B757 TAXIING ON TXWY W AT BOS RECEIVES CLRNC TO GATE. FLC INITIATES HARD BRAKING TO AVOID ANOTHER ACFT UNDER TOW ON INTERSECTING TXWY K. TWR APOLOGIZES.

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A VERY COMMON EVENT FOR DECADES IS TO COMBINE SECTORS/POSITIONS IN ATC FACILITIES IN THE EVENINGS. THIS OCCURS AT CENTERS; APCH CTLS AND TWRS. I HAVE ALWAYS THOUGHT THIS UNSAFE AND UNFAIR TO THE PERSON LEFT. THE BUSIER/MORE COMPLEX THE SECTOR/ARPT; THE WORSE IT IS. LAST NIGHT AFTER LNDG ON THE FAIRLY SHORT RWY 27; WE CLRED AT INTXN 'W;' LEAVING US TO CROSS TWO RWY 22'S AND TURN RIGHT ON 'K.' THIS WOULD LEAD US AROUND THE ENTIRE TERMINAL AREA TO OUR GATE. ONE VOICE; A VERY BUSY VOICE; HAD CLRED US TO LAND WHILE HE READ CLEARANCES AND GAVE TAXI INSTRUCTIONS TO MANY OTHER OPERATORS. AS WE CLEARED AT 'W;' HE CALLED 'ACR X; TURN R W; PROCEED TO YOUR GATE; REMAIN THIS FREQ.' WE CROSSED BOTH RWY 22'S WITH ALL LIGHTS ON; LOWERED SPEED BRAKES; RAISED FLAPS; TURNED OFF AUTOBRAKES; AND WERE ROLLING APPROX 18 KTS. CO-PLT CALLS 'CLEAR R' FOR EACH RWY 22. I LOOK; CALL 'CLEAR LEFT;' TWICE. CO-PLT CALLS 'TFC.' I LOOK DOWN RWY 22L; AGAIN CALL CLEAR LEFT. HE CALLS 'TFC' AGAIN. I LOOK AHEAD; CLEAR. I LOOK AT HIM; HE'S POINTING LEFT. A BLACK B757 WAS BEING RAPIDLY TOWED UP 'KILO' AND WOULD INTERCEPT 'W' AT A 45 DEG ANGLE. B757 HAS ROTATING BEACON ON; BUT NO TUG LIGHTS; NO TAXI LIGHTS. A BLACK AIRPLANE AND WE'RE EACH DOING ABOUT 20 MPH. I JAM ON THE BRAKES AND HE GOES BY APPARENTLY OBLIVIOUS TO OUR NEAR COLLISION. I CALLED TWR AFTER HE HAD GIVEN 3 MORE CLEARANCES AND ASKED IF WE WERE TO FOLLOW THE TOWED B757. HE SAID 'SORRY ABOUT THAT; HE WAS WAY BACK THERE WHEN I GAVE YOU TAXI CLRNC; YES; FOLLOW HIM.' I DID NOT TELL TWR HOW CLOSE IT HAD BEEN AS I'M SURE THAT HE HAD NO ONE THERE TO ASSIST HIM ANYWAY. THESE 'EARLY-GOES' HAVE GOT TO BE STOPPED. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR ADVISED THAT ONLY UNION REPRESENTATIVE WAS ADVISED OF INCIDENT. DUE TO RPTR'S BACKGROUND AS FORMER CTLR; THE RPTR ASSUMES THAT NO OTHER CTLR WAS IN THE TWR AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT.