Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-12-18
AUTOPSY SOLVES
MACKAY MYSTERY
Widow of Eminent New York
Divine Died of Fatty De-
generation of Heart.
ONLY A SLIGHT OPERATION
Gave Assumed Name because
She Feared knowledge of
Illness Would Spoil Chill
dren's Christmas.
ONLY A SLIGHT OPERATION

New York Dec. Loving to its un-
usual circumstances the death of Mrs.
Helen l.. Mackay on an operating table
at the Lexington sanitarium has caused
"a big sensation here where her late hus-
band. Or Donald Sage Mackay, was per-
haps the foremost church leader during
his pastorate at the fashionable Fifth
Avenue Collegiate Reformed Church.
Whatever suspicion. aroused by the fact
that Mrs. Mackay went to the sanitarium
under an assumed name and the state
ment that only the merest Whit of chloro-
form had been administered after tests
had shown her heart normally strong,
was dspeled tonight, however, by the
report of DR.. SchultZe, the coroner's ply
stefan who made an autopsy this after
noon. He asserted that Mrs. MackaY died
from fatty degeneration of the heart as
a result of the administration of an an
acst hotiC for an operation. He also re-
ported that he found evidences of a slight
operation, but that it was not of nature
to cause her death. There was not the
slightest Indication of anything improper
in her treatment Dr. Schultze declared.
Or Henry We'll of 80 West End ave-
nue., the physician who performed the
operation, said to-day it was simply in
the nature Of an examination to determ-
inc whether she had cancer necesstating
a moro serious operation. lie said he
removed a slight piece of tissue for mi
croscopical examination.
"Dr Domdewuuf, who made the anaes-
thctic," he said, lis an eminent specialist,
and We made a careful examination of
her heart before going ahead. She cx
Cd a no No t1l,la
few minutes and then. as soon as the
anlcsthcuc had worn off to go home.
1t is uneXpainable that deach should have
resulted"
1t developed that Mrs. Mackay gave
the name of Mrs. j. II. NJ. Jones of
Boston" because she feared the knowl-
edge of her illness would spoil her chill
dren's Christmas At AL Park avenue.
the Mackay home, an intimate friend of
the family said tonight;
For more than a year Mrs. MaCkay
had been troubled at intervals with a
severe pain in her side About two weeks
ago she remarked that she expected to
be treated by a physician who had been
highly recommended.
she was nsistcnt that her children be
kept in ignorance Of her suffering so that
llltll upIlhdA : NpuI1 not Ne Hldrrtu ny
worry. house party at the Mackay
summer residence in Blue Hill, Maine
was to have been held over the holidays
and a few days ago Mrs. Mackay, who
planned to start for Maine with her chill
dren to-day, said she must find time to
consult physician before making the
| trip"
Mrs. Mackay was Helen L. Smith, the
daughter of j. Gregory smith, the war
governor Of Vermont, the president of the
Central Vermont railroad and the first
president Of the Northern Pacific railroad.
She married Dr. Donald Sage Mackay in
ST Adams in 1894 while DR. Mackay
was pastor of the First Congregational
Church there.
DR., Mackay came to the Collegiate Re-
formed Church in Fifth avenue in 1898
and soon became one Of the noted preach
erS of New York lie died August y,
1905, on a sleeping car in the railroad
yards in Portland, Maine, while on his
way from the city to his summer home
Pt Blue Hin Maine. His wife was with
him when ne died She is survived by
i've children, Miss Annette MackaY Don
aid Mackay, Miss Wnnifred Mackay,
Stewart ana Olive Mackay.