  We present ROSAT observations of two luminous L~10^44 erg/s EMSS galaxies,
MS1019+5139 and MS1209+3917, previously classified as 'cooling flow' galaxies.
MS1019+5139 does not appear to be spatially extended (<13 kpc) while its
spectrum is well fit by a power law with Gamma = 1.73 +0.19-0.18; X-ray
variability on a timescale of ~ years is also clearly detected. MS1209+3917
shows no evidence of spatial extension (<50 kpc) but it shows variability,
while its spectrum can be fit with thermal bremsstrahlung emission (kT=1.8
+0.9-0.4 keV) or a power law model (Gamma = 2.50 +0.44-0.42, but with excess
photoelectric absorption above the Galactic value). All the above argue against
thermal emission from a group of galaxies or a galaxy but in favour of an AGN
(possibly BL Lac) interpretation. We conclude that no 'normal' galaxies with
high X-ray luminosities have yet been detected in the EMSS survey that could be
significant contributors to the X-ray background.
