Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-02-25
NO HOPE is EXPRESSED
MckinIey's Surgeon, DR.. Charles Nc
Burney, Yields the knife-The En-.
tire Removal of Diseased Tissue
Would Have Meant Instant Death
-
VIII Have x-Ray Treatment.


= Chicago, ILL.,, Feb. 20. - The !
operation on President Har-
: per was performed by Or. McBur-
ney and completed at $3.50 o'clock :
: Wednesday. A condition of thick !
enlng of the posterior wall of the
= head of the colon and enlargement
Of the glands Of the mesentery was
found. The entire removal of the
' diseased tissue was deemed i'm
' possible by the surgeons and the
= wound was closed. 1t was the opin-
Ion of Drs. McBurney and Bevan
that the disease is carcinoma. 1t
= has been decided that President !
Harper shall be placed upon medi-
seal and x-Ray treatment, with the
= reasonable hope that the disease
may be checked. 1t Is anticipated
that President Harper will make
= speedy convaIescence.
: Frank Billings.
To the Laymen-The bulletin is.
sued at 4:45 o'clock means that
cancer is the disease which affiicts
DR.. Harper. The back of the head
of the large intestine on the right
side of the body is thickened. The I
x-Ray treatment consists of expos
ing the diseased parts to the x-Ray
with the hope that the coneer will I
= slowly disappear. !
DR.. Arthur D. Bevan. \
- y = = I
Chicago, Feb. %. - President
Harper of the University of CHI
caso passed comfortable night.
His condition today is favorable.
Chicago, Feb. 25.-Death has Sc
its seal upon President Harper. Whe1
the head of the University of Chicago
was operated on at the Presbyterian
hospital yesterday the surgeons dis
covered that he was suffering from
malignant cancer, which is fast eat
Ing away life.
The disease had spread so far tina
no attempt was made to remove tn,
cancerous growth. The wound wal
closed and during the remainder O
the great teachers life the X-ra!
treatment will be used to stay tn,
ravages of the disease.
At the utm lost DR.. Harper's life can
not span more than a year, and on,
Of the operating surgeons declared
yesterday that six months is the NOR,
likely period of his existence.
Last night DR.. Harper suffered grea
pain, though he slept at times. Til,
surgeons who attended him did no
believe it best to impart to the patien
the sentence of death they had real
at the operation.
MckinIey's Surgeon Yields Knife.
DR.. Charles McBurney, the famou
New York surgeon, who operated OF
President Mckinley when he was sho
at Buffalo, welded the knife at yes
terday's operation. He was aided b,
Drs. Frank Billings, Nicholas Sem
and A. D. Bevan, the trio of Chicag,
physicians and surgeons who hav
had the case in hand since shortl,
after DR.. Harper's late operation TO
appendicitis.
All the members of DR.. Harper
family, except his brother Robert, wer
at the hospital when the operation
was performed. His aged mother, hi
wife and children waited in agon,
while the men of science welded
the knife. When the operation
had ended Samuel Harper tn
son, carried the crushing new
to the weeping family. He did no
use words. His face told the stor,
when he decended from the sixth
floor of the hospital, where the opera
ton took place.
Statement Carries No Hope.
The official announcement was give1
the press shortly afterward 1t il