The National tribune., 1903-03-26
TARDY JUSTICE.
Slow to Be COnvinced-It Took a Post
M0rtem Examination to Prove TO the
Pension Bureau That an Applicant
Told the Truth.
(Keane On. H sentinel.I

A case of unusual interest to medical
men, as well as to the public, is that of
the late Charles Edwin Young, veteran
of Co. A, I'd n. H., who died in Swanzey,
Jan. 20, of hemOrrhage of the lungs. Mr..
Young was shot through the abdomen at
the second battle of Bull Run. He lay on
the battlefield without medical aid for nine
days and was then taken to hospital in
Washington, where he in time recovered
and reentered the service. He also con-
tinued in some branch of the army service
for some time after the war, and was
later an express agent for 10 years be-
tween Rutland and Boston. For some
years previous to his death he had been
entirely incapacitated for labor and had
been a great sufferer from the effects of
his wound and other complications.
Mr.. Young had the greatest difficulty in
procuring a pension such as he seemed to
be entitled to by reason of his disability
from his wound, and was unable to con-
vince the Pension Office that he had been
shot through the abdomen in tb" manner
which he alleged, and which testi-
mony submitted by him tende,. % prove.
This was due mainly to IN error in the
records of the hospital where lie was
treated in Washington after being wound
ed, the records showing that he was
treated mainly for jaundice.
After good deal of difficulty he OBJ
tanned a pension of SIG a month for gun
shot wound through the body, but the De-
such as so serious a wound as that which
he received would seem tO, entitle him to.
He was frequently examined by duly
authorized boards, and it is understood
that their reports were always favorable
to him and tended to substantiate his
claim. But the Department would not be-
lie<e that he could have done service as he
did after he was wounded if he had been
shot through the body as he claimed. He
appealed to the Secretary of the Interior,
but his claim was not allowed. Finally,
short time before his death, Senator Gal
linger interested himself in Mr.. Young S
case and procured the passage of special
ACT, lowing him a pension of $50 a month.
Mr.. Young's death afforded an oppOr-
tunity to procure evidence, through post
morfem examination, that appears to be
conclusive as to the nature of the wound
he received, and must apparently place his
case among the most remarkable, from q
medical standpoint, in the history of the
war; Mr. Young himself desired that this
examination be made. The autopsy was
performed by DIR. Arthur W. Hopkins, of
West Swanzey, assisted by DIR. A. r.
Gleason, of Keene. 1t showed that the
ball entered the epiga strium one and one
half inches to the ieft of the median line
u
seventh rib. 1t passed through both walls
of the stomach and kept straight on
through the body. passing little above
the left kidney and pancreas without ap-
parently injuring either organ. 1t emerged
little below the point of entrance. one
and one-half inches to the left of the spine,
where it-lay just beneath the skin, and
was removed, according to Mr.. Young's
frequent testimony, at the hospital iii
,cl,s ,oto 10 xx,I,;c n, ho fo
the battlefield. There was no hospital
record of this operation. When the in
teguments were cut at the autopsy, the
| scars left by the bullet on the inside,
both on the anterior and posteriOr walls
of the abdomen and along its path. were
clearly defined everywhere, leaving no
doubt whatever in the minds of the doe
tors as to the path the bullet had taken.
The stomach was much diiated Mt the time
of death and its walls were extremely thin.
The liver was one-third above the normal
size, but the immediate cause of death was
from hemOrrhage of the lungs. The left
lung was solidified and the other lung was
much diseased.
MIME ball wounds in the intestines were
almost always fatal in the civil war. and
it is no wonder the Surgeons thought there
was 10 possible chance for Mr.. Young's
recovery when he was brought in from the
battlefield. When he began to show signs
of possible recovery and the bullet was
located just underneath the skin of the
back and removed. the Surgeons probably
concluded it had been diverted from its
straight course and had passed around
upon the walls of the abdomen. Such
cases occurred and sometimes recovered,
the late Gen. Gilman Marston, of Exeter,
being one of those so wounded. But there
are understood to be few if any records of
recovery where ball went straight
through the abdomen, and fewer still
where the stomach was pierced through
by bullet, or otherwise, as in Mr..
Young's case. His recovery is attributed
largely to the probable fact that his
stomach was nearly empty when he re-
ceiyed the wound, and that for nine days
thereafter he lay on the battlefield WITH
out food, and with only little water given
him by the rebels. who moved him to a
somewhat sheltered spot and left him to
die, as they supposed.
Cr1anixAd EaRe