could eraI Garfieids said that the President had very few chances. The President maintained his courage, kept 2 clear head and continued cheerful through him If he was going to die. Hopes of the medical men rose on Sunday. but on Sun day at midnight they had vanished. Be rious inflammation had set In during the Arthur was awaiting q summons to the White House to take the oath of office.
 By noon of Monday the doctors had re- tieved the pain which till then had been constant and which the patient had com plained of all the time as being in his legs and feet It was due to the injury of the nerves supplying the extremities. Presidents death that these pains he complained of showed that there was trouble in the sciatic muscle region ana that this indication should have led the surgeons to make an incision there which would have let out the pus which after ward caused so much trouble. At z o'clock Sunday afternoon General Gar- field said he felt better than at any time since he was shot. He had then pulse of 110. temperature 100 and respiration "A. The examinations up to that time, it was announced, had only demonstrated that the bullet was in the neighborhood of the liver.
 From then until the autopsy disclosed their error the surgeons spoke of the Presidents wounds as having penetrated the liver and statistics evoked for an illustration of the chances of life with such a wound. It was found that of 16O or TO cases of similar liver wounds in A af..4r .kxrt successfully. The great danger in Presi- dent Garfield's case was acknowledged to be in peritonotis, which 1t was said then was almost aiways tsd istai ,o On h,n Jne ed General Garfield to rally. But pres ently he could not retain that. On the second evening champagne and cracked and lime water. with, later, some chicken broth and rum of old vintage. D4
 On the Tuesday following the shooting the patient had as comfortabls a day as there was the same waiting for develop ments, which 1t was hoped might De good, but feared would be bad. All that the patients % strength up. They feared blood poisoning all the time, but could do noth- ing to prevent 1t, as they did not know the course of the bullet. They were all ready for instant operation should it de- velop, as if 1t did there must be instant operation or death would be certain. The patient might appear to be getting well, but suddenly the blood might come into contact with the putrid matter sloughing from the wound and be turned to gall, and then the patient would die. The operating instruments were kept to hand and the surgeons stood guard.
 Little Real Information.
 The newspapers were printing extra edi- tions almost hourly and the physicians were issuing frequent bulletins. but it was well understood-the doctors even saying so-that the bulletins gave little real information. They merely recorded and left the public to make It's own de- auctions. No diagnosis was made public. From the rise of the surgical fever on July 4d. the variations of the pulse to July 9th were from 9S to 126. of the tenn perature from 9s.9 to 1919, and of the respiration from 1s to 24 General Gar field was told that the bullet had perfo- he mustn't talk He liked to converse. and the doctors wanted to keep him very quiet. They got him to the point where he would even ask mutely for water by putting his hand to his lips. Later he lost all desire to talk
 Not until Friday was pus-which the physicians said showed that the wound shooting the patients temperature reach ed the highest point-102S. The doctors all this time believed that the bullet had passed between the eleventh and twelfth ribs, through the liver, and to the ahdos minal cavity, where they said it had lodged in the anterior wall of the abdo- men. from which they expected to be able to remove 1t readily, in due time, without danger.
 It was only learned by the public on July 18th that the President had "circum- scribed peritonitis," and that he had had 1t since the second day of his illness. This circumscribed peritonitis was defined by tenderness in the abdomen, and 1t was believed by the surgeons that this located the bullet. They thought that the tenderness due to the peritonitis marked where the bullet had found lodgment but little lump there which they after the autopsy must have been hard pus at the end of canal which 1t had bored for itself from a point near the be- ginning of the bullet wound. The pus worked forward. while the bullet had gone sidewise across the back: but 1t was many weary weeks before this was learn ed, and the sufferer, from abundant health in midsummer, had passed through all the stages to the knife of the post mortem examiner just before the autumn nal equinox.
 Induction Balance.
 The surgeons had. not relied solely upon the manifestations of the pus-workings, but had employed upon more than one occasion the induction balance. There had been at least two occasions of serious relapse in the latter part of July. and at length Dr. Agnew made an inc1sion. Ex- plorattons were made along the pus canal, the supposed course of the bullet, where but the results were not satisfactory. so to locate the bullet were made by the induction of Professor Gra- ham Bell and an assistant. The report or one of them on August 1st. said:
 Under the supervision of the attending prnfAEa0FQ Bell and TQiht0P