Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-28
Post Mortem Examination Of
Midshipman Branch.
DR.. GATEWOOD HEARD
DECLARES DEATH DUE TO HEM
oRRHAGE OF THE BRAIN.
This Was Caused by Fall or Violent
Contact With the Wall - Meri.
wether Court Martial.

1
] was presented to the court-martial trying
I Mdshipman Meriwether at Annapolis to-
| day. Dr. Elmer Gatewood of the navy
| testified that the death Of Branch was un-
| questionably due to hemorrhsge of the
| brain. He was convinced from the appear
| ance of the head that the hemorrhage and
| large cot found was due to a fall or vio-
| lent contact with the wall, rather than
| from a blow with the fist. He also asserted
| that all of the interior organs appeared to
| be normal, except that kidney was
somewhat congested.
| Special From a staG Correspondent.
| ANNAPOLIS Md, November 2s.--The
court martial trying Mdshpman Minor
Meriwether for the death OF Midshipman
| Branch, which resulted from a fist fight.
met this morning with every prospect that
| all the evidence would be in by tomorrow
| night unless the government calls more wit
nesses In rebuttal than is expected. 1t was
reported that among these witnesses would
| be Admiral Brownson. former commandant
! of the academy, under whom, it had been
stated in testimony. fighting was explicitly
| sanctioned. There has been serious discuss
| sion about the Thanksgiving day session.
The law on the subject Is perfectly clear,
directing the court to "sit from day to day,
Sundays excepted" Nothing is said about
| legal holidays. Thus, unless the Secretary
| of the Navy interferes, President Admiral
| Ramsay will continue the sessions on
| Thanksgiving day.
1t was announced that this morning would
| be devoted to the Introduction of the med
ical testimony which. IT is expected, VIII
prove most important in it's bearing on the
personal side of the case. 1t Is already
tactly admitted that there are two phases
OF the case. its personal bearing on Meri-
wether and its general effect on the
academy.
Surgeon Mccormick Of the Academy Hos
pital was recalled as a witness for the de-
fense. He had previously been on duty at
the academy from 1895 to 1903 and also in
1902 He was asked If he had received other
patients than Branch at the hospital for
fighting, He said i1e had. but would not
say whether they were many" or simply
numerous" He said that he had seen
worse cases of superficial injuries than
those of Branch, but external injuries OF
the head were no indication of interior cons
ditions,
Description of the Autopsy.
Surgeon Elmer Gatewood was then called
to testify as to the autopsy on Branch last
Sunday morning. He said the autopsy was
performed by a board consisting of Medical
Inspector Byrnes and Surgeons Webb and
Hoyt. He said the body was well preserv-
ed, considering the circumstances Dr.
Gatewood then described in detail the ap-
pearance OF the body, with the various
bruises about the head. shoulders ana fore
arms The first essential point brought out
that the skull. being stripped. showed
no sign Of fracture anywhere, though
there were numerous blood spots
inside the scalp next the skull. There
were no adhesions of the brain en-
velope to the skull. There was very large
blood clot under the brain envelope on the
left side. There was considerable out
pouring of blood soon the envelope
was pierced The coagulated clot still ad-
hered to the membrance after the blood had
poured Off. very small clot about 3-l8
of an inch was found in the right side Of
the brain. 1t was not evident that this clot
was present in life. The spinal cord was
found normal
"The lungs and heart presented no dis
eased condition. In each pleural cavity there
was about eight ounces Of bloody fluid.
There was nothing remarkable about the
abdomen. The kidneys were OF normal
weight, but the right one showed conges-
ton.
las examination progressed" said the
witness, Il found myself asking myself
questions as soon as / saw the large area
of confusion on the left side of the brain.
These questions were more insistent as soon
as | saw the extent Of the hemorrhage. lt
seemed to me that the bruise must have
been the result of blow with some blunt
object or q blow against the wall or tho
floor rather than by blow from the fist.
If I had been convinced that such fall
or blow against the wall during the fight
were impossible, then l might have peen
willing to concede that such condition
might have been produced by blow from
the fist. But, under the circumstances, IT
seemed much more probable that the In
Jury was from violent contact with some
other object rather than the fist"
Use Of Hot Towels.
Asked as TO the probable effect of the hot
bath and towels Branch had been SUBJ
jected to, DIR. Gatewood replied that the
recognized practice In the case of hemorr-
hage In the skull the application OF
cold to the head and heat to the extremi.
ties. The treatment given Branch was, OK
course, Just opposite.
The testimony was interrupted by several
questions as to the propriety Of a number
of questions asked.
Both Surgeon Stokes and the Judge advo-
cate tried several times to interjeot hy-
pothetical questions into the examination,
and while the court ruled that these were
legitimate, witness protested against being
led away from serious consideration OF the
autopsy by this line OF examination.
DR.. Gatewood spoke very slowly in giving
his evidence He stopped frequently 10
weigh his words and used comparatively
few unintelligible medical terms. The room
was deathly still from the moment he took
the stand For the first time during the
trial there were large number or women
present Many naval officers had come In,
and the big room was decidedly well filled.
DR. L. w. GIazebrook. deputy coroner OF
Washington, assisted the defense, and sew
eral times prompted Attorney Monroe on
the medical examination. DR.. Glazebrook
asked whether 1t were possible probable
that the glove produced In evidence could
haya he
by the autopsy.
DR.. Gatewood replied that he had al
ready covered that point to the best OF his
ability in stating that he thought the in
jury to Branch was that likely TO have
come from his falling against the wall %
the floor than from blow with the glove.
Life Might Have Been Saved.
Lieut.. Jackson asked: HAD the opera.