SEARCH FOR A HERO

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 16, 19 January 1924, Page 16

SEARCH FOR A HERO

GENERAL OGLETHORPE'S BODY FOUND.

During last October excavations were made at the little village church of Cranham, Essex, in connection with the search for the coffin containing tho remains of the late General Ogelthorpo, the founder- of Georgia, U.S.A. The inhabitants of that province wore anxious to do honour to the founder of their State, and Dr. Thormvell Jacobs, president of the Oglethorpe University of Atlanta, Georgia, was in^ England for the purpose of seenring permission to remove the body to America. The coffin was found at the spot indicated on the wall-tablet to, General Ogle-, thorpe's' memory as the whereabouts ofhis vault, No other graves wero.dis.turbed or. even touched, md only ouethird of the "space in which excavation was allowed by the Chancellor's faculty was opened.:. Within theibrickvault the two coffins were found in- perfect condition. The name-plates were still bright and easily decipherable. One bore the words: . ■:..■..■ • General Oglethorpe, 1785, .the other ■ ■ Lady Elizabeth Oglethorpe, 1787. If permission is granted by the Chancellor of the Diocese of Chejmsford, the coffin of the general's wiie will be reverently removed with that of her husband, in order that both may rest side by side,in Georgia, as in England. Dr. Jacobs told a " Daily Chronicle" representative that the moment of discovery was the greatest of his life. ''For me," he said, "nothing can ever compare with tho solemn reverence 1 felt when I entered the vault. 1 firmly believe it to have been one of the greatest moments in the relations of the Jinghsh-speaking peoples. It came to my mind suddenly that James Edward Oglethorpe was ho longer a heap of dust 'greatest moments in the relations of the most powerful personality, in the State oE Georgia. I believe that his inflnence tor good will b e wider and more powerful in the two centuries following from now than in the two which have passed I am constantly receiving cables from all over America expressing the appreciation or our people at the gift which we hopp will be made to u s of the dust oi our beloved founder."