The age-herald., 1900-05-17
HEATED CONTEST
 WILL BE WAGED In Event of Election of a Bishop
 Coadjutor. DEPENDS ON BISHOP WlLMER Number of Candidates Mentioned for the Place-Efforts to Divide the Diocese Will be Opposed-The Meet
 ing in Mobile
DEPENDS ON BISHOP WILMER

In event that Bishop Winner of the Episcopalean diocese decides to call for the election of coadjutor, a spirited contest will result and from information at hand the friends of the contestants for the place have anticipated the bishops action in the premises, and are already hard at work
 A we'll informed churchman said yester- day that in the event that Bishop Winner called upon the diocesan council now in ses- sion at Mobile to go into the election of a coadjutor bishop, there would be a lively contest, as certain leading members of the council were fixed in their opinion touch- ing the question of the coadjutorship In the first place they were opposed to elect ing a coadjutor until such time as the diocese shall be in a sufficiently strong po- sition financially to support two bishops without strain. In the second place they were opposed to electing any clergyman now stationed in Alabama in the event that Bishop Winner decided in favor of an election at this time.
 Among the prominent clergymen outside of the state who are mentioned in con- nection with the bishopric are the Rev J. R. Winchester of St. Louis, Dr. McKim of Washington, D. C., and Dr. Johnson mis- sionary bishop of Texas. The Alabama candidates are the Rev. MT. Murray of Birmingham, the Rev. MT. Barnwell of Selma, and the Rev. MT. Peabody of Mo bile. It is said that MT. Murray is decid- edly opposed to having his name consider ed In connection with the episcopate Nevertheless his friends are organized and are actively at work in his behalf. It is said that if Bishop wilmer shows a dispo- sition to continue without a coadjutor he will be petitioned to change his mind and call for an election. And in the event that the bishop refuses, the supporters of MT Murray will make an effort, it is said, to have the diocese divided and erect a dio- cese for Northern Alabama to be styled the diocese of Birmingham
 The churchman with whom the reporter talked said that any proposition to divide the diocese, and especially any proposi- tion that looked to naming the new diocese after any town or city would be bitterly fought He said there was no good reason for maintaining two doceses in Alabama, and that if the time ever came when a division would be advisable the new diocese should take it's name not from any city, but as is usually the case in the United States, from the geographical section of the state. In Great Britain every Anglican bishop, following the ancient custom, has a see and a throne, and he is naturally styled the bishop of this that city or town, just as is the rule in the Latin church the world over. But with few eX captions, and these exceptions are compar- atively recent, American bishops derive their titles from state or section.
 It has been stated, on presumably good authority, that Bishop Wimer not only does not wish a coadjutor now but that he has practically made up his mind to do without one the balance of his days.
 The Rev. O. P. Fitzsimons returned yes terday from Montevallo. He had intended proceeding from that point to Mobile for the purpose of being present at the opening of the council. But upon an urgent request from the committee on the Spanish cannon to be present at Capitol Park today and participate in the ceremonies there, he de- cided to forego his trip to Mobile until to- night. Having been an officer in the voun- teers during the war with Spain, MT. Ftz- smons feels a peculiar interest in the cere- monies incident to Birmingham's reception of the war trophy.