Wayland Town Crier 4/2/10: 'Wayland A to Z': 'S' is for 'Special Prosecutor'. Archibald Cox had been a familiar figure in Wayland long before he made national headlines and the nightly news in October 1973. A tall, handsome man who wore a characteristic bow tie, Cox had lived in Wayland for almost 30 years before that fateful night he was fired from his job by order of President Richard Nixon. Cox, special Watergate prosecutor, had subpoenaed President Nixon for his audio tapes, which the president refused to release. After two appeals of the subpoenas were turned down, the president offered to give the Senate and Cox written summaries of what was on the tapes. Cox turned down the deal and things got ugly. The president ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox, his former professor. Richardson refused and instead resigned. The president ordered Assistant Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to do the firing and when he refused, Ruckelshaus was dismissed. Finally, the president ordered Robert Bork, solicitor general, to do the firing, which he did. The event became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre."