The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-09-09
DANGER'.N EARLY OVER.
econtinued from First Paee.,

/ Some temporary reIle1 mad been admin
/ istered, and he was under the charge of
| Doctor Mann, who conducts the Elmer
/ gency hospital, and who is the son CT
/ the well known surgeon Of that name.
I then spoke to the president and told
| him that 1 had met him at the Omaha
| exposition, where L had charge of the
Emergency hospital. Mr.. Mckinley was
good enough to say that he remembered
me
AT this 5uncture Doctor Myntner and
Doctor Mann, ST., arrived. An exami-
nation was at once held and from the
presidents condition it was clearly indi-
Gated that an operation was imperative
at once
We told Mr. Mckinley what was nee
essary and he replied:
Gentlemen. do what in your judg-
ment you think best
The president was just as calm and
quiet as possible. He was not the least
bit nervous.
OF course he was suffering some pain
and was slightly nauseatedh but, taking
everything into consideration, he was
absolutely calm. But it was a terrible
thing to see the poor man lying there.
We then went to work to get ready
for a radical opera tion. The second bull
let had entered five inches below the
left nipple and one and a half inches to
the left of the median line 1t had pass
cd through all the tissues and had pene-
trated the stomach in two places, front
and back.
The stomach was quite full. the presi-
dent having eaten a hearty lunch, as he
had previously told me. OF course there
was more or less hemorrhage, and some
of the contents of the stomach were also
escaping. 1t was absolutely necessary
to prevent any further leakage into the
abdominal cavity and this was at once
done.
The bullet must either nave lodged in
the muscles of the back somewhere, or,
having spent its force have dropped in
to the abdominal cavity 1t had prOba-
bly, done all the damage it could do.
DR.. Mann, DR.. Mynter and myself
thoroughly cleaned the abdominal cav
ity and, turning the patient on one
side, examined carefully to see if the
missing bullet mad lodged beneath the
skin.
We We're, however, unable to find any
trace of it.
Before the operation had been en-
tirely finished, DR.. Park, who had been
sent for, arrived. and d consultation
was held as TO what further procedure
to adopt. 1t was finally decided to re
move the president to the home of Mr..
Milburn.
It was considered better to do this
because the hospital. while in ffrst-class
condition for emergency cases, was not
suitable or ready for a permanent case.
Mr.. Mckinley stood the operation re-
markably well, although it is a deli
cate matter to sew up the stomach, and
we We're at work about an hour and a
half He came out of it in excellent
condition.
Cases of this kind are always critical
and every surgeon present recognized
the seriousness of the presidents con-
dition. The patient showed wonderful
fortitude throughout, and any man, ex-
cept an anarchist, would have been
stricken to the heart to see that great.
good ans grand man lying there as
white as a sheet, and yet with that
teristic of President Mckinley.
No drainage tubes were used, as the
cavity made them unnecessary. The
incisions in the stomach were sewed up
with silk sutures and those in the alb
dominaI wall with silk-worm gut suit
ures.
The tragedy shows the great need of
an emergency hospital at expositiOns |
like the Pan-Ame rican, and its location |
on the grounds enabled the president |
to obtain almost immediate relief If |
the patient had had to be taken to a |
downtown hospital the contents Of the |
abdominal cavity to a much greater |
extent, and the result would have been /
very much more serious.
The emergency hospital automobile |
am bulance is the most perfect one 1 |
have ever seen, and the asphalt pave /
ments made 1t absolutely smooth going. |
When the ambulance reached the hos |
Dital from the Temple of Music. the |
approved stretchers and the president +
felt no shock or jar at all. It was the |
same when the patient was transferred
TO Mr.. Milburn's house.
I was much interested in the treat
ment of emergency cases at the worlds I
fair, and I had the best of materials at
Omaha, where we treated some serious
cases, but, of course, improvements are
being made. and the emer-
gency hospital at the Pan-American is
much beyond either of the two former.
There is one thing worthy of com
nent regarding American doctors and
nurses. There was not the least bit of
excitement or any distur bance of any
Kind Everything was system and
method. There was no embarrassment
md no confusion. Everything went
light on if it had all been planned !
)ut beforehand
Doctor Mynter and Doctor Mann, both
representative men of Buffalo, came in
ind recognized that the president of the
United States was there and that they
lad to assume responsibility. They did |
lot know when Doctor Park would ar
i've, and they had to act themselves. I
vas asked to assist. and consented. The
whole thing was as quiet as it could be.
Doctor Rfxey, the presidents physician,
vas there, giving general directions and
furnishing assistance, and the whole
Gene was one of quietude, dignity and
Olemnity.
If I remember rightly, Doctor Eugene
VaSdln administered the ether TO the
resident at the outset of the operation.
The patient absorbed the fumes with
ut the slightest difficulty and remain
q completely under their influence dur
ng the operation
There could not be a greater differ
nee than that between this scene and
eyeral I saw at Paris Here the patient
vas president of the United States, per-
APPS the greatest man in the world, and
ct all was method and system. In
'aris, however, when people were in
ured the confusion beggared descrip-
Eve GQmnnSfra I'D he |
ack of method and the excita bility of
he French race. Neither the guards
or the spectators seemed to know the
rinciples of first aid to the injured, and
here was eraat conflIsion hefnra an