Earl Denton, the sender of postcard #1, was also the sender of this postcard, and the recipient was again Elsie Miller of Crete, Nebraska. He dates this second postcard 1/11/09, exactly one week after the date of his first postcard to Elsie. Earl writes: “Received your letter last PM, was mighty glad to hear from you.” In her letter to Earl, Elsie must have asked him about the “O.R.T.” sign being held by the men in #1, for he explains on this second postcard that “ORT stands for Order (of) Railroad Telegraphers.”

As you can see, the three men pictured here are identified from left to right as “Marshall,” “Warren,” and “Rollins.” In the transition from photo postcard #1 to this photo postcard, though, there was an apparent mix-up regarding the name “Marshall,” for the man identified as “Marshall” in #2 was identified merely as “Agent” in #1, with the name “Marshall” in #1 assigned to another man.

Given the railroad tracks right behind the men, and the presence of tracks in #1, it’s probably safe to assume that this photo was taken in the same immediate area as #1. But, as noted above, Earl has identified the location as “Pawnee” instead of “Union.” Like #1, the post mark for #2 is “Pawnee.”

This postcard likely portrays a continuation of the telegraphers’ Christmas week gathering of photo #1. Note that “Marshall,” with the base viol, has taken his station agent cap off and traded it for something more informal. Perhaps these three are getting ready to perform Christmas music!

REFERENCES: See prior posting.