Jackson Purchase Historical Society

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

• The crops of Fulton and Hickman counties were reported to be “better than ever known in the history of this section.”
• Continued wet weather in the region reduced trade in Hickman and prevented farmers from bringing in their wheat.
• Two railroad workers playing with knives at the Planters House in Hickman led to one being severly cut in the throat. Though the man bled profusely, he survived the incident.
• The Beach Wood Seminary in Hickman was scheduled to begin the fall session on September 2^nd.
• The taxes for building a Free School House were being collected in Hickman by the County Sheriff.
• Th principal of the Hickman Free School, Professor L. M. Boyle, was gardening and farming as he awaited the start of the fall session.
• Hickman preacher Joseph H. Roulhac was called to take charge of a Christian Church in Liberty, Missouri and left for the city on July 13^th.
• The Fulton County Court was scheduled to meet on July 22^nd.
• No candidates had yet been found to run for the office of Fulton County Coroner. The election was to be held in a few weeks.
• An election for County Magistrate in the Lodgton Precinct was to be held in August to replace J. N. Walgamott, who resigned a month earlier.
• The scheduled barbeque and fish fry to be held at Sassafras Ridge on July 18^th was cancelled due to heavy rains.
• The Rural Academy at Jordan Station planned to commence classes in September. The school was managed by Professor F. F. Jones and his assistant Miss Emeline McConnell.
• The Paducah Daily News reported a mass gathering to support Horace Greeley for President on July 13^th. The meeting was held at the Market House and Representative Ed Crossland participated in the event.
• Regular trips from Louisville to Paducah were being run on the newly completed Elizabethtown & Paducah Railroad.
• A mass meeting was scheduled for July 25^th in Tiptonville, Tennessee to discuss the proposed levee and railroad from Hickman to Madrid Bend. The meeting was organized by the Hickman & Lake County Railroad and Levee Company,
• The celebration held at Woodland Mills, Tennessee on July 17^th was well attended. Temperance addresses were made Judge A. D. Kingman and Reverend Burton, and Obion County candidates for local offices debated for hours.
• J. W. McSlarrow, a druggist at the store of Hiblett & Hughs in Dyersburg, Tennessee, eloped with a married woman by the name of Thomas on July 14^th. McSlarrow a had wife and several children residing in Salt Creek, Missouri. The couple were last spotted in Cottonwood Point, Missouri on July 16^th.
• The Melrose Institute in Trenton, Tennessee planned to begin the fall session on August 26^th.
• George Whitcomb, a prominent resident of Southeast Missouri, died at his home in Charleston on July 18^th. He was the founder of the Charleston Courier.