The day book. [volume], October 16, 1912, Image 10

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
THE WOUNDS OF THREE OTHER PRESIDENTS
Lincoln, Garfield., and McKin
ley, the three assassinated presi
dents of the United States, were
all shot with' revolvers. The as-1 eleventh rib, had passed through
sassins fired front the rear upon
Lincoln and Garfield, and from
the front upon McKinley. Gar
field and McKinley were each
woundedtwicev
The attack on Lincoln was
made by John Wilkes Booth,,
actor, while Lincoln .and his fam
ily weret sitting in a box at Ford's
theater, Washington, on the even
ing of Aprir 14-, 1865. The assas
sin entered the box from the rear
and discharged his pistol at the
head of the" president. The ball
entered 2 Lincoln's brain, and he
never regained consciousness. He
was carried across the street to a
I residence, where he. died the next
morning at 7 o'clock.
Many comparisons have been
made on the wounds of President
i Garfield' and President McKinley.
i Both men were operated upon by
expert surgeons, and in each case
' the path of the bullet was difficult
to follow. But medical men writ
! ing upon the two cases, after Mc
Kinley's' death, declared there
was no similarity..
President Garfield was wound
ed twice.- The first, a flesh wound
'in the arm, was of little" conse
iquence. The second, fired from
jthe rear, and-made by a 44-caIiber
(bullet from.a British bulldog re
volver, was the fatal one.
I The autopsy showed that the
surgeons had been deceived as to
the real nature of (he injury; In
stead of passing through the liver 1
and traveling the abdominal cav
ity, as supposed, it was found that
the ball ,after fracturing the right
the spinal column in front of the
spinal canal, fracturing the first
lumbar vertebra, driving a num
ber of the small fragments of bone
below 'the pancreas, about two
inches and a half to the left of the
I spine and .behind the peritoneum.
Ltier immediate cause of death
was secondary hemorrhage. Near
ly a pint of blood escaped into the
abdominal cavity. An abscess
cavity, six inches hy four in di
mensions, was found in the vic
inity of the gall bladder.
Even if the-X-ray then un
known could have been used to
locate the bullet, there is much
doubt whether it could have been
successfully removed.
McKinley was shot with a32
caliber pistol. The first wound
was in the middle of the breast
bone. The second, more severe,
was caused by the ball traversing
the abdominal cavity and piercing
both walls 61 the stomach. The
opening in the front wall was
very small. But the one in the
back "wall was large and ragged,
over an inch in diameter
Within an' hour after the
wounds had been inflicted an
operation was performed by Drt
Matbew D. Mann of the Univer
sity of Buffalo. It lasted 45 min
utes. The second wound, large
and jagged, was the immediate
cause of the speedy operation.
McKinley was under ether an
hour and H half. After following;
iWt- A3i'.