Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from August 26, 1871
• Water was becoming scare as cisterns in Hickman were drying up.
• A shooting occurred between two men at the African Methodist Church in Hickman. No injuries were reported.
• The construction of the new Fulton County jail will begin in Hickman in September. David Chapman was contracted to construct the jail for $1,950.
• The levee across from Mud Creek Bottom near Hickman was completed.
• Noonan & Co. were contracted to construct a bridge across the Bayou de Chien for $1,250.
• There were four prisoners in the Fulton County jail awaiting trial in the Circuit Court, which scheduled for August 28th.
• The steamer Illinois was making semi-weekly trips from Cairo to Hickman.
• The Planters House in Hickman is considered one of the best hotels in Western Kentucky.
• The Grand Tournament to be held at the Hickman Fair Grounds on September 1st was reported to have stirred up interested in Paducah, Cairo, Columbus, Mayfield and Union City. Emerson Etheridge wrote that he would try to attend but was uncertain if his schedule would allow it. The steamer Illinois agreed to bring visitors from Cairo and other points along the Mississippi River. A train from Huntingdon, Tennessee planned to bring visitors for half price.
• The Mayfield Democrat reports that ten to fifteen thousand people were expected to attend the Jackson Purchase Pioneer’s Festival in Mayfield next month.
• Ed K. Warren sold the Mayfield Democrat to R. J. Beaumont.
• E. W. Bagby established a weekly Republican newspaper in Paducah.
• Unemployed printers in Paducah organized a joint stock company to begin publishing a new Democratic newspaper.
• Professor J. Harvey Gardner, who swindled people at Fulton Station, was conducting the same swindle in Missouri.
• Numerous sundry mules and horses had been stolen in Ballard County.
• A paper was circulated in Obion County to receive subscriptions to defray the cost of having a new county line surveyed.