1. "The First Autopsy"
Posted by augusta on Jun-15th-02 at 4:12 AM

Here's a new one on me:  The first autopsy, done about 3:15 pm in the Borden home on August 4 was only a PARTIAL.  I came across this little goody while reading the testimony of Dr. Dolan in the Preliminary Hearing.  It does not say "partial" on the report, but according to him it was.  The stomachs were taken out then, sealed, and sent to Harvard. 

Some sources say that this autopsy started at 3 pm, but Dr. Dolan said no - it actually started at 3:15 because they had Mr. Walsh take the murder photos first. 

Why'd they wait to do a full autopsy?  That would have been the one done at the cemetery on Saturday. 

Wasn't a third one done a week after the murders?

The bodies of Abby and Andrew each were autopsied twice. The first or "partial" autopsies took place at 92 Second St. in the afternoon of Thursday, August 4. The stomach of each victim was removed for further examination during these procedures. The second or "full" autopsies took place at Oak Grove Cemetery on Thursday, August 11. The head of each victim was removed for later examination during these procedures.

Dr. Dolan testified at the trial that authority for the examinations done on August 4 was given by Fall River Mayor John W. Coughlin and that authority for the examinations done on August 11 came from "the law officers of the state." It is unclear to me why the second autopsies were not done until a full week after the murders. Dr. Dolan noted in his reports of the second autopsies that decomposition was "far advanced" in both bodies.

The Preliminary is confusing on this point of autopsys and notes and reports and "official" reports...(125-131) & (198 etc.)

Doug is precise and makes it simple to understand.

In the Prelim., by Dr. Dolan, we are led to the realization that there were 2 autopsys and 3 *records* of autopsys.

He had notes from the first "partial" autopsy, which were lost.
He had a "record" of the Oak Grove autopy which notes he dictated to a typist at the office of Cummings & Higginson. 
This was on "ordinary", or "cap paper", and not on an "official form".
On Friday morning, after he was on the stand, he filed the "RECORD" of the Oak Grove Autopsy with the Court, *Officially*, which appears starting pg. 199.
So technically, there should be 3 autopsy records of some kind, one being his notes from the 4th which were lost.