By the late 1800s Otis Bigeloe had the largest mule trading business west of the Mississippi River and had made a fortune. When motorized transportation ended the need for drayage animals, Otis’s son, Vincent, moved to Memphis. There, he and his son, Palmer, prospered with investments in residential and commercial properties in the Bluff City. The three Bigeloes were also collectors of loose, cut, flawless diamonds that were stored in a vault room above the penthouse level of one of their properties; The Exchange Building in downtown Memphis where fourth generation Jack Bigeloe and his mother, Lottie, lived in separate suites at opposite ends of the 19th floor. For as long as his mother lived Jack was denied access to the diamonds and the Bigeloe estate. This hostility ramped up when Lottie’s maintenance man/caretaker, Martin Sturling, died while planning to steal the diamonds. When Jack discovered the plot, 20 years in the Army and six as a private investigator had not prepared him for the events of that 1994 Easter weekend when his world exploded.
