Haymarket Affair Digital Collection

Illinois vs. August Spies et al. trial transcript no. 1
Testimony of Andrew J. Baxter, 1886 July 29.

Volume K, 617-619, 3 p.
Baxter, Andrew J.
Physician.

Direct examination by Mr. Grinnell. Testified on behalf of the Prosecution, People of the State of Illinois.

Attended to wounded officers after the Haymarket bombing. Testified on various topics (page numbers provide a partial guide): medical care and wounds (vol.K 617).


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ANDREW J. BAXTER,

a witness called and sworn on behlaf of the people; was examined in chief by Mr. Grinell., and testified as follows:

Q What is your name

A Andrew J. Baxter.

Q You are a physician and surgeon?

A Yes sir.

Q Are you connected with any institutions in the city?

A I am one of the surgeons of the County Hospital, and the Alexian hospital, and the Michael Reese hospital.

Q Were you in attendance on any of the officers on the night of May 4th at the station?

A Yes sir.

Q How many officers did you examine.?

A Well, I examined nearly all, more or less. There were a great many at work there that night, and I looked at a great many that I did not take any part in.

Q What were the nature of the wounds you found, and what sort of missiles caused them?

MR. SALOMON: And I think on whom he found them.

MR. GRINELL: Tell me from your examination what you discovered


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and give me the names of the officers, if you can?

A Well, I can't remember them all. They were brought in so fast, and a good many of them were strangers to me, and I was not particular about names. It was their wounds that I was looking after. I attended to officers whose names I don't remember-- I didn't know; but I remember some of them, as for instance, Officer Redden. He was shot in the right leg. The leg was simply shattered.

Q That was a shot or a bomb wound.

Q That was a bomb wound. I remobed the piece of bomb myself. And there was an officer-- well, I saw officer Barrett also-- and there was an officer by the name of Sullivan, I think who was wounded in the side, and also in the thigh. He was the first officer, by the by, that I saw.

MR. Salomon: That is officer Sullivan?

A I think that was the name. He had a large ragged wound in the upper part of the thigh so that you could put your hand in; and I supposed from the character of the wound that I would find some large missile embedded in the tissues of the thigh; but after considerable search I could not find anything and was somewhat annoyed to think I could not find it, but ultimately I found it on the inside of the thigh. It was one of these pieces of zinc. Then he had another wound on the out side of the leg, and the piece I removed from the inside passed between the bones, and I removed it from the inside.


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Then he had a wound on the opposite leg which looked like a scratch, but on further investigation, I found it was also made with one of these pieces of zinc, but it had hit the surface edgwise, and consequently it did not make a large external wound. The external wound depended on the manner in which the missile hit the surface. These bomb pieces were undoubtedly cut from pieces of zinc, and they were oblique, of course, after leaving the bomb. They would be revolvong on their axes- and if they happened to hit the surface edgwise, they would make a linear incision, but if they hit it flat, whey made a very large ragged wound, which made part of the wound have this torn ragged appearance.

Q Did you find any gun shot wounds?

A I think two or three that I remember.

Q What other officers did you examine?

Q Barrett and Redden and Hansen, and one that had the--

Q It was one that Murphy examined?

A He took charge of them. I was not on duty at the hospital regularly, only that night, so he took subsequent charge of them.

MR FOSTER: That is all


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