James A. Coulter '54, a Classics instructor, who was arrested in Boston Saturday night on a drunkenness charge, pleaded "not guilty" yesterday in Boston Municipal Court. His trial was set for next Tuesday.

Coulter said last night that he and Henry Nathan, an English instructor at Tufts, Nathan's wife, and a friend were walking on Washington St. after drinking tea for several hours, when the incident occurred.

Boston police, who had staked out the troublesome Palace Bar at its midnight closing time, were picking off suspected "drunks" as they emerged. Coulter says he glanced in the entrance and was immediately seized by a policeman, who roughly demanded, "Go back where you came from!" Coulter refused and was promptly put under arrest. Coulter claims that Nathan, who had been watching nearby, stepped over and said, "Officer, you can't arrest that man." The policeman turned without a word and slugged Nathan in the face. Two more patrolmen joined in as he was knocked down, clubbed and kicked. Then police arrested both, charging "drunkenness" and refused to permit a lawyer and a doctor called by Mrs. Nathan to see the prisoners, Coulter stated.

Mrs. Nathan later said, "If someone is hit, you call the police; if the police hit someone, you have to call the papers."