The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-28
TRACK LAID AT NIGHT
A SURPRISE TO THE. CITIZENS
 OF SELMA.
Work Done After Midnight in Order to Prevent the Securing of an Injunction-Central
 City News.
Advertiser Bureau.

{, Selma, March 2l.
 Last night was dark and drear and
 rainy, the thunder roared and the light l ming flashed, but all did not prevent rail- | road track-laying in Selma. and when the | city awoke this morning 1t was found ! that a large squad of railroad hands had been hard at work in the pelting rain | and had laid track across Lawrence | Street, up Bow Street, to Green Street. l The track connects with the yard tracks | of the Southern Railroad.
 A few days ago the Street Committee of the City Council granted C. w. Hooper & Co. a permit to run track up Bow Street to Green, crossing Lawrence Street. The permit stipulated that c. w. Hooper & Co.,, should have the right to run across Lawrence Street and up Bow Street to Green Street, and that all rail- roads should have the right to haul freight over the track without cost. This stipulation was put in to prevent one railroad shutting another off from the use of the extended track up Bow Street. C. w. Hooper & Co. control the Plant ers Warehouse at the intersection of Green and Bow Streets. The track laid last night gives them access to this warehouse. where they can store their heavy groceries. bagging and ties. In fact they can close up their establish ment on Water Street, if they see proper and do all of their business from the Planters Warehouse. They will thus save drayage to and from the depot, which will be handsome sum when the whole years business is taken into con- sideration.
 The laying of this track across Law renee and up Bow Street last night caus- | ed great fiutter among the wholesale grocery merchants on Water Street this morning. Some of them think that 1t frrAx -ASA L.. him. and 1t Is now proposed to extend the track up Bow Street to Washington Street, to the bridge across the Alabama, just in the rear of the St. James Hotel. If this is done, 1t will bring all of the stores from Green Street to Washington, on the south side of Water Street, into active demand, as freight cars can be unloaded from Peacock's Alley into the
 back door of any of them. and the whole- sale merchants will then move across Water Street to get advantage of the cheap rates, as the extension up Bow Street and the new track up Peacock's Alley will be at the back doors of all ths stores on those two blocks.
 A fight has been going on for years to
 extend the Southern's track up Bow Street to Washington, and the Western has been making an equally desperate ef- fort to get down Peacock's Alley. Now
 
 renee Street and has run down to Green Street. using Bow Street for It's tracks, 1t looks like it would be only fair to al- low the Western to parallel that system by going across Lawrence and running down Peacock's Alley, as far as Wash- ington Street
 A prominent member of the City Coun- ell informed your correspondent this morning that this would be done and that no one need be surprised If the
 Western and L. and N. were granted the exclusive right over the track down Pea cocks Alley, as far as they wanted to extend the track.
 The laying the track down Bow Street last night across Lawrence to Green Streets, reminded a good many of the scheme that was carried through several years ago, when the E. T., V. and c. ex- tended its track down the street where 1t now runs to the union depot on the right-of-way granted to the Selma Street Car line. There was a great deal of ex- citement in Selma the next day and much talk about the removal of the tracks, but the Southern is still in possession of that Street, and 1t Is more than likely that the track laid last night will remain where it Is. and all talk about taking it up by force or by law will blow over as soon as the excitement incident to last nights work shall have died out little
 It was suspected that the track would be laid last night and newspaper men staid at the freight depot of the South ern until 12 o'clock waiting for the fun to begin. Everything was so quiet up to that hour that the faithful newsgatherers concluded that the rain had caused a postponement of the job. and they left for their homes. They had not been gone thirty minutes before fifty railroad hands, dressed in rubber hats and oilcloth over coats. lanterns in one hand and picks in the other, arrived on the scene, and the construction boss gave his orders and the negroes started to work with a good will, for there was big wages in it for them. on account of the cold, pelting rain | But 1t was the very sort of a night for such performance to take place. for everybody. including the police, were kept in doors by the great downpour of rain and the dull thud of the pick and the sharp ring of the hammer, as the spikes , were driven into the cross-ties was | drowned by the heavy roar of thunder | and the constant splash of the rain off | the tin roofs of the immense warehouses | and large depots near at hand. |
 When the merchants and business men came down town between and g o'clock | this morning and alighted from the cleo | tric cars in front of their places of bus | mess, the last spikes were being driven | and the ends of the cross-ties were be- | ing covered with mud. The work of lay ing the track had been completed and all | fear of an injunction to prevent the nut ting down of the rails had departed