The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-08-30
 LYING ON
 BIG COUCH Railroad Magnate Seen Tax ing Air on Arden House
 Veranda Today BY REPRESENTATIVE
 OF UNITED PRESS Covered By Yellow Dressing Robe He Looked Wan
 from Distance Youngest Son Engaged in Pushing Couch Back
 and Forth
Especial from United Press.) )

Turner, Aug. 3o-Lying on a big
 portable couch E.. H. Hartman took the air on the spacious veranda on Arden House atop Tower Hill. to-day. He was seen there by United Press representative who climbed Tower Hill in an effcrt to set at rest the con f1icting stories of the railroad kings condition.
 The number of guards that encir- cled Arden House was reduced to-day and with some difficulty the mountain road was penetrated to within a hun dred yards of the mansion. There the house guards were stationed and they prevented further passage. But from that point the magnate could be seen
 as he was wheeled about the great veraGda. He lay flat on large cush- iol couch with rubber tired wheels. the couch covered high with pillows. Hartman was covered by a. yellow dressing robe but he appeared to be fully dressed. He looked yellow and
 wan and from the distance he seemed in the same condition as when he ar rived from Europe. Roland Harriman, the magnate'S youngest son. pusheo his fathers couch back and forth on the sunny porch sveranda and bent tenderlH over him as the couch reach ed each end of the veranda.
 Harriman'S appearance seemed to indicate either that he had recovered quickly if he has been operated upon at all. or that he has never been under
 
 seems little changed from what 1t was when he reached New York Turner, Aug. 3e.-Thes spirit of con- fdence manifested arouIA Tower HI1 today leads to the belief that B. H. Hartman has already undergone surgical operation, from which he ral- lied splendidly, or that the surgeons who have examined him have decided that the operation, when it is per- formed, will be of such minor charac- ter as not to cause alarm. Dr. Lyle, Harriman's private physician, was gotten on the telephone today by
 United Press representative. He was asked point-blank the question, Has MT. Hartman been operated upon! pr. Lyle hesitated for several moments and finally said:
 q guess you will have to go to 120
 Broadway for any information" The number is Harriman'S office. Those who believe the operation has already been performed successfully, point to the fact that pr. G. w. Grille, the noted Cleveland surgeon, spent Friday at the Hartman home WnHe on Friday morning two tanks of oxy- gen and an operating table were hur- ried to the Hartman home. Today, William Forbe, superintendent of the Hartman estate, despite his formal denials admitted that the operation table is now at Arden, "StOred in the attic with a lot of other things" On Friday all the 1aborers at work on the Hartman mansion were laid off for the daV DiIlgent inquiry among the Hartman household failed
 to establish that Hartman had left
 the house since his return to Arden.
 So nearly everyone here believes that
 the operation was performed Fr1day-
 That it was successful, if it was really
 performed, is evidenced by the general
 air of cheerfulneSs about the place.
 The Hartman family yesterday went
 to the Episcopal church on the estate.
 The source from which comes the report that Hartman has already un-
 dergone an operation declares it was
 a. 'sbloodless'' operation and nightly
 successful. The report is that, instead
 of a malignantrailment, Hartman Suf-
 fers from a hardening of the spinal
 column which threatened him With
 paralysis. It is said that Dr. Grille on
 Friday manipulated two of the verte-
 bra of Harriman's spinal column so
 that a pressure on them was removed, a. plaster cast fitted to the body to hold
 the spine immovable and Hartman,
 it is declared, was given immediate re-
 lief.
 It was not found necessary, accord
 ing to the reports, to make a single
 incision in the skin. It is believed new cartilage will form at Whcn llme
 the plaster cast will be removed. This
 it is said, will take several months. It
 is declared that the partial paralysis
 has disappeared and that the surgeons
 no longer fear for Hartman
 It is absolutely impossible to get
 any member of the Hartman family
 to either affirm or deny the statement
 that the operation already has been
 performed.
 Some, however, are firm in their be-
 lief that there has been no operation
 They declare that the optimism shown
 by the Hartman family is due to the
 fact that the surgeons who visited
 Hartman decided that while an opera
 ton would be necessary some time in the future, it was of such a minor
 character as to occasion no alarm. As
 yet no newspaper men have been a1-
 lowed near the Hartman home and the armed gordon of guards is still maintained about the estate. Several relatives of Mrs. Hartman spent the ,Continued on Second Page)