A Supplement to A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: William McKinley

by William McKinley

O.F. PRUDEN,
Assistant Secretary.

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH BY THE PHYSICIANS.

MILBURN HOUSE, Buffalo, N.Y., Sept. 14.

The following report of the autopsy upon the remains of President McKinley was issued at 5 o'clock:

The bullet which struck over the breastbone did not pass through the skin, and did little harm. The other bullet passed through both walls of the stomach near its lower border. Both holes were found to be perfectly closed by the stitches, but the tissue around each hole had become gangrenous. After passing through the stomach the bullet passed into the back walls of the abdomen, hitting and tearing the upper end of the kidney. This portion of the bullet track was also gangrenous, the gangrene involving the pancreas. The bullet has not yet been found. There was no sign of peritonitis or disease of other organs. The heart walls were very thin. There was no evidence of any attempt at repair on the part of nature, and death resulted from the gangrene, which affected the stomach around the bullet wounds as well as the tissues around the further course of the bullet. Death was unavoidable by any surgical or medical treatment, and was the direct result of the bullet wound.

HARVEY D. GAYLORD, M.D.
HERMAN G. MATZINGER, M.D.
P.M. RIXEY, M.D.
MATTHEW D. MANN, M.D.
HERMAN MYNTER, M.D.
ROSWELL PARK, M.D.
EUGENE WASDIN, M.D.
CHARLES G. STOCKTON, M.D.
EDWARD G. JANEWAY, M.D.
W.D. JOHNSON, M.D.
W.P. KENDALL, Surgeon, U.S.A.
CHARLES CARY, M.D.
EDWARD L. MUNSON, Assistant Surgeon, U.S.A.
HERMANUS L. BAER, M.D.

ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE VICE-PRESIDENT.

At the residence of Mr. Ansley Wilcox, 641 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, N.Y., Mr. Root stepped forward and said, with deep emotion: "Mr. Vice-President, I have been requested on behalf of the Cabinet of the late President—at least those who are present in Buffalo, all except two—to request that for reasons of weight affecting the affairs of Government you should proceed to take the constitutional oath of President of the United States."

THE VICE-PRESIDENT'S REPLY.

"I shall take the oath at once in accordance with your request, and in this hour of deep and terrible national bereavement. I wish to state that it shall be my aim to continue absolutely unbroken the policy of President McKinley for the peace and prosperity and honor of our beloved country."