Sorry for the Cliffhanger!

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Recently I posted an in-depth article here concerning the early history of W.S. Hicks (the full article can be found at http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-early-history-of-william-s-hicks.html).  After scouring the internet for everything I could find about the man and the company, by the time I uploaded my findings I was completely drained.  I thought I had chased down every lead, uncovered every stone, and picked every nit in sight.

Imagine my surprise when my friend Vance Koven posted a comment in response, reading “That's got to be your best cliffhanger yet. Are you going to tell us tomorrow whether Hicks got his money? Or is that of no interest to you because it's about pens?”

It took me a minute to figure out what Vance was talking about.  I had cited a newspaper article from the March 5, 1907 edition of the Janesville Daily Gazette, in which it was reported that William H. Hicks sued The Parker Pen Company for “some $300" over gold pens that were supplied to Parker by Hicks:

My interest in the article was that William H. Hicks, by then doing business as William S. Hicks’ sons, were alive and well carrying on their father’s business, with a reputation so far-ranging that they even supplied pens to The Parker Pen Company.  Never mind that the article ends with the tantalizing bit that the case, having been argued, was in the jury’s hands and no verdict had yet been reached – I was only thinking “Huh - Hicks supplied nibs to Parker” and left it at that.

So yes – even though the case was about pens, if you like that sort of thing – I am pleased to allow the other shoe to drop:

The following day, the Daily Gazette reported that the jury had indeed reached a verdict.  Hicks won, and the jury awarded the company $303.