As Aunt Delia McCormick phrased it, she was not in "heavy
mourning,"--merely "in light distress."
The town was content to let it go at that, especially after the
adjustment of certain formalities which enabled the widow for a time to
suspend her work of ministering to its higher wants.
The railway company had at first, it appeared, been disposed to view
its removal of Potts very lightly indeed; not only because of his
unimposing appearance, but by reason of his well-attested mental
condition at the time of the occurrence--a condition clearly
self-induced, and one that placed him beyond those measures of safety
which a common carrier is obliged to exercise in behalf of its patrons.
But a package of letters had been discovered among the meagre belongings
of the unfortunate man, and these had placed the matter in a very
different light. They showed conclusively that the victim had been of
importance, a citizen of rare values in any community that he might
choose to favor with his presence.
Truman Baird settled the case and, after these letters had been
appraised by the corporation's attorney, he succeeded in extorting the
sum of eight hundred dollars from the railway as recompense to the widow
for the loss of her husband's services.
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