Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from October 19, 1872

• Hickman City Council met on October 16^th to address the report of the Finance Committee, which discussed the payment of salaries and contract workers for the city. The council members agreed to amend the Market ordinance. The ordinance declared that all persons that sold meats in the city, other than at the Market House, were required to pay a license fee of $3.00.
• The residence of a Mr. Adams in Hickman was broken into on the night of October 12^th and the family was robbed of “sundry articles to the value of $65 or $70.” Adams was a large stave dealer in Hickman.
• The vote to construct a levee from Hickman to Madrid Bend was held on October 19^th by landowners to be effected by the project. The results were not counted at the time of publication.
• The Fulton County Court of Claims was in session during the past week and set a poll tax for the upcoming year of $2.00.
• Thaddeus W. Thomas, the former press foreman at the Hickman Courier, was sent to the Lunatic Asylum at Lexington by order of the Fulton County Court.
• A woman refugee from the Osceola, Arkansas arrived in Hickman where she described atrocities associated with racial violence. She stated about eighty African Americans were killed and many more fled in every direction for protection. The white population of the city refused to yield to the State militia and were petitioning for Federal troops to occupy the town. Three black men from Hickman allegedly participated in violence.
• T. Tyler was elected school commissioner for Fulton County.
• Former members of the 3^rd Kentucky Mounted Infantry Regiment (Confederate) renounced the Republican candidate for Congress Henry H. Houston. Houston served as a captain with the regiment during the Civil War.
• The Columbus Dispatch reported that an application was made before the City Council to change the boundaries and reduce the city limits. Those sponsoring the bill declared that expenses were too heavy and “something’s got to be done.”
• A section boss on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, near Columbus, shot and killed a black woman on October 17^th. The murderer escaped and had yet to captured.
• Willis White was elected School Commissioner and Ferdinand J. Hess elected County Attorney in Hickman County.
• Hickman County petitioned the State Legislature to repeal the Columbus city charter and to grant a town corporation instead. City taxes were “more than the people can bear.”
• Dillon Campbell was acquitted of the charge of murder of Bettie Warden by the Ballard County Circuit Court.
• The Mayfield Democrat reported that Republican candidate for Congress Henry Houston refused to debate John Bolinger at the Graves County Courthouse on October 17^th. John Bolinger was a prominent Lincoln Republican during the Civil War but supported Greeley for President.
• Isaac Trabue, Republican candidate for Congress, told party members at Golden Pond that if they did not vote for him, they “might go hell and be damned.”
• The new rolling mill at Paducah commenced operations with 100 employees and began producing 18 to 20 tons of iron a day.
• Large deposits of iron ore were found in Lyon County on a hill owned by the Elizabethtown & Paducah Railroad.
• The Democratic and Republican candidates for Congress, John Martin, Ed Crossland, and Isaac Trabue, met at Princeton at the Caldwell County Courthouse on October 18^th. Trabue defended the Grant administration while Crossland and Martin criticized the administration and proclaimed their support for government pensions for Confederate veterans.
• The Democrats and Liberals had a grand demonstration at Cairo, Illinois on October 19^th. Some residents of Hickman attended the gathering.
• Effie Lee French, four-year-old daughter of Thomas M. French, died at the residence of S. W. Lauderdale in Hickman on October 14^th. The cause of death was not mentioned.