nd
his son, both of whom he found requiring immediate attention, as they
had been severely wounded by the attempts of another assassin to kill
them.

On the arrival of the Surgeon General and Assistant Surgeon General,
Charles H. Crane, I reported what we had done and officially detailed
to the Surgeon General my diagnosis, stating that whenever the clot
was allowed to form over the opening to the wound the President's
breathing became greatly embarrassed. The Surgeon General approved the
treatment and my original plan of treatment was continued in every
respect until the President's death.

The Hospital Steward arrived with the Nelaton probe and an examination
was made by the Surgeon General and myself, who introduced the probe
to a distance of about two and a half inches, where it came in contact
with a foreign substance, which lay across the track of the ball; this
was easily passed and the probe was introduced several inches further
where it again touched a hard substance at first supposed to be the
ball, but as the white porcelain bulb of the probe on its withdrawal
did not indicate the mark of lead it was generally thought to be
another piece of loose bone. The probe was introduced the second time
and the ball was supposed to be distinctly felt. After this second
exploration nothing further was done with the wound except to keep the
opening free from coagula, which, if allowed to form and remain for a
short time, produced signs of increased compression, the breathing
becoming profoundly stertorous and intermittent, the pulse more feeble
and irregular. After I had resigned my charge all that was
professionally done for the President was to repeat occasionally my
original expedient of relieving the brain pressure by freeing the
opening to the wound and to count the pulse and respirations. The
President's position on the bed remained exactly as I had first placed
him with the assistance of Dr. Taft and Dr. King.

Captain Robert T. Lincoln came and remained with his father and
mother, bravely sustaining himself during the course of the night.

On that awful memorable night the great War Secretary, the Honorable
Edwin M. Stanton, one of the most imposing figures of the nineteenth
century, promptly arrived and recognized at that critical period of
our country's history the necessity of a head to our Government and as
the President was passing away established a branch of his War
Department in an adjoining room. The