CRITICAL, NOT HOPELESS. ---------------- Mr. Taulbee’s Wound Takes a More Serious Turn In the Morning. ---------------- But At Midnight the Patient Rallies and His Condition Improves. ---------------- His Physicians Decide to Perform an Operation and Then Decide Not To. --------------- Doctors Who Think the Patient Will Recover and Doctors Who Think He Won’t. --------------- NEWS AT THE CAPITAL. --------------- Washington, March 4. – (Special.) – Ex-Congressman Taulbee was more restless during last night than at any time since he was wounded, His brother, Dr. Taulbee, of Mt. Sterling, was with him during the entire night, and one of the hospital physicians was also assisting in ministering to the wants of the sick man. It will be remembered that a slightly favorable chance occurred toward 12 o’clock last night, and Mr. Taulbee slept quietly for some time, but later be became restless and this morning his condition was evidently weaker than at any time since the shooting. At an early hour the patient seemed to grow despondent, and, in conversation with his brother, it is said that he expressed the belief that he would hardly survive the wound. Dr. Taulbee talked cheerfully to him and endeavored to convince him that he was unnecessarily alarmed, but the feverish condition in which Mr. Taulbee was at the time precluded encouraging an effect as might have been expected. A consultation was held the first thing this morning by the physicians Drs. Bayne, Freidrich, Hamilton. Yoder and Taulbee were present. After an examination of the patient the physicians named came to the conclusion that slight evidences of probably suppuration were manifest in close proximity to the bullet, and they thought that the ball should be removed if possible. It was then decided to call in Dr. Carroll Morgan, a throat specialist, and at a subsequent consultation, held at 11 o’clock a. m., Dr. Morgan was present. After a more thorough examination had been made Drs. Bayne and Morgan gave out the following statement: “The condition of the patient is still extremely critical. We think the ball passed through the cheek bone and downward in the direction of the throat, where we think we have approximated the location. It has, however, been impossible to locate the ball with that precision which would render a surgical operation justifiable. The patient, we think, is in no danger of dying suddenly – that is between now and to-morrow morning.” From what the attending physicians have said regarding their examinations, the greatest danger to be feared is in blood poisoning and the formation of abscesses. There have been no positive symptoms of either up to the present writing; but Mr. Taulbee has been suffering considerably all day from the swelling in the throat, and the fever which has possession of his system is detrimental to the wound and helps to weaken his system. A number of the members of Congress called at the hospital during the day to inquire into the true condition of Mr. Taulbee, including several of the Kentucky delegation, who have gone over each day since the shooting, as well as Messrs McMillin and Washington, of the Tennessee delegation. The reports put in circulation this morning were of such a sensational nature that nearly every one about the Capitol had the impression created in his mind that Mr. Taulbee was in a most alarming condition and not likely to survive the night. The Congressmen who visited the hospital, however, and made inquiry for themselves, found that while the patient was not doing as well as they had hoped, Dr. Bayne and the other [a few words missing……] hospital late this evening. He [relates?] to your correspondent that he regards Mr. Taulbee in “bad shape,” but believes that if he rallies within the next twenty-four hours he will pull through. Gen. Boynton states that from his knowledge of gun-shot wounds this was necessarily Mr. Taulbee’s worst day, and he thinks that if the doctors do not kill him, he will recover. Dr. Yoder, a member of the House from Ohio, and said to be a good physician, states that Taulbee can not survive his injuries and that he will die within a week. Dr. Yoder first attended to Mr. Taulbee after he was shot and has since been consulted frequently in the case, having paid three or four visits to the hospital daily. He is, however, a great friend of Mr. Taulbee, and that may to some extent have something to do with his opinion. About midnight a call was made at the hospital by a representative of the Courier-Journal, and Dr. Taulbee was seen. He said that his brother’s condition at that hour was slightly improved, and he was then sleeping under the influence of medicine which is administered from time to time, as it seems almost impossible for the patient to get any natural sleep. Dr. Taulbee was the only physician in attendance for the night, Dr. Bayne not having called at the hospital since his visit late in the evening. Dr. Taulbee further said that the most discouraging feature in the case of his brother was the continued high fever. At 10:30 o’clock he took the temperature of the body and found it to be 102, in spite of the anti-pyretics administered. Being asked if Mr. Taulbee was himself cheerful or hopeful the Doctor said that at times he became very despondent, and told him once or twice today that he knew he was going to die. “Then,” added the Doctor, “in an hour or two afterward, Mr. Johnson, formerly of Kentucky, and a friend of ours, called at the hospital, and my brother insisted on his being invited to the room. While Mr. Johnson was there my brother brightened up considerably, and talked as if his hopes had been greatly revived. He talked over a business matter with me, and seemed better right through the evening then he had been all day, until we finally got him to sleep. The wound is a difficult one to keep purged. The turns and twists in the channel cut by the bullet make a sort of honey-combed arrangement, and the drainage tubes, which a used to clear out any pus formation that may exist, are worked with some difficulty. Still, we have managed so far to keep the wound well purged, and it has been done with comparatively little or no pain for caine has been given when there was danger of causing pain. I am very apprehensive of course and if he does not begin to improve in a few days, I do not see how he can survive the injury. “It will simply wear him out unless there is a change for the better. Just now all that can be said is that his condition is critical, but there is a possibility of his recovery yet. His mind wandered a little this afternoon. He takes liquid nourishment with great difficulty. Late in the afternoon he also had terrible pains across the forehead and it was necessary to give him several hypodermic injections before he was relieved from those pains which were different from any he has experienced since being wounded.”