The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-23
BRED LINE NO. sOss."

Find 5055 and you can have two
 weeks more-and bring us home deer"
 That was the send-of I got from
 Motley as passed his desk on my was
 out of the office for two weeks vaca- ton down in Maine. IL was cruel IT
 Motley to send me on pleasure triI with the office hoodoo ringing in mS ears. for Icing out of the sound o' '5056' was one of my most anticipated
 enjoymerits. ~ Motley was the chief and one of ths numerous subordinate clerks in th' car clearing house of the Consolidated
 roads. Our work was monotonous and unintaresting enough, keeping track ol the thousands of freight cars rolline about over our division. We had prided ourselves upon the record ol our office until the case of Red Line a0b3" had come up and wrought hu' initiation.
 It was in our particular division that
 "5o55" had been lost and we were con- stantly reminded of the fact officially and unofficially. This car had been sent way down in Maine with a loat of potato planters from Toledo. Il
 had been started towards home empty | and disappeared en route. The road upon which it started declared tha
 they must have delivered 1t to the con-
 meeting road. and the officials of the latter were as positive that they had not received 1t. The system of cheek. ing was not as effective as now and
 but little satisfaction could be ob. tained from the Maine roads.
 "If you think we have the car. come down here and find it." was the gis of their replies to our many inquiries TrRcers were passed along until they | were all worn out. Lost car men secured New England. but in. vain Red Line 5055" was lost indeed. Most people go to the great Maine
 woods for the hunting and fishing. bu I went to see Nellie. an old sweetheart of mine. whose brown eyes. hair ike = and all that. Nellie and I had gradu- ated from the High school in the sa1n' class on the same June day and as VI stepped out into the din of life's bat tie" which the valedictorian told abou [ left the little village for the city ant the car office and soon after Nellie'i father was appointed general manager of an immnese plant in one of those mushroom pulp-mill towns in thu
 Maine wilderness. and went there | taking Nellie with him. We corresponded. she giving me lot. | of good advice and I confiding mS hopes and aspirations and so it wa,
 that accepted one of the several hun hred posctript invitations to spend my vacation in the pulp-mill town. I found Nellie more beautiful thar ~-And all that. Of course 1t did not seem just proper to spend all the time basking in her smiles. so to vary the delightful rnonotony I wandered dowr to the little railroad station and struck up an acquaintance with the station | agent. who was also the operator yard master and most everything els' about the place. He was a bright youns fellow named Ross. I think, and knew
 enough about the business to talk shoI to our mutual entertainment.
 One day I was paying him cal | when he called my attention to 8 strangely appearing figure coming along the station platform toward us.
 See that fellow? They call hin
 Brick Kelley. He was one of tht
 smartest and most popular men on thu l line - broke head on Haggerty'!
 freight Now he's clear off the iron"
 "How was that7" inquired. casual ty interested.
 His train was setting of a hot -ho1
 at some little siding down the lin'
 when a special came along and lacked | up their rear. Brick was making { hitch or something and In the mix-uI got a thump on the head which, put | him out of the business. Hes gont clean daft But the smash seems tt
 run in his head - just watch while | flag him."
 The man was about to slink past ul
 when Ross tapped him on the shoulder and suddely asked. Whats the shift | 'Rrick'?"
 The old trainman straightened up 1T
 an Instant: his eyes flashed and look | Ing up and down the line he swung ar
 imaginary lantern and called loudly and clearly:
 Pull the pin on 5o55 and git out Q | hsre-special's right on us. right or us-riEht on u-s-s-," and as suddenly | as he had spoken his head dropped and he slouched off muttering, "righ
 on us right on u-s-s-s-s."
 Did my ears deceive me? That pool
 unfortunate had said something about
 ''5055." He must know something about it. To the surprise of my friend
 I dashed after Kelley. Grasping hiir e.-s .txuoOr>,ra 0E NEINIST