Fowle's New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

NEW-YORK, Feb. 3.

A robbery and incendiary was committed upon the person and property of William Robinson, collector in Colerain township, Lancaster county, on the 11th of December, 1784, by three men, two of whom were supposed to be Germans, they talking to each other in the German dialect, the other spoke English, they calling him out of bed at 12 o'clock at night, to direct the road to Biddleshausen, and to be more particular, requested him to come to the door, which he complied with, when one of the perpetrators immediately seizing him by the collar demanded his money, whilst another presenting a pistol to his breast, swore if he made the least disturbance he would take his life, & dismounting hurried him into his stove room where they tied his hands behind his back, further threatening him with death, till he was obliged to acknowledge he had in a chest, money belonging to the publick, which he hoped they would not take from him; one went (without making any light in the house by which particular marks might have been given) to said chest, whilst the other remained with said prisoner, his pistols presented, with threats, to his breast, and from thence took a large tobacco box, containing to the amount of upwards of sixty Johannees, a greater with thirty five guineas and a quantity of silver, the whole amounting to 270l. and upwards, together with a quantity of Pennsylvania state money, his own property, which done, they threw him on the floor, tied his legs and feet and went out of the house (leaving the third on horseback watching and guarding the house) set fire to his barn, which was immediately consumed, and then rode away, leaving the prisoner tied on the floor. One hundred dollars reward is offered for a discovery.