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The Murder of the President of the United States
The terrible tragedy which culminated
on September 14th in the death of the President of the United States,
has cast its shadow over the whole civilized world. The blow came
with greater force because up to within a few hours of the end there
was every reason to believe that surgery had triumphed and that
he would live. It is comforting to know that every thing which human
skill could do was done and that the President, from the moment
he was shot was in the hands of those who knew exactly what to do
and when to do it, and that they did the right thing and did it
well. Had the same wound been received on the field of battle, it
would have been immediately sealed by the first aid dressing and
the soldier might possibly have recovered without any subsequent
surgery, for the records of military surgery contain numerous instances
of recovery after gun-shot wounds of the abdomen which have not
been operated upon. Modem surgical practice, however, dictates immediate
laparotomy in bullet wounds of the abdomen [684][685]
where perfect hospital facilities are at hand, as there were in
this case. Laparotomy was performed and was justified by the finding
that the bullet had pierced both walls of the stomach. These wounds
were sutured, the toilet of the peritoneum was made and the abdomen
closed. The surgery was perfect and the condition of the President
for six days seemed to justify the optimistic bulletins which were
issued and the medical profession of the whole world congratulated
the surgeon who had the common sense, the moral courage and the
surgical skill to treat a President as he would have treated a common
laborer and to accept without delay, when he knew that delay might
be fatal, so great a responsibility. We feel that Dr. Matthew D.
Mann of Buffalo is entitled to his nation’s gratitude for what he
did and for the promptness with which he did it. The sudden heart
failure and collapse coming almost without warning and having, apparently,
nothing to do with the abdominal wounds, seemed to be the result
of the shock of the injury upon a heart already weakened by disease.
The autopsy, however, developed a condition which no medical skill
could have foreseen and which no surgeon could have prevented and
which demonstrated that the President was doomed from the moment
he was shot. Opinions vary as to the cause of the gangrene of the
tissues, which was found along the track of the bullet, but there
is but one opinion concerning the work done by the surgeons; it
was absolutely perfect in every detail.
The assassin’s bullet accomplished
its purpose. Let the assassin and those who conspired with him,
if such there be, pay the penalty. We hope that the nation will
be spared the disgusting spectacle of a sensational trial, and that
Justice will be swift. There will not be wanting those who will
argue that the murderer was a degenerate and undoubtedly insanity
will be pleaded in his defense. While we are willing to admit that
among some of the many definitions of insanity, one may be found
to fit this murderer’s case, there is some satisfaction in the knowledge
that in New York State they have an excellent and according to our
way of thinking an ideal method of treatment for that particular
form of insanity, by means of heroic doses of electricity. The cure
is rapid and there is no danger of relapse.
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