Ending months of speculation about the death of Zachary Taylor, state and county medical officials said today that the 12th President of the United States died of natural causes almost 141 years ago.
Taylor's death was caused by any of "a myriad of natural diseases which could have produced the symptoms of gastroenteritis," said George R. Nichols 2d, the State Chief Medical Examiner, adding that because of severe decomposition of the body, a precise cause of death could not be determined.
The question of whether he was poisoned or not will no longer hang over us," said Coroner Richard F. Greathouse of Jefferson County. "We've put that to rest once and for all."
After a week of extensive testing of tissues taken from Taylor's body, Dr. Greathouse and Dr. Nichols said the findings were conclusive. "It's not borderline," Dr. Nichols said. "He was not poisoned." Some Traces of Arsenic Found
Tests conducted here and at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge,Tenn., did discover traces of the common heavy metal in hair, bone and dried fleshy tissues from Taylor's remains that were taken from his crypt on June 17.
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