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Conceived in Liberty Companion · Volume III, chapter 44 · 5 September 1769

Otis denied fair play

In a candlelit tavern room, a florid man in a grey coat raises a cane over a stout man in a blue coat and white wig who is held by the arms by several others, as watchers half rise from their chairs around them.
Boston, September 1769. In the British Coffee House, customs commissioner John Robinson raises his cane at James Otis while men of the room hold Otis fast. The Boston Gazette reported that the cry was “Kill him!” Otis left with a gashed head, and Sam Adams called it a nearly executed assassination. Chapter 44 of Conceived in Liberty.

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Adapted from Murray N. Rothbard, Conceived in Liberty (Mises Institute, 2011), CC BY 3.0.

The story, from several sources

This account blends Rothbard’s chapter with the other sources listed below and has not yet been separated into Rothbard’s own account and the fuller story. Read Rothbard’s chapter 44 for his account.

On 4 September 1769 James Otis printed a notice in the Boston Gazette attacking the customs commissioners, and said he had a natural right to break John Robinson’s head if Robinson misrepresented him. The next evening Otis walked into the British Coffee House on King Street, the haunt of the Crown’s officers. The Gazette’s account, which is Otis’s side, says Robinson turned, tried to take him by the nose, and struck at him with his cane. Several men in the room held Otis while others struck with cutlasses, canes and other weapons, and the cry was “Kill him!” He staggered out with a deep gash in his head. Rothbard calls it Tory violence against the people’s leader and blames Otis’s lasting madness on it (CiL, p. 958); he had already noted signs of Otis’s instability in 1765 (CiL, p. 867). Sam Adams and the Gazette called it an assassination that failed by an inch. Otis sued, won damages, and declined the money once Robinson apologized in writing. On 28 October a crowd drove out the Tory printer John Mein.

Where the record differs from Rothbard

Errata notes. Rothbard’s text and his account above are left as he wrote them. Every erratum.

Conceived in Liberty, p. 958
Rothbard says Commissioner Robinson “set upon Otis with a gang of toughs and beat him unmercifully”, and “from this assault Otis never recovered, having been rendered permanently insane.”
The evidence Otis walked into the British Coffee House on 5 September 1769 after printing that he had a natural right to break Robinson’s head, and both men carried canes. Robinson struck at him while several men held him and others used cutlasses and canes; Gridley came to Otis’s aid. Otis won £2,000 damages and waived them for a written apology. Rothbard’s own ch. 22 (p. 867) already notes Otis’s instability in 1765, so the assault did not begin it.
Source *Boston Gazette*, 11 Sept 1769, and Hutchinson, via Colonial Society of Massachusetts, ‘The Caning of James Otis Jr.’; Adams Papers editorial note

Sources

  1. Murray N. Rothbard, Conceived in Liberty (Mises Institute, 2011 single-volume ed.), vol. III, ch. 44, ‘Boycotting the Importers’, pp. 954-958; ch. 22, p. 867. CC BY 3.0. Rothbard
  2. ‘The Caning of James Otis Jr.’, Colonial Society of Massachusetts (read 2026-09-30): the Boston Gazette of 11 September 1769 (‘attempted to take him by the Nose’, ‘struck at him with his Cane’, ‘some of whom held him, while others struck with Cutlasses, Canes, and other Weapons’, ‘the Cry was, Kill him!’), and Hutchinson’s letter on Gridley and Browne; Otis awarded £2,000 damages, which he declined after Robinson’s written apology. Primary source
  3. Adams Papers Digital Edition (Massachusetts Historical Society), editorial note: Otis’s Gazette notice of 4 September 1769 (‘a natural right ... to break his head’); ‘It was Otis’ head that got broken, in a fracas with Robinson and his friends at the British Coffee House in the evening of 5 Sept.’ Secondary source
  4. NMMH Project, ‘James Otis: Distracted Person’, The Caning of James Otis (read 2026-09-30): Otis ‘stumbled out of the tavern, bleeding from a deep gash in his head’; witnesses described the event in different ways. Secondary source
  5. Joseph Blackburn, portrait of James Otis, 1755, Historic New England (white waistcoat, blue coat, lace collar, powdered wig); see registry/figures/james-otis-jr. Secondary source
  6. Era registry entry urban-colonial-1760-1775 (data/cil/registry/eras/), dress and material culture for Boston; its own sources are listed in its notes. Secondary source
  7. Place registry entry british-coffee-house-boston-1769 (data/cil/registry/places/); its own sources are listed there. Secondary source