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Frank WakefieldAshville & Murphy... the Murphy Branch ran between Ashville NC and Murphy NC. Ashville is a city, to the southwest, in the corner of the state, is Murphy. The line only runs as far as Andrews now...
I think a kid did both cards. Different kids. It looks to me that the Thornton card is cancelled Dec 25, 1909. Multiple times. Without reinking the stamp. That's what a kid would do. Bang away at it.
I think the other cancellation is from the Washington, Frederick, and Gettysburg Railway, and it has a date of August 20, 1910. The line ran, obviously, from our nation's capitol, Washington DC, to Gettysburg, or at least that was the plan for it.
Again, I think this is the result of a kid banging away with a stamp. An adult who worked the mail car would have most likely not done this, or if they had they'd have inked the stamp before using it. All of these strikes are a bit weak.
My Mom told me that when she was a kid, 7 years old, she'd ride the Louisville & Nashville Railroad from Franklin, KY at the state's southern boarder, up to Louisville. About 130 rail miles... She'd do that alone. Her Aunt would pick her up at the station. The train folks would keep an eye on the kids. Other people who lived that time have told me similar stories. The idea of putting a 7 or 8 year old on a train by themselves seems a bit careless by today's standards. But I think lots of kids were on the trains 100 years ago.
I'd imagine someone on the train gave the kid a card. And the opportunity came along to pound that card with the cancellation stamp (the little snot-nose couldn't reach the ink pad), then wham, wham, wham!