Zachary Taylor to Be Tested for Poison
The crypt of Zachary Taylor will be opened Monday to test an author’s theory that the 12th President of the United States was assassinated with poison 141 years ago.
The Department of Veterans Affairs granted approval Friday for Richard Greathouse, coroner of Jefferson County, to open the crypt.
Greathouse plans to see if there is any trace of poison through analysis of a piece of hair, fingernail or bone.
Taylor died in office in 1850, 16 months after his election. The cause of death was listed as gastrointestinal illness.
Author Clara Rising has suggested that Taylor was given fruit laced with a fatal dose of arsenic. The probable motive, she says, was Taylor’s views on slavery. Taylor supported the admission of California and New Mexico to the union as slave-free states.
But an expert on Taylor believes there is little chance of rewriting history.
Dr. Elbert B. Smith, professor emeritus of the University of Maryland department of history, said he would be “shocked and astounded” if there were any evidence that Taylor was poisoned.
Smith said there would have been no motive or opportunity to kill Taylor. “He was the Eisenhower of his time,” Smith said.
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