Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from January 20, 1872

• The editor of the Hickman Courier published a list of improvements needed for the city in the new year. He encouraged the levying of Main Street in West Hickman from Obion Street to Broadway and that the main entrance road to the city be improved to increase travel.
• Three vagrants were arrested on January 13^th for “throwing three card monte” in upper Hickman and fined five dollars each. The men could not pay the fine and thus were held in the city jail.
• A Leap Year Ball was held at the Hickman City Hall on January 16^th. There was a large attendance, and the “grand dance” declared a major success.
• A charity ball was being planned to raise funds for several poor sick people in Hickman.
• John Bessier started a baking and confectionary store on Clinton Street in Hickman.
• Construction on the wharf was moving rapidly and was expected to be completed on time if the weather remained favorable.
• Snowstorm struck Hickman on the night of January 18^th which left the streets difficult to travel on.
• The Mississippi River was falling rapidly at St. Louis and navigation almost entirely suspended.
• A smallpox outbreak was reported in many towns in Kentucky and that citizens of Hickman should vaccinate their children “at once.”
• The Paducah Kentuckian reported that the wife Leopold Helmstatter, a mechanic in the city, was accidently set aflame after an oil can ignited next to her stove on January 14^th. She was able to exit the home but before neighbors extinguish the flames she was “burnt nearly to a crisp.” She lingered in agony for almost a week before succumbing to the pain.
• A fire broke out in Cairo, Illinois that destroyed four tenement houses. The cause of the fire was believed to be an exploded kerosene lamp. Three children and one woman were thought to be dead.
• The Jackson Whig and Tribune of Jackson, Tennessee reported that the business and population in the city had increased more rapidly than any other time in its history. In 1871, 132 buildings were constructed including 29 storehouses and 103 residential homes.
• The president of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, E. W. Cole, stated that a branch railroad from Huntington to Jackson, Tennessee would be built during the summer.
• David R. Dickey of Randolph, Tennessee drank himself to death on January 15^th. He made a bet that he could eat four jars of brandy peaches and drink all the liquor along with two tumblers of whiskey. He reportedly died holding the last peach in his mouth.
• Two iron spans over the Tennessee River were completed by the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad and new iron bridge was being constructed over Mill Creek.