Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from June 2, 1876

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from June 2, 1876

• An informal meeting of citizens was held on May 30^th at Hickman City Hall to discuss the “best manner, ways, and means, for appropriately celebrating the approaching 4^th of July.” George Warren was elected chairman of the Fulton County Celebration Committee and George B. Prather was elected secretary. The rest of the committee members were C. L. Randle, J. W. Powell, James Barksdale, Henry Campbell, Matthew Johnson, J. M. Alexander, F. M. Usher, R. H. Binford, R. S. Murrell, Thomas Boaz, L. Everett, J. N. Hawkins, C. S. Harper, H. C. Bailey, J. H. Montgomery, Q. M. T. Salmon, A. H. Scearce, J. H. Dodds, H. H. Wilson, Wilson Hanby, John Cole, William Frenz, and “all other citizens who feel an interest in the celebration.” The committee agreed on a set of “objects of the celebration” and announced they would meet again at the City Hall on the evening of June 7th.
• It was feared that the heavy rains of May 31st damaged the wheat crop in the region.
• The purchasers of the Fulton County Fair Grounds, Matt Johnson, Esq. [J. W.] Mayes, A. H. Scearce and John R. McGehee, scheduled a meeting in Hickman on June 10^th to decide on whether to organize a fair.
• John Trautweine and Adam Simones established a wagon making business in Hickman. The editor of the Hickman Courier declared that Hickman “led this whole country in the manufacture of wagons.”
• The Hickman Steam Flouring Mills, owned and operated by Gardner and [Samuel N.] White, was described as having “three run of stones with a capacity of making 120 barrels of flour in a days run.”
• The Tyler & [N. P.] Harness Furniture Store of Hickman temporarily halted production for six weeks to “rehaul and readjust the machinery.” The proprietors stated that they had invested “upwards of $40,000” in the renovation project.
• The business of “Old Pap” White’s Saddlery & Harness in Hickman was displaying “pluck and indefatigable industry,” and competing with other similar industries in larger cities.
• Some Hickman citizens complained that the “negro element on Jackson Street” were “industriously noisy.”
• Playing cards and gambling in Hickman was considered a lost art in the city as compared to “ten or twenty years ago.”
• Thieves stole “several hundred pounds of bacon” from the farmhouse of Andy Shuck during the early hours of June 1^st. The same night four plows were taken from Matson’s Station on the State line.
• The Hickman City Marshal arrested black women that resided on Jackson Street hoping their confinement in the city jail would “quiet the vicinity.”
• A Temperance Lecture by T. B. Demaree in Hickman on May 31^st was postponed due to heavy rain but was rescheduled for the evening of June 8^th.
• The Methodist congregation in Hickman planned to discuss the building of a new church at their next annual convention.
• The establishment of a free school in Hickman had proven to be successful as “attendance has been good” and that the “three very competent and attentive teachers” held class continuously for ten months.
• Young adults in Hickman were organizing a moonlight picnic during the Fulton County Centennial 4^th of July celebration.
• West Hickman residents requested the Fulton County Court to build levees across the “slashes and gulfs” along the lower river road.
• Combs Springs near Hickman was reported to have become a “popular place of resort” and that the waters were said to “possess great virtues.”
• Joseph Walgamott [Walgamst], who resided near Lodgton, was bitten by a snake and ran over by a pair of mules on May 27th, and the next day stuck an ax into his foot. He was reported to be doing well and “able to plow every day.”
• The rain that fell on May 31^st was “greatly needed by our farmers and gardeners.”
• The Episcopalian congregation in Columbus planned to construct a church in the community.
• Mayfield was without a Mayor and Marshal as Mayor [R. A.] Mayes and City Marshal [David] Orr resigned.
• George Martin of Martin, Tennessee was a candidate for the State Senate in the Dresden District.
• William Shuck married Tabitha Alexander, daughter of William Alexander of Fulton County.