Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from July 11, 1874

• “A beautiful meteor shot through the sky illuminating the whole of Hickman” on the night of July 7^th. The editor of the Hickman Courier wrote that it “exploded brilliant scintillations in apparent variegated colors.”
• The thermometer stood at 100 degrees on July 6^th and 7^th in Hickman. A rain showered the region on July 8^th in great relief of the townsfolk and farmers.
• The black citizens of Hickman, and a great number of visitors from around the region, celebrated the 4^th of July with a grand picnic, procession, speeches, etc. A steamboat excursion party from Cairo, Illinois, and a large party arrived by train to join in the festivities. Judge A. D. Kingman was the “orator of the day,” along with speeches from other politicians.
• The Hickman City Council met on July 6^th and motions were passed to hold an election for the City Judge and City Marshal on August 3^rd and that “all persons having offensive premises” be ordered to disinfect their property immediately.
• Candidates for Circuit Judge and Commonwealth’s Attorney met in Hickman on July 4^th to a “very small audience.” Charles Marshall, Judge Bullit, and A. B. Stubblefield gave speeches.
• H. Roulhac was to preach at the German Church in Hickman on July 19^th.
• The friends of the Local Option Temperance Law, to be voted on July 25^th in Fulton County, planned to speak at Ebenezer on the July 22^nd, Fulton on the 23^rd, and at Hickman on the 24^th. J. J. Hickman, the Grand Worthy Chief Templar of the World, lectured on the topic of Temperance in Hickman to a large audience on July 5^th.
• K. Hall, the postmaster at Columbus, was “strongly urged” to accept the Republican candidacy for Congress in the First District.
• Candidates for the Circuit Judge and the Commonwealth’s Attorney met on July 3^rd at Jordon Station, but due to the failure of a sizable audience no speeches were given. The Rural Academy at Jordon Station presented a concert by the music class that same evening which may have led to the lack of attendance.
• The Mayfield Democrat declared its opposition to “conventions under any circumstances where they are gotten up for the benefit of any ring or clique.”
• A physical confrontation occurred between John Martin, editor of the Paducah Kentuckian, and William Rollston, the editor of the Paducah Evening News. “No blood was spilt” but Martin was fined $20 and damage costs.
• Alonzo Billings, the son of George W. Billings a Calloway County mail carrier, was arrested after a brief pursuit by Sheriff Hamp Swift following the theft of $750 from his father on July 9^th.
• Two deputy clerks in the clerk’s office of the Calloway County Court in Murray were believed to have performed mock marriages with two young ladies, each performing the ceremony for the other. It was later found that one of the deputy clerks had the “power to perform the ceremony” and the other was now officially married.
• The Trigg County Democrat stated that “most men” wish Ed Crossland to become a candidate for Congress in the First District.
• The McKenzie Times reported that Reverend Charley Moore delivered a speech at a black school picnic in Huntingdon, Tennessee denouncing the civil rights bill and that “each race have its own teachers and schools.”
• Tom Neal, editor of the Dyersburg Gazette was elected as both the Mayor of Dyersburg and the President of the Tennessee Press Association.
• The Jackson (Tennessee) Courier Herald declared that Ed Crossland as “one of the best men of Kentucky” and encouraged the people of his district to re-elect him to Congress.
• Paulene Overton Prather, wife of George B. Prather, died in Hickman at age twenty-four.