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[heading]Wreckers Find Bishop's Old Will In Razed Building
MEMPHIS (UP) -- A stroke of fate has uncovered a yellowed, almost tattered document written almost a century ago by the first bsihop of the Episcopal diocese of Tennessee.
The five-page document was found in a dilapidated building on the Mississippi riverfront here. There is no certain explanation how Bishop James Henry Otey's "last will and testament" got to the place where it was found.
Nor can it be certain that all the wishes of Bishop Otey were carried out to the letter.
Bishop Otey, on Mar. 22, 1862, had taken pen in hand to write "being of sound mind, and aware of the uncertainty of life, do ordain, make and declare this to be by last will and testament."
Almost 100 years later the will was discovered by a demolition crew wrecking old buildings. The will was among sundry papers of business firms found in a well-preserved wooden box virtually sealed off between ceiling and roof.
Oldtimers here said the building used to be higher, that in years gone by, severl of the floors had been knocked down, a new roof placed over the remaining floors. Thus, the wooden box had rested for years, in a space not more than 18 inches high--between ceiling and roof.
The will showed that Bishop Otey had little cash, but there was some property in Memphis and Chattanooga, Tenn., Arkansas and North Carolina and many church books which he left to his six children with the words:
"I exhort and earnestly bessech my children to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest what is contained in these books, and to give good heed to their teachings as able to make them wise unto salvation, useful in life and happy in death."
In making specific bequests of Bibles, prayer books and other church literature he wrote:
"If I could impart to them the wisdom they (books) contain I should give them that which would be worth to them more than thousands of gold and silver or all else that this world contains."
In his will he disposed of six slaves to remain in the family.
"I especially enjoin that these servants shall not be sold out of the family and that they all be allowed the blessings of Christian worship and instruction."