Are the abbreviations, used by the author of the following letter, just quotation marks (") which stand for M"->Mr, 26"->26th and 20"->20th or the sign like an exponent is some other different character?
I have to quote exactly certain paragraphs from a few letters, like the one attached, and I have to be sure what sign I should use.
[
May 26, 1904, Letter of Octave Chanute
UPDATE
I am well aware that the dates can be written with st, nd, rd, th as superscripts. However, I have found another letter, this time written by Wilbur Wright and addressed to O. Chanute, and it is clear that W. Wright uses 1st with st as superscript and just below st is a quotation mark (").
Is it possible that O. Chanute, in his May 26, 1904, letter, might have eliminated the th and abbreviated everything just by "?