The Legend Of John Wilkes Booth

[maharba]

Reading the death of David George/JWBooth narratives, it is not clear what poison that David George suicided in taking. Was it arsenic in some compound or was it strychnine? Arsenic
is an elemental and would persist forever in body tissues. While
strychnnine is an exotic plant poison, and should break down over time in the body. Some say that because of the high arsenic level he supposedly drank, that helped to auto-embalm
the body, keep it from decaying soon. Then, most articles say he was embalmed and with a strong arsenic compound, later as well. Strychnine alone would not act much as a preservative after death, but he still may have used that to kill himself, initially. Either of those would be painful, and I'm surprised he didn't just overdose himself with laudanum.