Horace Getchell Cates (ca. 1864–1911) was a surgeon in Los Angeles County, California. He died of blood poisoning a week after scratching his thumb with a pin while preparing a dressing for a patient in Crocker Hospital, of which he was superintendent.
"Dr. Horace Cates Dies at Hospital," ''Los Angeles Express,'' March 27, 1911, image 1
"Dies Martyr to His Profession," ''Los Angeles Times'' March 28, 1911, image 17 The ''Los Angeles Times'' said his case was "one of the most serious that ever came to the attention of the surgeons in the Los Angeles hospitals." "The injury was hardly noticeable, but the infection developed with startling suddenness. All of the methods of modern medical science failed to check the spread of the disease," reported the ''Los Angeles Evening Express,'' labeling it " blood poisoning."
Life Ebbing for Surgeon," ''Los Angeles Times,'' March 27, 1911, image 18 A native of Maine, the doctor was a graduate of Colby College in

Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Penobscot County. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's 3rd-largest settlement, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121). Modern Bangor ...

, and the University of Minnesota. He moved to Los Angeles about 1886 and began practicing surgery five years later. Cates worked for the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

and for the Pacific Electric Railway Company. He was a member of the Santa Monica school trustees until he moved from the city in 1891, and he was elected

Los Angeles County Coroner The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner (formerly the Department of Coroner) was created in its present form in Boyle Heights on December 17, 1920 by an ordinance approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, al ...

for a four-year term on the Republican ticket in November 1892. Cates was first married to Ella Van Every on May 16, 1889, in Santa Monica, California. She died in Monrovia, California, in May 1891. He and Mary E. Bicknell were married on June 15, 1895, in Los Angeles. He was survived by her and five children, Charles B., Horace B., Ella, Mildren N. and Mary Edna. He died without a will, leaving property in Los Angeles, Ventura, and Fresno counties. Interment was in

Inglewood Park Cemetery Inglewood Park Cemetery, 720 East Florence Avenue in Inglewood, California, was founded in 1905. A number of notable people, including entertainment and sports personalities, have been interred or entombed there. History The proposed est ...

. The ''New York Insurance Press'' reported on June 27, 1912, that the largest single insurance claim paid in California during 1911, $95,000, was to the Cates heirs. His mother, Helena A. Cates, had died on May 26, 1891. He had a brother, Alton M. Cates, who died November 23, 1920."Supreme Court Decisions," ''The Recorder,'' San Francisco, January 30, 1925, image 9
/ref>

References

1860s births 1911 deaths American surgeons Colby College alumni Year of birth uncertain University of Minnesota alumni American coroners {{morecat, date=July 2022