KENTUCKY: Arsenic and Old Tanks

Six tank cars filled with 45,000 gallons of arsenic trichloride stood on a railroad siding in the town of Horse Cave, Ky. (pop. 2,000) last week, slowly dripping one of the deadliest of poisons. Four years ago the oily, yellowish liquid was bought as surplus from the Army's Chemical Corps (which had used it during World War II to make lethal Lewisite gas) by a company which planned to use one of its derivatives in drilling oil wells. Later the company went out of business, leaving the cargo unclaimed.

As months passed, the chemical ate its way through the tank...

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