Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from September 23, 1871
• The Fulton County court met and appointed road surveyors to construct and repair roads in the county. The court also attached a part of the Johnson’s Precinct to the city of Hickman, which was expected to increase the number of voters by twenty-five.
• A squad of Federal soldiers from Humboldt, Tennessee visited Hickman on September 19th to arrest a man named Bud Wade. He was charged with killing a black man in Obion County. The soldiers proceeded to Obion County to arrest five other men charged with the same offence.
• Sheriff George W. Jackson and Lewis W. Danforth captured James Snow, charged with killing Dan Lacewell, nine miles from Union City. Snow was found at his home heavily armed and initially unwilling to surrender without a fight. Sounder minds prevailed and he surrendered peacefully.
• The Hickman Courier reported that merchants in the city were “literally buried amid the ocean of new goods” and carried large stocks of merchandise. The firms of J. H. Plaut & Brothers and W. B. Benny listed the largest number of goods and profits in their history.
• A Cincinnati firm owned by S. Levi planned to establish a wholesale liquor and cigar house in Hickman.
• The store of Rice & Brothers had rooms fitted in the Robinson Block in Hickman and planned to be in operation soon.
• The Common School trustees of Fulton County planned to rent the hall at Miller’s Garden in Hickman to establish a District Free School.
• The Fulton County Fair was to be held at Hickman from September 26th to October 1st.
• The Hickman Courier suggested that every man, woman and child from Hickman attend the Fulton County Fair on September 27th to “see the whole people together.”
• The train President Cole offered half fare to Hickman for people attending the county fair.
• Young gentlemen in Hickman considered forming a debating society or thespian club to meet during the winter months.
• A man was reported to be taming snakes in Hickman.
• Episcopal services were to begin at the Methodist Church on September 24th at 11 o’clock. Reverend N. N. Cowgill would perform the service.
• An unnamed woman from Hickman nearly committed suicide after believing her husband had committed suicide. Both were alive and well at time of publication.
• Emerson Etheridge stated he planned to attend the Fulton County Fair and would deliver an address.
• Some citizens in Hickman wished the female property holders in the city be represented in the city council. They claimed women owned a large proportion of real estate within the city and that taxation without representation is “un republican.”
• The people of Fulton Station contemplated incorporation to be a city.
• Andy Barnes, a black man accused of stealing a horse in Fulton Station and later captured at Dresden, Tennessee, was forcibly removed from the possession of his guards by a party of disguised men and shot on the State Line Road. His body was found left by the side of the road.
• The Milburn Male and Female Institute had between seventy and seventy-five students attending the school.
• Lucy Ellen Wilkins, the thirteen-year-old daughter of Alexander and Mary Wilkins, died at Cayse Station on August 17th.
• Mary Ann Hudson, the seventeen-year-old daughter of J. H. Hudson, was kidnapped and carried away from her home twenty miles west of Paducah on September 3rd. The search for her was ongoing at the time of newspaper’s publication.
• The Paducah Fair was to commence on October 11th and continue for three days.
• A project to build a narrow gauge railway from Paducah to Paris, Tennessee received support from both cities and towns along the proposed route.
• The Paducah home of Dr. Richardson, on the corner of Oak and Clay, was set aflame by an incendiary but was quickly extinguished before causing any material damage. Arthur Woolfolk was placed under arrest on suspicion of arson.
• The Paducah Kentuckian states that J. M. Bigger, John W. Blue and John Martin would likely be candidates for Congress for the First District.
• The Circuit Court was scheduled to meet at the Hickman County Courthouse in Clinton on September 25th.
• A young man by the name of Houydeshall was accidently killed after being thrown off a mule near Tiptonville, Tennessee on September 19th.