The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-14
$ THE ADVERTISERS
 e DAILY SHORT STORY

 Section Four was the longest section | on the Third Division of the C. and J. | Railroad. It was so long and so many | fatalities had occurred on that stretch of road, that the management decided to call it the Middle Division, thinking thereby to escape the odious name of Dead Mans Section." which 1t was called by railroad men the country over. But call 1t what they would. the man agement could not free that particular portion of their line from the gruesome appellation. The sections on the c. and J. are not eight or ten-mile stretches of track, as
 is the case on Eastern lines, but in stead a hundred and ffty-mile stretch is the usual section on this important
 link in the Great Trans.C1htinental thn fnna
 Star State from the Red River to the Rio Grande.
 Henry Fortune was made division su- perintendent at Folger. the terminus or Section Three, ani the headquarters for | the new Middle Division. And he said always, that 1t was anything but good fortune when he was promoted to that
 position; for until his appointment at at | of lie could be so full of trouble Freight brakemen only-wfth few ex- ceptions-were the ones whom Death
 seemed to single out as his victims; ,;,,aS mnS
  ! met their deaths by falling beneath the l cars while the trains were running east ward between Gregsons and Warm | Springs. Because of the "hoodoo," which rail- | road men said was on Dead Mems Sec | Hon,' it was almost impossible to se- 1 cure reputable employees for the freight | service of the operating department oi | the personnel of the freight trainmen on | that division was composed literally oi | the scum of the earth. And. therefore, II | is not to be wondered at that the lire | of Henry Fortune, superintendent, was not a happy one. The difficulties he eX-
 perienced in handling the polygenous l freight crews were legion; but they were as nothing compared to the depressing | fact that in spite of all precautions Death held the Middle Division in firm CT grasp than ever.
 Although the Middle Division passed | through land of weary desolation, which, with its fiint-like soil; its bound | less unbroken monotony of plains, was enough in itself to depress the spirits oi
 almost any man, yet the Is supsrintenden, .,at never for a moment supposed that any | of his men committed suicide.
 There were but few men in his employ | that did not use liquor. But liquor | could hardly be held accountable Tor the
 strange fatalities on Dead Mems Sec | tion" Other trainmen employed on the division besides freight brakemen drank | just as hard. and yet there were nc
 
 occur on the ordinary railroad;
 One night in early January the Mexl- can Flyer was wrecked between warm | Springs and Gregson's. The superintend-
 ent accompanied the wrecking train t6 the scene of the disaster. It was | wretched night. A heavy storm of slee, | and rain beat down with chilling force | on that barren waste of land, ana Henry | Fortune made it his first duty to see
 that the passengers were taken to Greg sons. and there made as comfortable as | possible in the miserable adobe building | bearing the name of "The Ranger Rest
 The proprietor of this squalid hostelry dividual. He was a tall. lank, sinister seemed to glow with malignant pas sion A seHii-mute, he was unable to ar:
 perfectly rreTtaS ae aat was said to him, There was something about the man that tas' | cinated Henry Fortune, as he watched his shifty. cat-like movements. while dis pensing the vile, '-ellow-looking WHISKY
 over his bar to the motley crowd ol | Aarth-foored barroom. Why 1t was the | superintendent could never tell, but in | tuitively the conviction was sndnenly | forced upon him. that in some way thls
 with the mystery of Dead Men sec
 This opinion, once formed. grew | stronger in the mind of the superinteno.
 ent as time passed ana wheni sD,ll[ Y Flyer" brakeman tumbled between the | cars of his train few miles east ol | Gregsons, and by good luck was pu' l slightly hurt, he set about to lnVest'
 that Dummy Carlos" the proprietor oi
 Sundays story, FROM THE DEMON