Letter from W. Huger FitzSimons to 'Sister,' Sept. 8, 1917, on Atlantic Coast Line Railroad letterhead

A typewritten letter on the printed letterhead of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company (the words “Atlantic” and “Railroad Company” visible across the torn header) / Legal Department / Charleston, S.C. The block at upper left reads W. Huger Fitz Simons / Division Counsel / Charleston, S.C. The page is creased and the typescript faded; several passages remain uncertain.

                           Hendersonville, N.C., September 8, 1917.

Dear Sister:—

    I received your letter of the 5th and today at Aunt Louisa’s request went to see her. I read her copy of my letter to Sam of the 3rd inst and explained to her how you inadvertently came to write to her. She was undoubtedly hurt and especially objected to the statement in your letter that wehad a moral right to the Mulberry furniture, to which she did not agree at all, but recognized our attachment to the old things, and said she had understood Sam to say they would have to be sold. Her wish, as I understood her, now is that all the Mulberry things should be equally divided among all of us i.e. the children of Mother and Uncle Thomas, and that it should be done promptly and each one to take the part belonging to him or her. She acquiesces in your suggestion that as Brother had already received some of the Mulberry furniture it should be taken into account in arriving at his share, and also the pieces you mentioned as having been given to Louisa should go to her. Inorder to get at a fair division I [illegible] a correct appraisement of the [pecu]niary value. She [illegible] different pieces and asked her who had appraised the [illegible]. We ascertained from Miss Rebecca Bryan the name of the man was Mr Latour who lives somewhere on Queen St. I told her I would write at once to get Mr Latour to come up here and put a valuation [on] different articles. Aunt Louisa did not ask me for an expression of opinion but simply expressed her disagreement with your view as to the moral right of the matter and I told her what I thought you meant was that under Uncle Theodore’s will she had the legal right to the property but that it morally should go back to the family. No special mention was made of the books but I infered the same disposition is to be made of them. Please see Mr Latour and arrange for him to come up here on Monday or as early next week as possible for I have to go to Charleston the latter part of next week. You can arrange for his compensation and transportation and I enclose a blank check which you can fill out for the required amount advising me of the amount for which it is filled out and getting a receipt from him. Fill out the body of the check with his name, which I do not know, so that it is made payable to his order. Wire me or let him wire me on what train he is coming and I will arrange to have him met at the station. Write to me what he looks like. If he comes on the evening train arriving here early in the morning he can get his breakfast, take the appraisal, and return to Charleston the same day. Now that it has been started I think this matter should be carried through without delay and I know it is Aunt Louisa’s wish. Thank you for sending the books for Reg. Sam’s address is “Member Aviation Section, Signal Corps, United States Expeditionary Force, France.” We got a cable from him Wednesday “Arrived Well”. We have an excellent photograph of him taken in N.Y. James address is “Lieutenant James C. FitzSimons, Camp Mills, Mineola, Long Island, N.Y., 117 Regiment Engineers.” Huger Jr.'s address is “Reserved Officers Training Camp, 4th Battery Field Artillery, Military Branch, Chattanooga, Tenn.”

                                                     Yours aff’ly,

                                                 W. Huger FitzSimons.

Copies to:

    C.F., S.G.F., SSF., and G.S.F.