Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 248, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1912 — WOUND MAY BE SERIOUS SAY SURGEONS [ARTICLE]

WOUND MAY BE SERIOUS SAY SURGEONS

Colonel Treats Wound Lightly But Surgeons Regard it With FearOperation Deferred. Although the wounded presidential candidate refuses to take the bullet wound serious the surgeons who have examined him say that the injury is nevertheless dangerous and the outcome Uncertain. The following bulletin was posted at 10:30 a. m., Tuesday: Colonel Roosevelt’s hurt is a deep bullet wound of the chest wall, without striking any vital organ in transit. The wound was not probed. The point of entrance was to the right of and one inch below the level of the right nipple. The range of the bullet was upward and inward, a distance of four inches on the chest wall. There was no evidence of the bullet penetrating the lung. Pulse, 99.2; respiration, 20; leucocyte count, .82 at 10 a. m. No operation to remove bullet is indicated at present time. Condition hopeful, but wound so important as to demand absolute rest for a number of days. JOHN B. MURPHY, ARTHUR D. BEVAN, SCURRY L. TERRELL, R. J. SAYLE.

At 1:05 in the afternoon the surgeons posted the following bulletin: The examination of Colonel Roosevelt at 1 p. m. showed that his temperature was 98.8; his pulse, 92; his respiration normal. It pains him to breathe. He must have absolute quiet; must cease from talking, and must not see anyone until we give permission. This is not a mere flesh wound, but is a serious wound in the chest, and quietude is essential. J. B. MPRPHY, ARTHUR D. BEVAN,, S. L. TERRELL. At 6:25 this one: Mr. Roosevelt’s pulse is 88; temperature, 99.2; respiration, 18. He has less pain in breathing than he had in the forenoon. He has practically no cough. There is no bloody expectoration. We find hhn in magnificent physical condition, due to his habitual physical exercise, and his habitual abstinence from tobacco and liquor. As a precautionary measure he has been given a prophylactic dose of antitetanic serum to guard against development of lockjaw later. His leucocyte count is .88 and his lymphocytes count is 11.5. In the evening after the colonel had laid aside his reading and gone to sleep the following bulletin was issued: Colonel Roosevelt laid aside his book a few minutes after 9, and switched off his reading light. He was soon fast asleep. Dr. Murphy went into the colonel’s room at 9:30 and found him sound asleep. The patient’s pulse was 86 when taken before he dropped to sleep. This is two points higher than it was last night after the shooting and fourteen above normal. His temperature was 3-5 of a degree above normal. While there seems nothing at all alarming about the bulletins, there is an impression that the injury is really worse than is indicated and that he may be in actual danger. The papers say that the doctors fear lockjaw Mrs. Nicholas Longworth was in Chicago and at the bedside of her father Tuesday, while Mrs. Roosevelt arrived in Chicago from Oyster Bay this Wednesday. Schrank, the would-be assasin, entered a plea of guilty at his preliminary hearing Tuesday. It was decided not to try him until after Nov. sth, the state’s attorney desiring "to see what effect the near-tragedy has upon the election. Schrank is a single man and says that he never had but one sweetheart, Emily Zeigler, who lost her life in the disaster that befell the General Slpcum pleasure boat at New York several years ago. He said Tuesday that he aimed to wound the colonel but not to kill him.