Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from April 15, 1871
• The editor of the Hickman Courier claims there is not a vacant business house in the city.
• Corn planting has commenced in Fulton County and many farmers have their entire crops planted
• The funeral for Mrs. J. F. Marrs will be held on April 16th at the Baptist Church.
• Rumors had spread that several of the leading businesses in Union City, Tennessee had failed.
• Some prominent ladies in Hickman began to raise money for the purpose of purchasing an organ for the Methodist Church.
• Thomas Garret, formerly of Paducah, took charge of the Hickman Star Band.
• S. W. Rennick, Circuit Court Clerk of Hickman County, died the week before.
• The Hickman City Council contracted W. T. Lineback to construct the new Market House.
• May 14th was declared an anniversary day for decorating graves of Confederate soldiers throughout the South.
• John C. Steele, a suburban resident of Hickman, was robbed of two horses and about 100 pounds of meat from his smoke house.
• The saw mill of Wilson & Brothers, three miles from Hickman, was destroyed by fire on April 7th.
• The kitchen of Jonah Montgomery, four miles from Hickman, was destroyed by fire on April 10th.
• The German population of Hickman celebrated the peace jubilee on April 10th. Jo Miller fired a round from his cannon at dawn and the celebration did not end until late in the evening.
• It was reported in the Hickman Courier that Hickman merchants were selling dry goods at much lower prices than at Paducah. The Paducah papers responded that quality of products in Hickman are not as good as those in Paducah and that Hickman merchants underselling Paducah stores was purely “bosh.”
• Jere Martin, a former business partner at the Hickman Courier, died in Lake City, Florida
• The Hickman City Council passed the Hog Law by unanimous vote. The law declared that all hogs in the city limits shall be “closely mewed up” or they would be impounded and sold by the city at cost. Some citizens vocally contested the law vowing vengeance against the City Marshal or other officers that attempted to enforce it.
• A party of gentlemen from Paducah formed an association called the West Kentucky Colony for the purpose of settling unoccupied lands in Kansas or Colorado.
• Miss F. Shaw was elected May Queen at the Clinton Female Seminary and was to be crowned on May 1st.
• Two young men were hung near Reelfoot Lake for horse theft the week prior.
• T. N. D. Hale, one of the candidates for State Legislature, has withdrawn from the race.
• The International Order of Odd Fellows plan to hold a ball on April 26th at the Planter’s House in Hickman.
• An accident on the Nashville & Northwest Railroad at Gardner Station, Tennessee left several cars damaged but no person was injured.
• Earlier reports of Ed Crossland’s death were found to be incorrect.
• A. W. Blackford, a traveling salesman, gave an exhibition on the new Howe Sewing Machine at H. S. Campbell’s photograph gallery in Hickman.
• Reports from Madrid Bend state that Buffalo gnats were far worse than ever known before. One neighborhood lost between 15 to 20 plow horses to the insect.
• Jack Thompson, of Hickman, returned from New York City where he attended Bellevue Medical College. He seeks to establish a practice sometime soon.
• Henry S. Hale of Graves County declared himself a candidate for the State Senate for the counties of Fulton, Hickman and Graves.
• The people of Graves County plan to hold a convention at Mayfield on April 17th to nominate candidates for county offices.
• George W. Silvertooth, retired representative from Hickman and Fulton counties, gave a speech at the Fulton County Courthouse on April 10th discussing the testimony of black citizens in State courts. The editor of the Hickman Courier remarked that “it was a good speech in 1860 and it’s a good speech now.” The focus of Silvertooth’s speech was that the Civil Rights Bill was unconstitutional and the 14th and 15th amendments were adopted fraudulently.
Jackson Purchase Historical Society