Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from October 14, 1871
• The Hickman City Council met on October 11th where they paid W. J. Cole and Nelson Hildreth $10.00 for serving as temporary night policemen during the county fair. W. L. Gardner was paid $1.25 for removing dead carcasses and Joseph Amberg was compensated for work done on the riverbank in front of Old Hickman. Wharfmaster W. L. Gardner reported he collected fees totaling $95. A coffee house license was issued to H. F. Cheatham and John C. Heinze for six months. The City Marshal was directed by the Council to move the city’s archives to the new City Hall.
• Several lamp explosions occurred in Hickman with “near serious results.” Fires at J. Amberg’s clothing department, and the residences of William Cole and Thomas Buck were fortunately extinguished before any serious damage happened.
• The Mississippi River was reported to be 33 feet and 6 inches below the high water mark of 1867, which was lower than it had been in over twenty years.
• A. S. Anderson, a saddler, had relocated his shop in Hickman to the corner of Bondurant and Drury.
• The New York Store in Hickman relocated from Millet block to the Robinson block on Clinton Street.
• Downing & Urie’s Fine Art Gallery in Hickman opened its doors to the public to “examine their work.”
• The stockholders of the Fulton County Agricultural Society discussed selling the organization’s present property and erecting a new one in West Hickman.
• The bridge across the Bayou de Chien was near completion and would be ready to serve the community soon.
• T. M. French was employed by the Hickman Free School to teach for the upcoming semester.
• The Hickman German Academy was reported to be in a “flourishing condition.”
• The Beech Wood Seminary had opened and showed an encouraging number of students.
• A group of young men from Hickman proposed forming a debate society.
• Billie Roach, of Fulton County, stated he killed three squirrels with one shot on October 7th.
• John A. Lauderdale, of Hickman, was resting in Red Springs in Sumner County, Tennessee after a prolonged illness. He was soon expected to lose his eyesight.
• Drought conditions had caused farmers in the region to commence gathering corn earlier than planned.
• Congressman Edward Crossland announced that he wished to appoint a young man from the First Congressional District as a cadet to West Point. Interested candidates were to apply to his address in Mayfield.
• The tobacco crop in Ballard County was reported as being “very indifferent.”
• An editorial in the Hickman Courier claims that many citizens in the Jackson Purchase, particularly the counties of Hickman and Fulton, desired the region to be removed from the Commonwealth of Kentucky and attached to the State of Tennessee. Geographical, historical and cultural commonalities with Tennessee were discussed along with the “rapid reduction of taxation promised by the present Tennessee Legislature” which only raised more public support for the proposition.
• Funds were appropriated for the building of a bridge near Fulton Station by the Court of Claims on October 9th.
• A “radical” newspaper titled the Paducah Journal was to be published in the city by a “stock company.”
• Thomas Reeves, Tobacco Inspector residing in Paducah, had his horse stolen while attending a nearby church. Reeves’ son and several other young men spotted the thief and pursued the bandit until the horse was found along side of the road. The thief traded horses and took off but Reeves’ son continued the pursuit until he captured him in Missouri. The thief was returned to Paducah and lodged in the city jail on October 11th.
• The Woman’s Rights League of Kentucky planned a meeting at the City Hall in Hickman for October 16th. The object of the meeting was to organize a “subordinate” society in Fulton County.
• Moses Amberg was appointed Postmaster at Tiptonville, Tennessee.
• The Nashville and Northwestern Railroad had contracted to build an iron bridge over the Tennessee River at Johnsonville, which was to be completed by January of 1872.
• The Nashville and Northwestern Railroad Company was purchased by the Nashville and Chattanooga Company, however the Supreme Court may reverse the decision ordering the sale.
• Whit Thomas and Leonard Glover, both formerly from Paducah, published the first issue of the Dyersburg Progress.
• At knife fight at the St. Charles Hotel in Cairo, Illinois led to the death of George Taylor by Charles Walker. Walker reportedly escaped that night.
Jackson Purchase Historical Society