ABBY AND PRESTON

My conversation with a couple of concerned business men last week at lunch got me into researching the wreck at Horse Cave that contained Agent Orange. Here are the results of a week of gathering up information which seemed to have disappeared over the years and no one could remember anything about it.
The government kept a tight lid on this event and very little reached the media. The Feds. later denied it happend until someone stepped forward with the photos.
The one picture attached shows Gordon Collins (nephew of Floyd) and his dozer with his two helpers uprighting a RR car with the assistance of a crane.
On a Monday morning in 1966, at 1:05 am, a massive pile-up of 34 freight cars of the L & N Railroad took place at Horse Cave, Ky., when the rear half of
the train derailed. Damages in excess of a quarter of a million dollars were
estimated for the wreckage.
Twenty of the 34 derailed cars were carrying military supplies including
vehicles, steel, and chemicals. The other 14 cars were empty. Among the
military supplies was a partial load of potatoes. Many poor families during
the time of the derailment later took up on the offer of free potatoes
The grinding wreck left twenty loaded cars and fourteen empty ones in
twisted piles of rubble and snapped railroad communication lines. Wrecking
crews from Louisville and Nashville were dispatched to the scene to replace the quarter of a mile of ripped track.
Also aboard was a jet fuel tank which skittered off the tracks and landed on the opposite side of the embankment along side of Hwy 31-W.
The media reported..... “one car contained a chemical harmful to humans and animals...”
By noon on Tuesday, steam operated wreckers were soon at work, up-righting
the spilled cars, many of which appeared to be new.
Gordon Collins, dozer operator, was hired to bury the canisters of chemicals
on the farm of Albert Wilkins.. His son, Mike Collins, assisted him in the
work as did Bill Bishop.
The half life of Agent Orange, is reported to be “8.7 years”.
A few months afterwards, Albert Wilkins first noticed that his dog was
developing tumors, and then died. Larry, Albert's only son, a big healthy boy, died next. Two foremen on the
L & N that worked the wreck, both died of cancer and neither of them smoked or drank. .
Several cavers who spent time in the down stream section past Sunset Dome
in Hidden River Cave developed cancer including Joe Saunders with brain tomors
about age 55, and Jim Quinlin.
Then there is the entire catalog of cancer related deaths from people and
animals at Horse Cave who were exposed either to the wreck, or consumed the
potatoes. Gordon Collins died of cancer; his son Mike died of cancer age 40,
as did the other assistant Bill Bishop. The Church family who lived across the
street, all died of cancer.
Further down stream toward the river, several have died. They buried Jimmy Rountree's son July 30 of this year, after finding he had cancer . He was in his 30;s and spent a lot of playing around the river.
Studies on the effects of Agent Orange on humans, according to who is conducting the study, have varying results. In 1966 Agent Orange wasn't recognized as a terrible poison. the government was using it by the tankloads in 'Nam, so it must have been safe, right?
Preston Forsythe told me that he caved extensively in the down stream section of Hidden River and now has frequent unexplained headaches. I saw Mr. Forsythe last week and he had that 'cancer' color.
Charlie Williams, attorney at Munfordville, took the case for the Wilkins family who lost two members to cancer, and won an undisclosed amount of money.
Norman