CL65 DEP FROM ATL ABORTS TKOF WHEN OBSERVING ACFT XING RWY DOWNFIELD.

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ATL TWR CLRED US TO POS AND HOLD RWY 26L. AS WE BEGAN OUR TAXI; ATL TWR CLRED US FOR TKOF RWY 26L. AS WE LINED UP ON RWY 26L I XFERRED THE CTLS TO THE FO. AS HE WAS ABOUT TO ADVANCE THE THRUST LEVERS HE POINTS OUT AND SAYS 'IS THERE AN ACFT XING THE RWY?' THE FO WAS CORRECT; AN ACFT JUST STARTED TO CROSS RWY 26L MIDWAY DOWN THE RWY TO JOIN TXWY E. I REGAINED ACFT CTLS AND IMMEDIATELY STOPPED THE ACFT. WE MUST HAVE ROLLED APPROX 10-20 FT. AS I WAS ABOUT TO QUERY ATC; ATL TWR GAVE US INSTRUCTION TO CANCEL TKOF CLRNC AND TO TAXI CLR OF RWY 26L AT OUR FIRST L ENTRANCE. WE COMPLIED AND CLRED RWY 26L AT E13. WE ASKED TO VERIFY THAT WE WERE PREVIOUSLY CLRED FOR TKOF RWY 26L BUT THERE WAS NO RESPONSE. WE ASKED THE TWR ONE MORE TIME AND THE CTLR'S RESPONSE WAS 'I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON' I JUST GOT TO THIS STATION. WE WERE POSITIVE WE DID HEAR THE CLRNC BUT AT THAT TIME WE DID NOT PURSUE ANY FURTHER CLARIFICATION WITH THE TWR. WE EVENTUALLY LEFT ATL WITH NO FURTHER INCIDENTS. DURING FLT; ZTL GAVE ME THE PHONE NUMBER OF MR X (ATL TWR) AND ASKED ME TO CALL IT ONCE I GOT TO MY DEST. I DID EVENTUALLY CALL HIM THAT EVENING. MR X WANTED TO DISCUSS MY POINT OF VIEW OF THE INCIDENT. HE THANKED ME FOR MY INPUT AND ADVISED ME THAT HE WOULD HAVE TO SEND THE CTLR INVOLVED THROUGH RETRAINING.