Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from June 6, 1874
- Concerned citizens of West Hickman asked what was to be done with the levee since another overflow would likely “destroy the work that has already been done.”
- The drought has ruined the strawberry crop in the region, but the wheat crop was expected to be “splendid” and the “average yield will be very large.”
- Reverend E. H. Pearce, former State Commissioner to the International Exposition at Vienna, was scheduled to give a lecture at the Hickman Methodist Church on June 9th. The subject of his lecture was to be the “Bible and Anti-Bible of Modern Europe.”
- A grand picnic and dance were to be given by the German Benevolent Society in Hickman on July 4th.
- The “musical feast” conducted by the German Society in Hickman on June 4th was found to be “delightful and entertaining.”
- The Sunday school children of Fulton took a “grand excursion” on the Mississippi Central Railroad to Cairo, Illinois on June 2nd.
- The citizens in the “bottom” district in Fulton County petitioned the Hickman Courier that county candidates not disturb them until after July 4th. They declared they were behind with their crops and “don’t want to be bothered.”
- The candidates for Circuit Judge, W. W. Robertson, Edward I. Bullock, and William B. Bullitt, spoke at Clinton on April 1st. A correspondent noted that there were “no issues between the candidates.”
- The Columbus Dispatch reported that an infant child was “severely lacerated” by a “huge wild cat” and almost dragged away in a community three miles from Belmont, Missouri. The mother scared the cat away. The child was expected to fully recover.
- The Columbus Dispatch stated that the drought of last month was the “severest ever known at this season of the year” for the past forty years.
- A Reverend Divine, who resided near Columbus, gave a series of lectures with the intention of “breaking down” the Odd Fellows and Masonic institutions in the region.
- The parties arrested from Fulton County on the charges of being members of the Ku Klux Klan were reported undergoing trial at Memphis. The trial commenced on June 4th and stimulated great interest in the region.
- Thieves attempted to rob Gardner’s Mill at Woodland Mills but were discovered in the act and escaped without any loss to the mill.
- Len G. Faxon, editor of the Paducah Kentuckian, humorously stated he would run as a candidate for McCracken County Coroner, since he experienced “several years within the precincts of Cairo” and that it rendered him an “excellent judge of a dead man.”
- The Princeton Banner reported that robbers attempted to “blow open the safe” at the post office in town but failed. The thieves did manage to take six dollars from the change drawer. Their whereabouts were unknown at the time of publication.
- The wife of Milton Donaldson was murdered on the evening of May 29th in Lake County, Tennessee opposite Island No. 10. An intruder, by the name of Murphy, entered the Donaldson home and violently clubbed the daughter and mother. The daughter escaped but the mother was later killed with an ax. The murderer was captured at the home and “executed without delay.” Murphy claimed to be searching for man named Dublin who supposedly had done him wrong.
- Secretary of State, C. N. Gibbs, addressed the people of Troy, Tennessee on April 1st on political issues of the day. The question of repealing the Special Law Court at Union City was also discussed.
- Dyer County, Tennessee was importing hay, corn and oats from St. Louis.
- The Dyersburg Gazette reported that the M & P Railroad was to begin construction of a rail line in Dyersburg, Tennessee in July.
- The Trenton News Gazette reported the appearance of rabid dogs in the town.
- H. H. Hardin, of East Hickman, had twins on May 30th and the people of her neighborhood presented the twins with a double crib.
- Walter Fite and Mary E. Cole were married by Judge Wingate on June 3rd in West Hickman at the residence of the bride’s father.
- Mrs. A. L. Shaw, of Hickman, died of a long and painful illness on April 1st.