Swiss Physicians Find Czech Autopsy on Jordan’s Body Insufficient; Ask for More Tests

Two Swiss physicians who examined the remains of Charles H. Jordan in Prague today reported to the U.S. Embassy there that the condition of the body made it difficult to establish whether or not violence had occurred prior to the drowning, and that further tests of tissues should be made.

The Czech authorities have been asked to make the necessary tissues available to Dr. Bernard Hardmeyer and Dr, Alexander Gonik for their own laboratory work. The Czech Government doctors apparently insisted on making the additional tests indicated. The U.S. Embassy today conveyed the Swiss medical report to Washington.

The two physicians said they discussed with the Czech doctors the autopsy performed by the Czech doctors early in the morning of August 21. They have been shown the body and the specimens which were taken for further examination. In the first instance, identification was positively established by examination of dentures, record of old scars, etc. Secondly, the evidence available to doctors Gonik and Hardmeyer showed that Mr. Jordan died shortly, that is within some hours, after he left his hotel; that there was ingestion of water into the lungs; and the evidence indicated that the immediate cause of death was drowning.

The doctors added that “the condition of the body made it difficult to establish whether or not violence had occurred prior to the drowning and that further tests of tissues should be made. The local doctors are making such tests. In addition, the Czech authorities have been requested to make the necessary tissues available to Doctors Gonik and Hardmeyer for their own laboratory work,” Dr. Hardmeyer is deputy director of the Legal Medical Institute of Zurich. Dr. Gonik is head of the JDC medical staff in Geneva.