Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from March 25, 1871
• Floods in West Tennessee have cost a terrible loss of property and injury to regional railroads. The Mobile & Ohio Railroad and Memphis & Louisville Railroad have suffered greatly from the flood waters.
• George Carey of Union City has become connected with the firm J. C. Wilson & Company of New Orleans.
• The Fulton County Circuit Court commences on April 10th and the docket is larger than it has been for several years.
• The funeral for William and Milton Montgomery will be preached at Poplar Grove on April 2nd. Both died of Typhoid Pneumonia during the past week.
• The upper rivers are reported to be falling steadily and the standing water in the lowlands shall be dry enough so as to plant crops soon.
• Hickman has been the scene of several street fights during the past few weeks of March and many fines have been issued.
• John Morrisey, former prize fighter and Congressman from New York, passed through Hickman on March 23rd.
• Fritz Samse announced that he is in the furniture business on Clinton Street in Hickman.
• John Graham of Fulton County was found dead on the railroad track between Moscow and Columbus and is supposed to have been killed by the cars. His body was found cut in two on March 21st.
• The residence of C. L. Randle was totally destroyed on March 22nd by fire. The fire was believed to have originated from a defective flue in the kitchen. The cost of building was estimated at $6,000. A year earlier a house on the same spot, also owned by Randle, burned to the ground.
• The store of J. Amberg was reported to be full from floor to ceiling with dry good supplies and more merchandise was expected in the upcoming days.
• A portion of people from Ballard County are making a move to detach themselves from that county and join Hickman County.
• A. S. Arnold, John W. Malone, J. N. D. Hale and B. R. Walker officially announced themselves as candidates to represent Hickman and Fulton counties in the upcoming election for State Legislature. J. T. Bynum announced his candidacy for Circuit Court Clerk.
• The Trigg County Democrat reported that in the early morning hours of March 18th “a band of five men wearing long red robes, masks and steeple crowned hats” terrorized the cabins of black tenants on the farms of William Wharton and Reverend John White.
• Commissioners were appointed to hear the claims of Southern loyalists for lost or destroyed property during the Civil War.
• A $50,000 law suit was initiated by representatives of the late Colonel Gray, of Fulton County, who was killed accidentally by cars on the Paducah & Gulf Railroad a few months prior near Fulton Station. The suit claims carelessness on behalf of the railroad company for failing to have an alarm at the crossing.
• William Hamlin of Calloway County fell ill in Frankfort and was not expected to recover.
• Five candidates for the State Legislature met at Clinton on March 20th to give speeches and discuss issues with the crowd that gathered. The candidates present were Thomas Gleeson, A. S. Arnold, John W. Malone, J. N. D. Hale and B. R. Walker.
• The Mayfield Democrat reported that on March 8th a 14 year old boy named Robert E. Fristo was pinned under a large fallen oak for two hours but received only minor injuries and no broken bones.
• The Paducah Kentuckian reports that Thomas D. Grundy, who had been removed from the office of McCracken County Sheriff by Congress, was deemed to have qualified for the position after an appeal.
• The Paducah Herald reported that the testimony bill that would allow black citizens to testify in State courts was “virtually killed” in the State Senate. The editor praised the senators that made a “bold and manly front” against any “villainous compromise with Radicalism.”
Jackson Purchase Historical Society