Bainbridge Republican, Nov. 22, 1873
Last Friday night, while Augustus Niven, of Coventry [Chenango Co., NY], was returning to his home form Oxford, he fell out of his wagon, striking on and cutting his head badly. When he was discovered by Henry Lobdell, he claimed to have been robbed of $150 by a ruffian. It was afterward ascertained that he had only about $25 on his person when he entered the village of Oxford, and that he had imbibed somewhat in spirituous liquors, which is the probable cause of the fall. His team was secured by Mr. J.M. Green after it had traveled about a mile below the scene of the accident.
Bainbridge Republican, Dec. 20, 1873
Augustus Niven, of Coventry, has sent to the Union a reply to the various papers who charged him with being drunk and falling from his wagon on the evening of November 14th. He says:
On the day in question, I had been to Oxford to transact some business there. Before leaving home, I had put into my pocket $75, in bills, and a small amount of fractional currency, $45 of which I put aside, separate from the remainder, as I designed it for a particular use. On my way home from Oxford, a little after six o'clock when near the Pendleton farm, I saw a man getting over the fence into the road just ahead of me, who asked me to let him ride. I did so, and after he had got in with me, and as I started on, I saw two more men in the field near the road, on the west side, just ahead of us. As I passed them I turned my head to look at them, and as I turned back in the wagon I received a blow just over the left temple, from the man in the wagon with me, and I recollect nothing further of what occurred until next morning.
In conclusion, I will say that while I am not a strict temperance man, I never yet got so "mixed" on Whiskey that I did not know what was occurring, or that I could not sit in my wagon.
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