Which famous people have been exhumed and analyzed?
Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the U.S., took ill on Independence Day, 1850, after consuming a large portion of cherries and iced milk. Taylor, nicknamed “Old Rough and Ready", was known to be a hale and healthy man even at 65, so when he died on July 9th (just 16 months into his first term) of an unknown stomach ailment, rumors immediately began swirling that he had been assassinated by poison. Taylor was a Southerner and a slaveowner, but he was opposed to the expansion of slavery, which made him very unpopular among many Southerners and pro-slavery advocates.
The assassination rumors persisted until the late 1980s, when former University of Florida professor Clara Rising persuaded Taylor's closest living relative to allow his body to be exhumed, examined, and tested for poisons. Taylor's remains were exhumed in June of 1991, and examined at the Kentucky Chief Medical Examiner's office.
Analysis revealed no evidence of poisoning, and it was concluded that Taylor had most likely died of acute gastroenteritis. It was further concluded that the actions of his doctors probably doomed him, and that without the various treatments they gave him — which included copious amounts of ipecac, opium, and quinine — he probably would have recovered.
Despite the medical examiner's official report, there are still those who believe that Taylor was poisoned, and thus the first U.S. president to be assassinated.
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