Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from September 30, 1871
• The Kentucky State Auditor’s Report for 1870 of Fulton County reported the following statistics: 96,000 acres of land, assessed valuation, $833,183; 1,271 town lots, valuation, $165,140; 1,469 horses and mares, valuation, $95,505; 856 mules, valuation, $69,005; 3,307 cattle, valuation, $12,450; 46 stores, valuation, $121,975; under the equalization law, $110,020 with a total assessed valuation of taxable property $1,431,348.
• The old Fulton County Jail was torn down with only the iron cells left standing.
• Fulton County had twenty-two school districts within the Kentucky’s Common School System, each with a grade school. There were also a number of private schools in the county.
• The Hickman Courier reports that there are two steam-manufacturing establishments in the city, the Hickman Steam Wagon Works and Oswald’s Steam Furniture Factory.
• S. Levi opened a Liquor and Cigar Store on Clinton Street in Hickman.
• The house of Richard Owens of Hickman was totally destroyed by fire on September 30th. The loss was valued at over $2,000. He had no insurance.
• On September 23rd a squad of Federal Soldiers arrested J. N. Patterson, R. N. Wade, J. Lee, A. J. Farmer and W. Booth in Hickman for “Kukluxing.”
• The Lodge of Good Templars held their regular meeting on September 26th in Hickman, where several new members were sworn in. Some members of the lodge were rehearsing dramatic scenes from the “Drunkards Life” for a future performance.
• The Hickman Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons met at the Masonic Hall on September 27th.
• The ladies of Hickman were “greatly bothered” the past week on account of a scarcity of house servants.
• Professor Webster, the balloonist, ascended toward the clouds on the evening of September 27th before a crowd of over thousand people. The balloon reached the height of about a quarter mile before descending and landing in a cornfield a mile distant from the county fairgrounds.
• The road from Hickman to the Fulton County Fairgrounds was “a very cloud of dust from early morn to sunset.”
• The Hickman Brass Band Ball, held at the City Hall, was very well attended and the “well measured steps of the dancers were graceful and airy.”
• An Italian harper and fiddler was a sensation as he played in Hickman during the county fair.
• A string band of black citizens from Hickman gave nightly performances at local saloons during the week. The reviews were very good.
• Frank Miller’s Beer Garden provided “music and amusements” every night during the county fair.
• Bart Hale of Columbus died after an accident that occurred during the harness horse race at the county fair on September 29th. Hale was thrown from his buggy headfirst into a post and run over by other carriages after his horse became spooked and ran about uncontrollably. William McConnell, of Fulton County, was kicked by the horse while attempting to aid Hale and seriously wounded.
• A brakesman was badly stabbed in a railroad car near Hickman when attempting to defend women being aggravated by a drunk man. The attacker was subdued at Waverly, Tennessee after publically boasting of his deed.
• It was reported that band of horse thieves headquartered in the neighborhood of Fulton Station had stolen a number of horses and mules in the region.
• Eight to ten thousand people attended the Old Pioneer’s Meeting at Mayfield. Reverend Willis White, Ed Crossland, Ervin Anderson, Judge W. P. Fowler, J. B. Husbands, Judge R. K. Williams, Judge A. R. Boon and Alex Willingham addressed the large audience. One man claimed to be 114 years of age and first came to the Jackson Purchase in 1782.
• The Teachers Institute for the First Congressional District was in session at Paducah from September 29th to October 1st.
• A charter for the proposed levee from Hickman to Tiptonville was being prepared to submit to the Tennessee Legislature, which was to assemble in October.
• James Lawrie and C. O. Allard, both of Paducah, were to fight a duel but a compromise avoided the confrontation.
• The Columbus Dispatch reported that cattle in Hickman County were dying at an alarming rate.
• An outbreak of hog cholera wiped out all the hogs in Calloway County and a large number in Graves County.
• Henry Wolfe, a resident of Wadesboro, was found in his cornfield last week with a self-inflicted knife wound to the neck. He was discovered by a family member unable to speak. He died a short time afterwards. He was believed to be 108 years of age.
• Upcoming fairs included: Weakley County, Dresden, October 18-21; Obion County, Union City, October 3-7; Paducah, October 11; Jackson, October 31; Brownsville, October 3; Humboldt, October 24; McKenzie, October 26; and Paris, Tennessee, October 3.
• Dyer County had a voting population of “2,710 whites and 629 colored” according to the Tennessee Secretary of State.
• The Southern Illinois Methodist Conference was in session during the week in Cairo.
Jackson Purchase Historical Society