Several years ago, while researching the life of Dr. Walter Bayley in the Black Dahlia case, I came across a series of journals titled the Southern California Practitioner, published by the Los Angeles County Medical Assn. Lionel Comport, who was shot in the back while delivering milk from a wagon on July 10, 1901, survived because of a new treatment, so it was possible that the operation was written up in this journal. 

Southern California Practitioner is an excellent resource on early Los Angeles, particularly in health matters. If you want to know about typhoid fever, smallpox, cholera , tuberculosis  or abortions in the early 20th century, this is the place to look. Until the journals were scanned by Google, they were extremely rare items. NOTICE: Although the journals are online at the moment, Google has a nasty habit of withdrawing access to its scanned books, so if you find something useful, download it while you can.

Sure enough, here’s the article by Police Surgeon Clarence W. Pierce on how he did it. Notice that Pierce says they concluded the operation when the anesthetist reported that Comport was dying. When it comes to medical care, the past was not a kinder, simpler time.