The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1920-01-02
PRESIDENT ILL
OF THROMBOSIS,
SAY PHYSICIANS
Statement From Authorize.
tive Source Explains Con-
dition Of Executive.
noNrrNuEp PROM PAGE ONE.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE
feed. IT may be added. against his
own better Judgment. He went at
last impelled by his sense OF duty
and his conviction that to meet the
nisstatements in regard to his
course in Paris and as to the proper
Interpretation to be placed upon the
agreements that were reached
there, was a form of war service
which for him in this crisis Of the
nations affairs was simply inescap-
able. Admittedly ana unfortunately,
there was no one available who
could be substituted for the Presi-
lent in the performance OF this
great task
Despite the great distances travel
cd and the strenuous campaign OF
speech-making which the President
INSISTED upon carrying out, he showed
no signs of unusual fatigue and MS
speeches were clear. and, as 1t seemed
convincing 10 his audiences. 1t can be
denied emphatically. and it should be.
as this misstatement has been pub
lished so frequently. that. on any or
these occasions, the President broke
down, or even, merely lost the thread
Of his discourse. had to cease speak
ing. or was betrayed into petulant
outbreaks because of alleged Interrupt
ticns from his audiences. There never
was the merest indication OF such a
breakdown and it should be added
that interruption in an unruly and I'M
acceptable sense never occurred.
First Sign of Fatigue.
"On the last day of the trip which
had been cumuIatively fatiguing, a
nervous twitching of the President s
mouth was noticed by his physician
and also a slight dropping OF the left
corner Of the lower lip. The condition
Indicated in this way was alarming,
and might have developed seriously.
In the circumstances. the President s
physician felt jusufr~d. and it was
clearly his duty. to cancel all the
speaking engagements and to oru>r
the Presidents return to Washington.
The President yielded. While jour
ney across the Continent Is not gen.
orally regarded as a rest cure,
proved 50 on this occasion and before
the President reached Washington all
the disquieting symptoms had disap-
peared; that is, unless growing dis
trust on the Presidents part as to the
wisdom of the course insisted upon by
his physicians may be regarded as dis
quieting.
When Washington was reached. the
twitching of the mouth and the droop-
ing Of the lower lip had disappeared
and to show that the Chief Executive
was suffering at this time from no
mental or physical incapacity. it may
be stated that on the fourth evening
after his arrival at the White House
the President played a game Of BILL
lizards with Admiral Grayson and later
a game with another friend and that
no was in better form than usual. and
won both games.
Stumbled and Fell.
That night the President had a
slight setback. AcIing unwtsely
perhaps. acGuiescinS in his very
strong dIssncliEation to be treated as
n sick man. the physicians had not
installed nurse in or anywhere
near his sleeping room. AS it de-
vCIOped. the President was iesC ess
and did not sleep we'll. He then
arose tC get n book to read, and
before he had turned up the light
he stumbled and fell. Mrs. Wilson
was by his side in a moment and
aided the President back to bed. He
was daZcd, and this condition con-
tinUed for about twenty hours. and
offhand it was not clear whether
the condition was a consequence of
the fall or caused by a more serious
accident. When 1t was possible to
examine the President more care
fully 4 local coaEulation OF blood in
a blood vessel. forming by it's clot
a sight obstruction to tie circuIa.
ton. was detected. There were. how
ever, no indications of a stroke or
the suggestion of Epoplexy. Indeed.
all the well-defined indications OF
thrombosis. a mi!der and a perfect
ly retrieyable condition. were appar-
emit
There was exact agreement In
diagnosis among the Presidents
physicians. The particular symp-
toms stated above were not en-
phasiZed In the bulletin because
their general purport. however
carefully worded. would have
proved misleading to the public