Local Teen-agers Ascribe Muggings To Out-of-Towners

A check with local teenagers revealed that Thursday night's beating may not have been administered by Princeton students after all.

Several local youths indicated this morning that two or three similar beatings have been perpetrated at sporadic intervals over the past year and a half, though none has been so serious as this last one.

We've never got a really good look at the guys," one youth said, "but we always figured them from out of town. They didn't dress collegiate-like."

The pattern has been similar in all the beatings. A local youth would be walking the streets alone at night. Suddenly he would find himself surrounded by five or six other youths. Then he would be beaten to the ground.

Several locals were plainly aroused by the beatings, and threatened dire consequences if they caught those responsible.

Others seemed inclined to blame all the beatings on Princetonians. "You guys think you're big shots," one said. "You think you can push us around anytime. But we're just as good as you are. Wait and see. We'll get even."