Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from April 1, 1871
• J. J. Hickman, the Grand Sachem of the temperance cause in Kentucky, was reported to have delivered ninety-five lectures since January 1, 1871. He also organized forty-three new lodges with over 1,700 members during the same time period.
• A tornado struck Boydsville in Grave County on March 29th killing several people. The Mayfield Democrat reported the twister was 60 yards wide and traveled roughly two miles.
• A writer from Calloway County states that the wheat crop looks “splendid” and the “prospect for a heavy crop never looked better.” He expected a large crop of tobacco and corn if the weather stays consistent.
• Dan Rice’s Circus was scheduled to have a show in Hickman on April 3rd. Billboards and posters on walls and fences can be seen all over the city.
• A group of citizens presented a motion to the Hickman City Council for a night policeman to protect the streets and stores. They proposed one half the expenses to be paid by the merchants and the other half by the city. John W. Cole was nominated to be night officer at a salary of $50.
• Longtime resident Thomas J. Godman died at age seventy-five.
• The long pending law suit between Kentucky and Missouri over the ownership of Wolf Island was decided in favor of Kentucky.
• W. L. Gardner was elected City Tax Collector for Hickman.
• The City of Hickman resolved to build a market house two stories in height and 25×60 feet in size. The top story would serve as a city hall.
• The Odd Fellows of Hickman plan to celebrate the organization’s anniversary in Kentucky on April 26th with “speeches, processions and supper.”
• A man by the name of Neut Reynolds was found hung from a tree near Wheeling on Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee on March 25th.
• Beech Hill Seminary in Hickman declared there to be seventy-three scholars attending classes at the college.
• The election for Common School Trustees for the district occurred on April 1st.
• The grocery store of John Troutwine in Hickman was broke into and robbed on the night of March 27th. Mr. Troutman declared a loss of $300 or $400 worth of groceries.
• Local businessmen continue to promote the plan to construct a railroad connection to Hickman from West Tennessee via Dyersburg and Troy.
• The Hickman City Council granted H. F. Cheatham and John C. Heinz a business license to open a coffee house. The council also presented an ordinance to fix the price of licenses for hotels at $50 and $300 for bars kept within a hotel.
• State legislator W. M. Hamlin, from Calloway County, died at Louisville on the Steamer Blue Wing on March 25th. He was twenty-seven years old.
• State Senator H. A. Tyler and Representative George W. Silvertooth were to address the people of Hickman at the Fulton County Court House on April 3rd.
• The ghost of John A. Murrell had reportedly appeared at Bolivar, Tennessee.
• The Paducah Kentuckian encourages Thomas H. Corbett to seek re-election for State Representative for Ballard County.
• The Paducah Herald reported that a company of United States Troops landed at Paducah on March 27th with no explanation on why they arrived.
• The Trenton Gazette described the murder of James Corley by Jack Terrell on March 25th. The feud between the two men began during the Civil War when one served in the Union Army and the other in the Confederate Army.
• Erbin H. Pace, of Benton, Kentucky, was killed by a post beam of an old house while attempting to pull it down to repair the structure. He was crushed by the beam almost instantaneously.
Jackson Purchase Historical Society