Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from August 14, 1874

• William C. Robinson, of Union City, Tennessee, was arrested in Hickman on August 8^th for passing counterfeit bills. He placed a bond of $400 the next day to appear at the Circuit Court but he did arrive at the appointed time.
• Some men in Hickman spoke of organizing a military company under the “State militia law” in response to racial “troubles” occurring in Tennessee and Mississippi.
• R. Boone and Oscar Turner, both candidates for Congress, met in Hickman on August 10^th to discuss the politics of the day. The editor of the Hickman Courier wrote that the Democratic Party could be “feel proud of the ability displayed by both” during the debate.
• Congressman Edward Crossland addressed a “very respectable number of citizens” before the Fulton County Court House on August 12^th. He gave an account of his past accomplishments during his last term in Congress and discussed other points of political interest. Later that night he was serenaded at the Planters House and the next day the Hickman Coronet Band played a concert for him at the residence of A. A. Faris.
• There were 1,026 votes polled in Fulton County during the last election, the largest vote ever recorded in the county.
• James Goalder was appointed by the Fulton County Court as constable to District No. 6.
• The Fulton County Circuit Court met in Hickman on August 10^th with Judge A. R. Boon presiding.
• L. Shaler, the State geologist of Kentucky, toured Fulton County on August 8^th and 9^th to evaluate a proposed project to construct a levee from Hickman to Tiptonville. He predicted the county’s “bottomlands” would be the “garden to supply St. Louis, Chicago, etc., with their vegetables.”
• A warning was issued by landowners of the Mississippi River bottoms in Fulton County not to graze any cattle on their land due to the drought and scarcity of crops.
• The Rosewell Institute at Jordan Station planned to start classes on September 7^th. To board a student at the school was $12 a month.
• Thomas J. Pickett, editor of the Paducah Commercial, announced himself as an “independent Republican candidate for Congress.” Pickett served as an officer with the 132^nd Illinois Infantry Regiment that was garrisoned at Paducah during the Civil War. In response, longtime Republican Lucian Anderson remarked that he would “throw the weight of his influence for one of the present Democratic candidates.”
• Charley Ross stabbed and killed Jim Arthur in Ballard County.
• The three-year-old daughter of John Lively, Julian Ann Lively, was abducted from Henderson and believed to be in Western Kentucky.
• Joshua Tipton was elected sheriff and J. B. Arnett was elected Circuit Court Clerk in Lake County, Tennessee.
• Elders Fain, [J. Bunyan] Stephens, and Mullins, eminent clergymen of the Primitive Baptist Church, were scheduled to preach at Union City on August 16^th.
• Newly elected Obion County, Tennessee officers included P. W. Duncan as Sheriff, Coleman Goad as Circuit Court Clerk, E. D. Faris as County Clerk, J. D. Moultrie as County Trustee, W. H. Holleman as County Tax Collector, and John E. Evans as County Register.
• Rumors of an insurrection among the black population in Obion, Weakley, Carroll, and Henry counties in Tennessee were reported rampant in the region. Stories of black men “drilling, supplying themselves with arms ammunition, and indulging in promiscuous threats toward certain localities.” In response, local white men organized and armed themselves as communities prepared for expected attacks.
• The Dyersburg Progress reported that both the corn and cotton crops in Dyer County, Tennessee were “looking well” but that other portions in the region are almost a total failure.
• A weekly mail route was proposed between Dyersburg and Hickman via Clemons’ Gin, Merriwether’s Ferry, Robinson’s Store, and Wilsonville.
• The McKenzie Times reported that on August 11^th that a unwanted lady at the McKenzie House was removed from the hotel by Cap Null, who “chaperoned her to the door with the nether extremity of his boot.”
• J. Parker, ex-mayor of Metropolis, Illinois began publishing a newspaper in the city titled the Metropolis Semi-Weekly Democrat.