Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from February 28, 1874

• The Hickman City Council met on February 25^th where the Finance Committee paid John Troutweine $5.00 for coal and fined John Heinze $50 for court fees.
• The Hickman Courier reported that trade in Hickman had been “remarkably good this season” and that merchants bought more cotton in the past year than in the last ten years. The firm of Powell & Brothers declared that they were “carrying a larger stock than any Paducah house” and selling at lower prices.
• The Knights of Pythias wished to establish an order in Hickman and sought members to join.
• Congressmen Ed Crossland and James B. Beck, of Lexington, Kentucky, were involved in a verbal conflict on the floor of United States Congress over a bill related to the free transmission of public documents through the mail. Crossland was reported to have rushed to the seat of Beck and placed his fist to the face of Beck and screamed “several very vulgar epithets.” The two were separated before any “blows had been struck.”
• Judge A. R. Boon, District Judge of the First District, delivered lectures during his court sessions this term on the temperance movement. The Good Templars Advocate declared him to be “an honor to the district.”
• Candidate announcements for public office included: Oscar Turner of Ballard County and A. R. Boon of Graves County for Congress, Thomas G. Poore for Court of Appeals Clerk; Thomas Robertson of Graves County, W. G. Bullitt of McCracken County, F. M. Ray of Hickman County and J. M. Bigger for Circuit Judge; John F. Tyler and J. T. Branham for Fulton County Sheriff; John Wilson for Fulton County Clerk; Robert McConnell for Fulton County Surveyor; and John D. Taylor for Fulton County Jailer.
• The Paducah Kentuckian stated that drunkenness in Mayfield increased since closing the saloons. The Mayfield newspaper responded that the “Police Court has little or no business.”
• The Mayfield Temperance Banner announced the candidacy of A. B. Stubblefield for County Attorney.
• The Columbus Dispatch reported that a woman killed a man aboard the steamer City of Vicksburg between Cairo and Columbus on February 27^th. The woman slit the throat of the man with a razor blade. The woman was taken into custody and brought to Hickman.
• A bill in the State Legislature to amend the charter of Fulton failed and thus incorporation of the city was stalled for another two years.
• The Paducah scheduled a vote on a proposition to restrict all sales of “spirituous, vinos or malt liquors” within city limits.
• The Paducah Kentuckian reported that Blount Hodge, of Smithland, who was poisoned a short time ago was in full recovery. James Hodge, his legitimate son, was believed to have poisoned his father. Blount Hodge had recently changed his will to leave a “large bulk” of his property to a black woman and her children he had been living with for several years.
• The Eddyville Telegraph reported a series of “swindling practiced upon farmers” in the region. Others noted that these swindlers were not swindlers but connected to the Grangers.
• Colonel Fent Sims of Trigg County announced himself as candidate for Congress.
• Two steamboats navigated the Forked Deer River, and another planned to enter the Dyersburg, Tennessee trade market.
• The McKenzie Times reports that a “very strange disease” was inflicting cattle in the region which caused several deaths.
• Stephen Board of Obion County, Tennessee married Betia Beadles of Fulton County on February 19^th. James Reed of Graves County married Bettie Chambers of Obion County, Tennessee on February 24^th.