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Show i " -Tt. a I :y slery of tte Td Dogr, or, TTu ' t. i "Dtornian. Locoed?" ' '. '.i tale isto'.J vrith. conElieral'. lest 1 .' rasser.gers who rode on an Ashton iv'Mue car "Weanesday morning. The actors In the comely wer a mo-torman mo-torman and conductor, clad In regula-tlon regula-tlon t'ue uniforms ar.l bras3 buttons; a car full of passenger In business and street dress, and, as "supers," a second car crew and its passengers. The hero of the comedy, If he may b 90 called. Is worthy of a more compleU description. From what was seen of fcim, he appeared to be a red-colored dog:, on the Irish Better type, and full ; frown. He had long ears and a bushy tall that reserr.tlei a fox' brush. The car w as bowling along at a merry rate, slc.r.g over the rail la the frosty momlr ? air, and the conductor wu ln-lJe, ln-lJe, taking up the fares. The pasBen-' rers wr Intently razing at the land- scape, save the fortunate few who were perurrg- te morning pa per. -- Buiienly the motorman rang his gong with a clatter and .clang that aroused the passengers from their reveries. Then there was a rattle of the fender as it was released and pounded along on the rails for several rail lengths as the air brakes "swished" and sighed. The passengers were gazing from the windows to see what was on the track. The conductor ran forward through the car and was almost thrown through j the doors as the car came to a standstill with a Jolt that brought som of the passengers to their feet. , ' "What's the matter V cried the conductor.. con-ductor.. .... . -. i . , . . : -r "What's the matter?" echoed th pas- i sengers. . . The motorman said not a word. ' He unfastened the gat at the aide of the vestibule and clambered to the ground. . His face was ashen. The conductor was nervous. . , . Th passengers were curious. Som feared .that a tragedy had - curred. ... 1 ; The motorman looked at th fender, but saw no blood stains. Nor were there any on the wheels of th car. Th car trucks war not covered with gobs of gore. . - The motorman wor a puzzled look. Then he and th conductor walked back four car lengths looking for signs of the tragedy. The motormao stooped and picked up something from th track. While they were so engaged a second car approached and the crew and passenger pas-senger poured out to se what awful thing had happened. The original crew returned, th passengers pas-sengers boarded th car, th bell was clanged and th car moved out on the home t stretch with flv minutes' lost ; time to make up. ... "What was the matter?" queried the conductor. . . - ' ' "What was th matterr, echoed th passengers. . The motorman spoke: ; "A red dog ran on the track ahead of the car back there, and as I tried to stop, the fender struck him and knocked the lower fender down. "The dog did not yelp nor howl and I thought he was a dead one. "I watched to se If he escaped, but know he did not get out from, beneath th fender. 1 wondered If I had killed him and went back. Imagine nry surprise when I stopped th car and saw that there were no blood stains on the car. "I, went back to kill th dog If h were injured, but could not find him. . - VI saw where his tracks crossed to the car track, but there-were none on the opposite side of the track. "What became of him? I could not learn. ' ; - - . ., . "At the point where the fender was knocked down I found this," he said, as he pulled a red rooster feather from his pocket, "so I guess It was a bird-dog." The conductor insisted that the mo-torman mo-torman "had 'em." i |