The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-09-15
Death Came From Heart Di-
lation.
Continued from Page One.)

had been stupid, exhibiting of asphyx-
iation due to carbonic acid gas formed
from lack of oxygen due to trouble
with respiration.
There was no symptom of compress
sion and he still believed that the
cause of death assigned was the cor
rect one.
DR.. Jenkins, who followed DR.. Nc
Kee, testified practically to the same
effect as to symptoms going more into
detail as to the movements made by
Nall with his arms, slapping his chest
and grabbing at his mouth as though
fighting for air.
He also attributed death to failure
of the heart from over eXeStiOn.
DR.. j. H. Taylor, of Chatham, was
then called to testify. as to the autopsy
performed on the remains by him. DR..
Taylor statedfthat he was Superintend-
ent of Health of his county, was
twenty eight years old and had prac-
ticed in North Carolina for several
years In giving his testimony he re-
ferred constantly to his report given
from his notes to the Coroner at the
time of his investigation, indorsing
them as correct
The report of autopsy and the find
ing as to cause of death testified to
by DR.. Taylor are as follows:
Il knew this man in life, and Vacci-
mated him in Chatham county Jail
upon the left arm and | now recOg-
niZe the man because [ examined him
thoroughly before going to the asylum.
have had the body removed from
the place of interment and have strip
ped him of all clothing and l find the
body in a good state of preservation,
except as hereinafter described
Il find on left hip four bruises; on
right hip what appears to be sue
cession of bruises; on back one bruise
between left scapula and vertebrate;
)ne hole in abdomen. supposed to be
made by the embalmer, which was
stitched up. Also a sewed-up slit
under left arm and inside of left
thigh-slit stitched up, also made by
embalmer. One scalp wound about
the junction Of temporal and parietal
BONES on left side. running anterlo-
rally and posterioraly, two inches long
and about two inches from the an
terror margin of hair. extending down
to the bone. right forehead over
eye, scratches. small skin wounds.
On left cheek, just below the outer
angle of left eye what appears to be
& fattay tumor. That has been there
for some time. On the breast, both
right and left. at upper edge of
sternum are also scratches, skin
wounds. Moving hair from scalp, is
found over right parietal bone, about
the middle, nearer the articultion OF
the two parietal bones. "a skin bruise
on scalp. Removing hair from scalp.
[ find scalp bruise at the junction be-
tween the arietal and occipital bones.
Also scalp bruise over the occipital
bone. near the junction of articulations
between perietal and occipital bones,
which extends down TO the perloSteum,
down to the skull. The bruises upon
the right and left parietal bone and
under all these scalp bruises, is coagu-
lated blood, under periosteum-giving
the appearances of blood shot. There
was a bruise upon the external sur
face of left forearm.
I'VE find upon the surface of the
left ventricle, about the junction of
the lower and middle third. q small
opening, about the size of a crow
quill. We find lungs all intact and
normal without evidence of conges-
ton.
Removing scalp from Uranium,
and removing the top of Uranium
upon a line around the head, dividing
the forehead in half from above
downward. said line running level
around the head through the occipital
bone, we find inside the Uranium a
cloth Of blood, which extends down
posterioraly to the falX cerebri on
right side nearly under bruise above
described. The bleeding producing
this clot came from slit or rupture
IN the moningeal membrane. said Slit
Just above the junction between the
parieta! and occipital bones and be-
inLt LOT he
BRAIN in the median convolution.
Behind the left ear we find bruise
and considerable mess of coagu-
lated blood and the fluid blood oozing
from stylomastoid foramen. Over
this locality an external upon the
skin, there we're bruises and a small
skin wound upon scalp. 1t is my
opinion this man came to his death
from compression upon the brain
from cloth. and if the opening descrip-
ed in the heart should not have been
made by the embalmer, death was
to by both the clot and
the opening. and to fatty desenera-
ton of the heart. either of which, the
eliot or the opening, would have pro-
duced death"
Questioned serjatim as to the state
ments made in his report of the au-
topsy DR.. Taylor stated that he did
not find any fracture of the iner-
table, that the skull was unfractured.
In his opinion. the coagulated blood
found came from the bruises on the
head The cloth of blood was between
the duramater and the brain. almost
directly under the bruise. He was
not prepared to say whether the pune
ture of the valve of the heart re-
ferred to came from sharp instru-
ment such as an embalmer's tracha
or from a rupture due to heart di-
latation. In the case of a fatty heart
a rupture of the ventricle was possible
but very rare. Violent exercise, he
stated, would of course tend to make
a rupture of the ventricle in such
case more probable. Questioned as
to DR.. McKee's diagnosis, witness
stated that he might not have though
death had been produced by compress
sion of the brain in the absence of the
facts disclosed by the autopsy, but
he was of opinion still that the clot
described caused compression and the
death of Nall. Replying to closely
put questions as to how the meningeal
membranes were split and the clot
formed in the absence of a fracture
of the skull, DR.. Taylor thought that
the blows We're sufficient to cause
the rupture which might have been