The New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

Saturday evening last, between 7 and 8 o'clock, four armed foot-pads made an attack on Mr. Caleb Coolidge, as he was on his way from Cambridge to this town. The circumstances of this piece of villainy are nearly as follow:--Mr. Coolidge having come from Providence that day, quitted the stage at Roxbury, where he took a horse to carry him to Cambridge, he having business there, which occasioned his departure from the direct road to Boston. Soon after he left Cambridge, he quitted the horse, and dismissed the boy who came thus far with him to carry the horse back. Thinking himself out of danger, he came along down the road, singly, and on foot, without any interruption, till within about a mile and an half of Charles-river-bridge, where he was stopped by a man, whom Mr. Coolidge took to be an Irishman. The fellow bid Mr. Coolidge stand, which he did: and on being ordered to deliver his money he hesitated a moment, and the fellow persisting in his demands, Mr. Coolidge, with a stout stick, struck him over the head, which laid the miscreant to the ground. Immediately, as Mr. Coolidge was going away, three other counterels, whom he did not suspect were so near, came up and forced from him his watch, pocket book, and cash, to the amount of 25s. with which they made off.