Chapter 25 - The Post Mortem Examination

E. J. Solliday, M.D., Sworn Testimony

Q.  What wounds did you find on him after you had examined him?

A.  I found a gunshot wound in the right side of the right hypochondriac region, between the eighth and ninth ribs.

 

Q.  Did Yost say anything, on that morning, about seeing the flash of the pistols and the men?

A.  Yes, sir; he saw only one flash; the flash of one pistol.

Q.  What else did he see?

A.  He saw two men running away from him; one man was kind of back of him, and wheeled around and ran away when he saw him, and the other man was just in the act of wheeling around.

Q. Which way did he see them wheel around?

A.  Up toward the cemetery, he said.

Q.  To whom did you give the bullet that you found at the post mortem examination of Mr. Yost?

A.  To John O’Brien, the County Coroner of Tamaqua.

 

Q.  Describe the wound that you found which had been inflicted on his person?

A.  I found the gunshot wound in the right hypochondriac region, the ball entering between the eighth and ninth ribs; it had passed through the abdominal walls, passed through the right lobe of the liver, and entered the stomach at the pylorus, passed out at the exterior surface of the stomach, and lodged over on the left side, and struck the eighth rib near the spinal column, and there I found the ball under that rib.

Q.  What was the cause of Mr. Yost’s death as developed by this post mortem examination?

A.  The primary cause was the gunshot wound. The immediate cause was hemorrhage.

Q.  Produced by what?

A.  Produced by the rupture of the hepatic splentic and superior mesenteric arteries.

Q.  And the immediate cause of his death was hemorrhage?

A.  Resulting from this wound.

Q.  State whether or not it was a mortal wound?

A.  Necessarily a mortal wound.

Q.  And he had no chance for recovery?

A.  None at all.

                                                    Post Mortem Bullet Trajectory - Front

                                                    Post Mortem Bullet Trajectory - Back

Daniel Schepp, Sworn Testimony

Q.  Did he make any statement to you after that, in reference to how he had been shot, or by whom?

A.  I asked him and he told me, as he was going on the ladder to outen the lamp, two men stepped up to him and shot him; both shot nearly at the same time; they were within two yards of him, about two yards.