"Around 25% of Victorian men had syphilis and he may have had it too - we'll never know - but one thing that's almost certain is that he didn't die of it, " Mr Holland told BBC News Online.
''Obviously, I didn't know he was going to die, but I could see he was in great jeopardy. vGovernor Pataki and I spoke and agreed that we'd put our governments together, which was one of the best decisions that we made and one that I highly recommend any time there's a crisis.