Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from June 16, 1876

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from June 16, 1876 

• The 4th of July Celebration Committee met on June 14th and received reports from the subcommittees. The committee to select a location for the celebration chose the “hill in front of B. R. Walker’s residence” on Dyersburg Road. The committee to procure lumber for seats, tables, etc., reported it made “all the necessary arrangements.” W. L. McCutchen, Joe Deitch, and Samuel Landrum put forth a motion to “enroll and organize a company” to be styled as the “Continental Guards” and to participate in the celebration and procession. Another motion ordered that cordial invitations be extended to all Lodges, Societies, Sunday Schools, etc. in Fulton County. The old pioneers of the county were encouraged to join proposed procession as a “separate body.” Henry Buchanan was elected Treasurer and ordered to collect all subscriptions before the next meeting on June 21st.   

• Businessmen in Hickman called on the owners of the Bouyer Ferry line to extend the number of trips to Missouri to increase trade.   

• Two men by the name of Gilmore and Fraley escaped from Hickman City Jail on June 11th. Gilmore was charged with stealing a saddle and Fraley with passing counterfeit nickels. Gilmore, allegedly, made himself keys to the cell and jail door by producing impressions of the keys and then carving them out of hard wood. He left a “note of compliments to the jailer and other officers” after his departure.   

• In the case of the Commonwealth vs. Tom Daniels, a young black woman charged with murder, the Kentucky County of Appeals reversed the decision of the Fulton Circuit Court and ordered her rearrest. She was detained at the Fulton County Jail on June 13th. Judge W. W. Robertson dismissed the case during the February session when the Commonwealth’s Attorney discovered an error in the indictment and “recommitted the matter to the grand jury.” Therefore, the indictment was dismissed but a second indictment soon followed which the opposing counsel claimed as double jeopardy. Robertson agreed and dismissed the second indictment. The crime was described as an attempt to conceal the recent birth of a “bastard child.”   

• The continued rains in the region had done considerable injury to the wheat crop and the “farming population” was deeply concerned and alarmed.  

• The City of Fulton was reported to have “eleven dry goods stores, six groceries, one hardware store, six saloons, two millinery establishments, four drug stores, three steam flouring mills, two livery stables, five hotels, two cotton gins, one carding machine, three blacksmith shops, one tailor, one photograph gallery, two barber shops, eleven physicians, two lawyers, and other avocations.” 

• A charter was granted to establish a Literary Society in Fulton City on June 7th. It was titled by the young men and women of the community as the Phoenix Lyceum.  

• The Fulton County Court appointed Thomas E. Gleason as overseer of the new Dresden Road from Holly Street to the old Dresden Road during its June term. 

• H. A. Tyler and family left Hickman on June 13th to visit the seashore and attend the Centennial celebrations.  

• A crop report from Madrid Bend stated that corn crop prospects were “splendid” this season.  

• A correspondent from Cayce Station reported to the Hickman Courier that a dry goods store, family grocery store, furniture store and drug store were recently constructed in the town.  

• A. R. Boone and Oscar Turner, candidates for Congress, were scheduled to speak at Clinton on June 19th.  

• The Hickman County Court of Common Pleas commenced its June session in Clinton on June 12th.    

• The citizens of Hickman County scheduled a meeting at the courthouse in Clinton to discuss 4th of July celebrations on June 19th.   

• Over 1,728 hogsheads of tobacco were reported sold up to June 15th at the Mayfield warehouse according to the Mayfield Democrat.  

• The election to repeal the Local Option law to sell liquor was voted down in Mayfield. The editor of the Mayfield Monitor wrote “we have one of the most pleasant and prosperous towns in the State, and we don’t think the addition of saloons could add to its morality or prosperity in the least.”  

• From his confinement in the Paducah jail, Randolph J. Beaumont corresponded with the Louisville Courier, admitting guilt but pleaded with the “citizens of Mayfield and Graves County to assist my boys and wife in publishing the [Mayfield] Democrat.” He also called on “my old friends Col. Lucien Anderson, John and George Bolinger, Judge [William G.] Blount, Dr. [James D.] Landrum, Mr. [James H.] Ferguson, and the others who have stood by me in the past, to come up to the help of my distressed and heartbroken family!”  

• A Graves County man was asked about Randolph J. Beaumont, and he responded that “he was in every respect and excellent man; only his moral character is not good.”  

• On the night of June 14th, Reese Thornton was murdered at the house of a Mr. Perry in Arlington. Van Cherry was arrested and charged with the crime.  

• The Paducah News reported that the Kentucky Democratic Convention held in Louisville did not have many representatives from the Jackson Purchase. Only McCracken, Hickman, and Calloway counties sent delegates to the convention. William Linsay and Willis White represented Hickman County and Calloway County by Matthew McKinney.