The age-herald., 1902-03-21
PHYSICIANS SAY
 SENTELL CASE WAS
 MOST UNUSUAL ONE
Or. Finch Believes Poisoned Bullets Were Undoubt-
 edly Used
BLOOD POISON TOO RAPID
Fatal Symptoms Were Discernable In Twenty-four Hours After Wound Was InfIicted-Bad Whisky
 Is Also to Blame.

A most unusual case of rapid blood poisoning, modification of the flesh and gangrene was that of Charlie Sentell, the young white man shot Sunday after noon in Avondale by a negro. In "A hours after he was wounded all three of the fatal symptoms had set in and the physi- clans were unable to do anything to re- lieve him. He never regained conscious ness.
 Three physicians were in attendance on the man. pr. Finch, who Is the cotton mills physician; pr. Martin, who attended Sentell first and dressed his wounds, and pr. Copeland. They held a consultation the day before Sentell died and said if there is any such thing as poisoned bull lets those with which Sentell was shot were coated with the deadliest poison.
 The shooting occurred Sunday after noon, and Monday afternoon the flesh in the right leg began to blacken and gan grene set In. The physicians would have then performed an operation had 1t not been for the weak condition of Sentelrs heart.
 Modification Set In.
 Tuesday morning the entire limb below the wound, which was between the knee and thigh was black and that night the thigh was also black. The physicians then gave up the case as hopeless and said they doubted if he would live through the night. He died Wednesday morning about 10 o'clock, and when the body was lifted that afternoon to place it in the coffin the flesh was so badly mortified that 1t was almost ready to drop off. According to the statement or physicians, it Is not usual for mortifica- ton to set in for number of days, and gangrene within two days after the wound is made is something which hap pens so rarely that many physicians have never had a case.
 The whisky which Hamp Bryant says he and Sentell drank before the shooting is supposed to have had something to do with the rapid development of blood pois- on, and the unusual rapldity with which modification set in. Whisky undoubtedly had a great deal to do with the unusual action of Sentelrs heart
 pr. Finch Makes Statement.
 Dr. Finch, who attended him, said yes- terday afternoon:
 That was the most unusual case l ever had. I have been practlcing medicine for a number of years, but I have never known modification or gangrene to set in so soon after wound was made. In twen- hot l1a- came evident that modification was set ting in, and we saw 1t would be neces- sary to perform an operation. This we were unable to do on account of Sentells heart, which was beating so much above normal that 1t was hard to count.
 Tn order to get his heart easy l gave him large dose of strychnine, but that had no effect whatever. I could not tell I had given it to him. He never regained consciousness at all. and only for a short time Monday afternoon was he semi conscious. The wounds should not have affected him so, as neither of them were serious. believe the mean whisky which he had been drinking had great deal to do with his subsequent condition. It must have been about the meanest whisky to be found anywhere in the city, judging from it's effects.
 When I lifted his leg to place him in the coffin Tuesday afternoon the flesh of his leg was almost ready to drop off, the modification had been so rapid. l never thought the wound in the right leg would give him any trouble as 1t was through the flesh. Another bullet went through his knee which l thought would have been serious, but 1t never gave any trouble.
 Shot With Poisoned Bullet.
 "I believe he was shot with a poisoned bullet, because of the rapidity with which blood poisoning set in. Many physicians declare 1t Is impossible to poison q bull let, and 1t Is much disputed point. We do not know whether it is possible or not, but if 1t is possible. I believe one was used in the shot gun.
 q have the bullet which went through Sentelrs leg, but it is mashed and per fectly clean from having passed through the flesh. I have made no careful anylit- ical examination of 1t, and do not think that would develop anything.
 T was speaking with City Physician Whelan yesterday about the case, and he said he had one similar to it. Those are the only cases I know of.'
 The funeral services were held yester- day afternoon at o'clock from the house in Avondale. The interment was in the Avondale cotton mills cemetery.
 Hamp Bryant, who was shot at the same time, is resting well, his wound be- ing nothing serious. The bullet passed through the fleshy portion of the forearm.