Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from July 25, 1874

• The Hickman City Council met on July 20^th and passed a motion that all saloons be closed on July 25^th on account of the vote on the Local Option law for restricting alcohol sales in the county. N. L. Nelson and John Betts were appointed judges of the election to be held on August 3^rd and that Marve Millet and W. A. Brevard serve as clerks.
• Reverend John Wesley Harmon, of New Orleans, lectured on Temperence movement and prohibition at the Hickman Methodist Church on July 21^st and 22^nd to a “well filled house.”
• The County Convention of the Good Templars met on July 21^st at the Ebenezer Church that was followed by a “grand celebration and barbeque” on July 22^nd. A crowd of between 1,000 to 1,500 attendees were at the celebration. On July 23rd, the Templars held a procession and picnic in Fulton and on July 24^th there was another celebration on the grounds of the Fulton County Court House in Hickman. Speakers were at each event supporting the Local Option law.
• Opponents to the Local Option law declared that the geography of Fulton County rendered the enforcement of prohibition “utterly impossible and impractical,” that it only transferred the whiskey trade from the grocers to the druggist, and that the law would deprive Hickman and Fulton County of over $2,000 in tax revenue annually.
• Congressman Ed Crossland visited old friends in Hickman on July 22^nd and promised to return on August 10^th and speak on political issues.
• Many cisterns in Hickman were “suffering for water.”
• William Nelson of Hickman notified the Hickman Courier that thieves had stolen melons from his property and if others were taken the robbers would receive “something they can’t stand.”
• The steam wagon factory of Hertwick, Baltzer & Co. in Hickman constructed over 500 wagons since being established.
• Congressional candidates were scheduled to speak in Hickman on August 3^rd.
• The Mayfield Democrat reported that a black man entered the home of a Mr. Jackson, who resided four miles from Mayfield, and attempted to assault Mrs. Jackson on the afternoon of July 20^th. Mrs. Jackson defended herself with a knife and wounded the assailant before he fled from the home. As of July 24^th, the man had not been arrested.
• A bloody knife fight occurred in Woodland Mills on July 18^th with one man receiving serious facial wounds.
• The daughter of Henry Atkinson, who resided near Dresden, Tennessee, was run over by a frightened horse on July 19^th and fatally injured.
• A man by the name of Mulligan was shot and killed and another man wounded in the leg on July 15^th at Boydsville. Mulligan was shot when assisting the Deputy Sheriff to apprehend the man for another infraction. The murderer was “still in the neighborhood defying arrest” at the time of publication.
• The Dresden Democrat declared that the wheat crop harvested in Obion County was the best in twenty years.
• The Grangers of the First Congressional District held a convention in Paducah on July 23rd.
• J. Pickett, editor of the Paducah Commercial, was the “most probable” Republican candidate to run for Congress in the First District. Democrats of the District feared that their divided party of three candidates campaigning for Congress may split the vote in the Republican’s favor. A convention was called for by the editor of the Hickman Courier to select one Democratic candidate for the party to run for office.
• Some citizens of Union City, Tennessee supported the purchase of land for a female seminary in the city.
• The Union City Herald reported that the crops in Obion County presented a “fine appearance.”
• H. Marberry of Obion County, Tennessee suffered a stroke that led to paralysis.
• Two candidates for Attorney General in Tennessee, Pierce and Baker, met and argued in Obion County to such a degree that witnesses thought “pistols and coffee” would result. The men amicably settled their differences.
• Dyer County, Tennessee planned to establish a workhouse for the destitute in the county.
• The Troy News stated that John L. Guy had a mule stolen from his residence near Polk Station, Tennessee. The thief was captured by a small posse of four men, but he managed to escape on the return trek. The mule was brought back to Mr. Guy.
• A black man was lynched in Carroll County, Tennessee near the town of Maple Creek. The man reportedly “boasted that he intended to have a certain worthy girl for his wife” and if he could not marry the girl, he would kill her. The was man was seized by the family farm by a “party of masked men,” believed to be friends of the father of the girl, and lynched.
• The New Madrid Record reported that the corn crop of the county had suffered greatly from the drought and chinch bugs. Some parts of the county were so bad that “some fields had to be abandoned.”