The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-01

TO the breast and a rubber stamp is brand
ed on while at the same time the razor
] is placed at the left shoulder blade and
the current is turned on.
DIR. McLester Testifies
! The fourth and last witness of the morn
| ing was DR.. James McLester, who made
a statement on the postmortem of Christie
/ pher c. Gustin. From DR.. McLester $
statement Gustins heart was all right
perhaps a little larger than the ordinary
man-and his lungs, liver and kidneys ap-
peared to be in normal condition. DR..
Mcf1ester would not venture an opinion on
the cause of the death, but said that il
only one man had died he would have
thought that death came from a psychic
cause. He said
1.-The application of powerful current
just over the vagus nerve in the neck
might so stimulate the heart as to stop il.
I'm that case it would either kill or cause
fainting condition which would later re-
suit in DEATH"
The rest of the McLester testimony
wos of a highly technical nature in
volving the so-called psychic causes OF
death. Dr. McBester stated that em-
balming caused hardening of the ar
| teries and that the remains must have
been embaimed about three hours fol-
lowing death After DR.. McLester had
| tiles on death by electricity and give
the coroners jury the benefit of his re-
| searches he was excused. The inquest
then recessed at 12:2o o'clock until
o'clock.
Afternoon Session
At 2 o'clock Coroner C. l.. Spain
moved into the commodious quarters of
the courtroom of the second division OF
the criminal court and the inquest
proceeded smoothly throughout the
rest of the afternoon with few bits OF
sensationalism until close to o'clock
Dr. Frank Lupton was the first wit
ness of the afternoon session. His
statements were all on the post mortem
Investigation of Christopher Gustin
He said that he knew Gustin and had
been his family physician and knew
him as a fearless man. He said that he
had found a small brown mark over
the left shoulder but could not tell
what had caused the mark. The lungs
he averred, were normal in Gustin and
he found embalming fluid in the lungs
The heart of Mr.. Gustin, DR.. Lupton
said, was that of a hard working man
and there were no diseases about the
heart muscles. In the doctors opinion
the post mortem revealed nothing that
could have caused death.
Under the close examination of So
licitor Locke, Dr. Lupton said that
electricity causes no marks on the
thing inside. DR.. Lupton frankly ad-
mitted that he did not know what
could have caused the death of Mr
Gustin.
DR. Lupton said that the autopsy was
held at IL o'clock Friday morning and
that he would have much preferred
that the body had not been embafmed
lint a,,1tf ion
very unsatisfactory. He emphatically
denied the possibility that Gustin could
have been killed by fear or undue ex-
citement. And further. DR.. Lupton dra-
matically declared: That there Were
two deaths in succession makes me
think there was something wrong
Lodge Physician on Stand
The next witness to be called was
DIR. l.. c. Neill, the lodge physician of
the Moose order in Birmingham. After
being sworn witness stated that the
local dodge of Moose was instituted in
December 1910, and that he was the
lodge physician. His statement was
that that he was present at the ritual
istlc part of the imitation, but that he
was not present during the side work.
or horse play as the doctor called 1t.
He said that he had examined q can
didates and found them all in good
physical condition. He said that he
could not account for the death Of
Gustin and Kenny except that 1T was
due to psychical causes. He voluntarily
offered to the coroner that he should
attach the generator to him and turn
on the current full force. No one In
the room offered to take up the doctor.
DR.. Neill's statements were to the
effect that he had examined Fl candi-
dates thoroughly in about one and n
| half hours before the initiation began.
He said he was on second floor of the
Moose quarters. He could not state ex-
actly what time it was when someone
called him and said someone had faint
ed on the third floor. where the ini-
tiation was taking place. They We're
dead when l examined them," said DR..
Neill.
In all his experience in the Moose
and other fraternal lodges Dr. Neill
said that he recollected only one other
case where a man tainted during the
branding test" or any other test He
said that he had seen close to 200
initiated in the Moose order and this
without ever any serious results.
He said. when l got upstairs
found Kenny in north end of hall.
There was no respiration so l knew
he was dead, and told the boys to dis
continue the initiation. As l announced
that Kenny was dead someone called