DR W S KENDRICK, Sworn In For The State, 119th To Testify

Reading Time: 7 minutes [1064 words]

DR. W. S. KENDRICK, sworn for the Defendant.

I have been a practicing physician for thirty-five years. I was Dean

of the Atlanta Medical College. I gave Dr. Harris his first position

there. If a young lady between thirteen and fourteen years of age died

and a post-mortem examination was made within eight or ten days after

death, by a physician who makes a digital and visual examination

to determine whether there is any violence to the vagina or not, and inserts

his fingers for the purpose of deciding, and the body is embalmed,

and after nine days it is disinterred and another post-mortem performed

and the physician performing the post-mortem takes a half dozen

strips and sees nothing with his naked eye by way of congestion, but by

the use of a microscope finds that some of the epithelium is stripped

from the wall of the vagina, I don't think that the finding of the epithelium

stripped from the wall would indicate anything unusual. I don't

think that would indicate any act of violence. A female's menstrual periods

brings about congestion and hemorrhages of the blood vessels

every time. The congestion gradually subsides within two or three

days. That would not be any indication of violence, nor could you tell

how long before death the violence had been inflicted. If a young lady

had a wound on the back of the head about an inch and a half long cutting

to the skull and the skull was open and a small hemorrhage was

found, that did not involve pressure on the brain and the brain itself

was not injured, I am positive that no man examining the body nine or

ten days after death could have any way of telling whether that wound

would produce unconsciousness or not. It would be a pure conjecture

if he said anything on that subject. Skulls are sometimes fractured

without unconsciousness. Each stomach is a law to itself. It is a known

fact that some stomachs will digest different substances quicker than

others. I don't think that there is an expert in the world who could

form any definite idea by either chemical analysis of the liquids of the stomach or by the condition of the cabbage lodged in the stomach as

to how long it had been in the stomach.

CROSS EXAMINATION.

I am not a specialist of the stomach, but I am and have been teaching

diseases of the stomach and all these cases come under my jurisdiction.

Dr. Westmoreland is a surgeon, not a stomach specialist. Dr.

Hancock is not a stomach specialist. If you find starch granules in the

stomach undigested and cabbage undigested and thirty-two degrees of

hydrochloric acid in the stomach and no dextrose and no maltose, the

small intestines for six feet absolutely empty, the sides and glands of

the stomach all normal, I would not have an opinion as to how long that

cabbage was in the stomach for the reason that each case will order itself.

Yes, there are certain general principles dealing with these matters.

Hydrochloric acid appears early during digestion and in small

quantity, and goes up. The main things in the stomach are pepsin and

hydrochloric acid. As soon as a piece of cabbage or bread gets into the

stomach the hydrochloric acid begins to attack it and works until it

has a clear field and leaves nothing in the stomach, and thereafter the

hydrochloric acid descends. I have made no effort whatever to find out

how rapidly hydrochloric acid descends and ascends. I should think

though that whenever you find no hydrochloric acid the process of digestion

is ended and that if you find undigested things in the stomach

and hydrochloric acid in a small degree, that the process of digestion

had not been finished. That's the general rule. That does not apply in

all cases. For instance, I can't digest cabbage at all. It will put me in

bed. Each stomach is a law unto itself, so far as digestion goes, any

statement to the contrary is incorrect. There are certain basic laws

that apply to most people. 1 haven't read a work on digestion in ten

years. If there be four different stages of digestion, I think it would be

impossible for an expert to tell by an examination what stage of digestion certain things were in. There are so many exceptions to the rule.

As to whether the cabbage had been digested or not, if whole pieces of

cabbage were there I could tell, but if you could not find the cabbage

either with the naked eye or the microscope, I would say that it had

been digested. I don't know how long it takes an ordinary stomach to

digest turnips. If a 13-year-old child ate cabbage and bread on Saturday

and her body is found that night about three o'clock, with the

tongue out, deep indentations in the neck, a small flow of blood from a

wound in the back of the head, a discolor of blood over her pantlets,

one of the drawers legs torn, the stocking supporter torn loose rigor

mortis had set in since 16 to 20 hours, all blood had settled down in that

part where gravity had taken it according to the way the body was lying

and the small intestine was clear six feet below the stomach, the

stomach was normal, and there was no mucous and every indication

was that the digestion was progressing favorably and this cabbage was

found with the naked eye in the stomach and unmistakable evidences

of undigested starch granules and thirty-two degrees of hydrochloric

acid, I say emphatically that no man living in my judgment could say

how long that cabbage had been in the stomach. If Mary Phagan was

alarmed concerning her surroundings, or knew that certain facts were

upon her, digestion then and there would have almost been completely

arrested. If she lived six or eight hours after this alarm, I say that no

digestion could have continued up to the time of her death. Any kind

of mental or physical excitement would largely arrest digestion, probably

completely. I could tell by looking into the stomach that day, but

if I examined that ten days afterwards, and found the cabbage in that

state and I had said that death or excitement had arrested its digestion

I would consider that I had stated one of the greatest absurdities of the

day. I don't believe it is possible to tell a thing in the world of the

contents of the stomach of a person that had been dead six or eight or

ten days. Yes, that looks like cabbage (State's Exhibit G).

RE-DIRECT EXAMINATION.

That cabbage doesn't look (State's Exhibit G) as if it had been

chewed at all. Cabbage chewed that way would be hard to digest.