Annotations
1882
The Lancet
the victims of this horrible crime were assailed both from behind and in front. Lord F. Cavendish was struck three times from behind, once in the neck, once on the shoulder, and once in the back. The wound in the axilla was inflicted from the front, probably when the arm was raised in self-defence ; and that in the left forearm was probably received in warding off a stab aimed at the front of the chest. The fatal wound was undoubtedly that inflicted from behind, and which divided the axillary
more »
... ssels; and death must have been very speedy. Both the wounds in Mr. Burke's neck were probably inflicted from behind, as that on the left side was not a stab but a cut, and its direction was at first obliquely downward and inward, and then horizontal, as if the knife had been drawn across the neck from left to right from behind. The second smaller wound was probably made at the same time. The three wounds over the front of the chest were made from the front, as were also those on the left hand. That on the back of the neck, and the one below the left shoulder, were stabs from behind. The wound which pierced the heart from behind was the immediate cause of death, but in its absence the other two wounds of the lung would have caused very speedy death. The clothing of Lord Frederick Cavendish was cut in several places, and soaked in blood. One wound passed quite through the neck; behind it was an inch and a half long, and was situated close to the sixth cervical spine, which was broken off; it opened in front about an inch above the clavicle, where the skin was cut transversely for about three-quarters of an inch. A second wound was found above the spine of the right scapula, which traversed the supra-spinatus muscle, the bone and subscapularis muscle, the axillary artery and vein, and passing over the ribs was found to be continuous with a small skin-wound over the second right costal cartilage. The posterior end of this wound was angular, and measured two inches and a half across; the anterior was much smaller, only about an inch in length, and transverse in direction. A third wound was over the outer edge of the lower angle of the right scapula, and damaged the bone. There was also a wound about two inches long in the right axilla, passing upwards and inwards towards the head of the humerus; the axillary vessels, the shoulder-joint, and the thoracic cavity were uninjured by this wound, which was behind the vessels and evidently made by a knife held with its flat surfaces nearly horizontal. There was also a transverse cut over the centre of the left forearm, cutting through the muscles on the ulnar side ; the ulna was found fractured at the bottom of the wound; the shaft of the bone was partly divided by the knife and partly fractured by the violence of the blow. Mr. Burke's clothing was consider. ably cut about, and blood had flowed freely from the mouth as well as from the wounds. He had received more wounds than Lord F. Cavendish-nine in all. They consisted of an incised wound on the left side of the neck about three inches long, reaching from just below the left ear downwards and forwards to an inch beyond the middle line. The lower part of the thyroid cartilage and the crico-thyroid membrane were divided, and the lingual and superior thyroid vessels were severed, but the carotid and jugular vessels were not injured. Half an inch above this on the right side of the neck there was a superficial wound about an inch long, in which no structure of importance was injured. There were three wounds over the front of the chest. One, measuring one inch and a quarter transversely, was situated over the second left costal cartilage ; the cartilage, which was ossified, was divided quite across, the internal mammary vessels were severed, and the lung was incised for a considerable depth. The large vessels were not injured by it. This wound was the source of the haemorrhage from the mouth. Another wound, transverse in direction, about three-quarters of an inch long, half an inch above and to the left of the left nipple, also penetrated the lung for a short distance ; it did not injure the pericardium. The third was a small wound over the centre of the sternum, reaching down to, but not penetrating the bone. On the back of the body two wounds had been inflicted. One, the most severe, was about two inches long, oblique in direction, just over the lower angle of the left scapula. It had penetrated the bone, the chest wall, and, passing through the pericardium, opened the left ventricle of the heart; the pericardium was found full of blood. The second was on the right side of the neck behind, vertical in direction, over an inch in length; it divided the muscles quite down to the spine, but did
doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(02)21984-4
fatcat:damywiqgdvej7cnwvvyxm3pldy