This Week 150 Years Ago in Hickman – March 21, 1874

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from March 21, 1874

• A severe storm on the night of March 17^th caused “considerable damage to the Woodland Mills” and the residence of Dr. Burton which was blown down and his “stock terribly demolished.” A large tree fell upon his house and caved in the roof. James Haynes was killed, and Thomas Haynes seriously injured seven miles south of Hickman after the house they resided in was blown from its foundation.
• The Hickman City Council met on March 16^th. John W. Wingate, City Assessor, presented the city assessment report which was received and filed by the mayor. Wingate was paid $75.00 for developing the assessment. W. H. Lineback, City Marshal, submitted his resignation, which was accepted. He received his first quarter’s pay of $50.00. John W. Cole, Street Commissioner, was nominated and duly elected as the new marshal with J. H. Plant as his deputy. Cole submitted his resignation as Street Commissioner and Pat Judge was elected as his replacement. The Council approved a $25.00 raise per quarter for the City Marshal. George Warren was directed to publish the proceedings of the Council for $75.00 semi-annually. J. H. Davis was allowed to act as city auctioneer without payment of license.
• The Hickman Courier reported that the “temperance question” overshadowed all elections. It was to be the “warmest contest” in Fulton County for years.
• John W. Cole was elected Hickman City Marshall and replaced W. T. Lineback. Pat Judge was elected Street Commissioner.
• I. Bullock declared himself a Democratic candidate for Circuit Court Judge for the Fulton County District.
• Some of Hickman’s liquor dealers declared their intentions to unite and refuse to sell liquor to those “addicted to intoxication,” and that “legal notices be made upon them” if caught doing so.
• George S. Skinner was charged with the theft of a business owned by W. S. Martin of Hickman.
• “Bold freebooters” attempted to rob the express office in Hickman, but the armed guard prevented the theft after a “melee.” All the robbers escaped except one who was lodged in the city jail.
• Philip Hamilton, a successful farmer from Madrid Bend, stated on March 18^th that most farmers in his region would be planting corn rather than cotton this growing season.
• Thomas Langford, of Lucas’ Bend, survived a fire in his home on March 13^th. His head, whiskers, and eyelashes were completely singed off. His house was not seriously damaged.
• Reverend W. W. Fawcett, a Methodist minister from Mayfield, “ran off” with a young woman from Ballard County. He was reported to have been married and had several children.
• Henry Campbell, of Fulton, declared that the Fulton Agricultural Society would be “rejuvenated” in 1874.
• The Paducah Tobacco Plant proposed that John Q. A. King run for Governor of Kentucky. Judge William Linday of Clinton was also mentioned as a candidate for Governor.
• H. M. Gilson, of Paducah, was appointed member of the Kentucky State Board of Pharmacy by Governor Preston H. Leslie.
• The Paducah Kentuckian reported a letter written in the Good Templers Advocate on March 1^st that stated Mayor Meyer Weil remarked that “preachers and meddlesome Mayfield people” stirred up a fuss regarding the failure of the temperance bill in the city limits. He declared, “if I had the power I would kick every d—d preacher out of the city!” Mayor Weil adamantly “denied the having spoken the words ascribed to him” in the Advocate.
• On March 15^th, John T. Combs of McCracken County was shot at in his home in the “lower part of the county.” A bullet entered through the window and struck a wall near where he was sitting. The culprit was believed to be his son-in-law, William T. Gamble.
• Oscar Turner, a candidate for Congress, spoke before a group of citizens in Cadiz on the “abuses of the radical party” regarding agricultural tariff laws. The Trigg County Democrat reported the “crowd present were highly pleased with the effort.”
• A severe storm struck Cairo, Illinois on March 17^th causing “considerable damage” to boats at the wharf and along the Ohio River. The same storm blew down several houses in Troy, Tennessee.
• Over three hundred convicts were at work on the railroads in Dyer County, Tennessee.
• Harrison Babcock married Georgia Franklin, both of Fulton County, on March 18^th.
• Mary Matson died in Fulton County on December 27, 1873, after being “sorely afflicted for about ten months.”