July 2, 1770

1770 July 2 (Monday).  Wrote to Ashby, but could not Send it.  Mr. Cutler of Oxford, I hear, was mobbed last week, at Boston etc.[1]  Levi Leland gives me an Account of his Brother in Law Fletcher’s Death — that is, as far as he knew the Cause of it.  Which was That he drove his Team furiously, Set them arunning, and the Pin of the Off-Ox Bow fell out, which Sat that Ox at Liberty; and the other Ox probably Struck Mr. Fletcher down and so the Wheel went over him and killed him.

[1]The incident was reported in several newspapers; see Boston Evening-Post, July 2, 1770, issue 1814, p. 3]; Boston-Gazette, July 2, 1770, issue 795, p. [2]; Essex Gazette, July 3, 1770, issue 101, p. 194; Massachusetts Gazette, July 5, 1770, issue 3482, p. [2].