Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 2
According to your Advice I1
the subjects, so that you may be able to argue it Effectualy and I will Reward you well for your pains. I have sent Mr. Otis a State of the Case also for my Dependance is on you Both. You know that I have a Subtill and Powerfull Enemy2 to deall with all, therefore I must take Care to make the Best defence & Get the Best help I Can and I doubt not but that you will do your Uttmost for me. I am your Very Good freind
Thomas Clapp (1705–1774) was indicted at Plymouth in 1766 for forgery, and the jury found that he did "with force and Arms, advisedly fraudulently and Corruptly, for his own Gain and Lucre" alter a bill of costs to a personal profit of £2.9.6. The case was later appealed and dropped, and Clapp remained on the bench until the following year when an attack of palsy incapacitated him (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 7:494–498).
Elijah Cushing, Clapp's associate on the Plymouth bench, whom Clapp tried to have removed from his case for publicly treating him "in a Very Abusive Manner" and calling him "a Cheat Before the Town" (ibid., 7:498).