The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-07 00:00:00

THAMES.

Mr. H. T. Gray, rope manufacturer and ship
chandler, of No. 2, Marine-place, Commercial-road,
Stepney, came before Mr. Ballantine, and stated that,
in compliance with his worship's kind advice, he had
allowed five days to intervene before he applied to Mr.
R. Duke, a canvass merchant, in Lower East Smith-
field, who had purchased a large quantity of rope of
which he (Mr. Gray) had been defrauded, for the
restoration of that part of the rope which Mr. Duke
had not paid for, and that Mr. Duke had refused to
give it up. On Wednesday afternoon he sent his
foreman to Mr. Duke's warehouse for the rope, think-
ing that five days were sufficient for him to cool
upon the matter, but, instead of delivering the rope,
he said he would not restore it without a written
order, and a written guarantee to bear Mr. Duke
harmless against all legal proceedings whioh might
hereafter take place.
Mr. BALLINTINE said he had already expressed an
opinion upon the case, the only one he was justified
in announcing. He would most willingly make an
order for the restoration of the rope unpaid for if he
could do so, and he fully appreciated the great sacri-
fices Mr. Gray had made in bringing the swindlers
to fjustice. He was afraid he must leave Mr. Gray
to his remedy by action.
Mr. Gray thanked the magistrate, and put in the
following letter he had that day received from Man-
chester :

" Alanchester Guardian Society for the Protection of

Trade.

" Manchester, Jan. sth, 1848.

" Sir,—Having noticed your advertisement in the
London Times of the 14th ult. relative to the enor-
mous expenses incurred by you in prosecuting to con-
viction certain parties whose object was evidently to
defraud any one who came within their reach, you
have rendered most essential service to the commer-
cial community throughout the kingdom by bringing
these parties and their practices so prominent before
the world, and it is the duty of commercial men ge-
nerally to see that you do not lose either for your
own valuable time, for legal expenses, or the loss of
articles out of which you have been defrauded. I
brought this matter before the committee last evening,
and they desired me to express their high estimation
of your spirited exertions in this case; and I was in-
structed to place five guineas at your disposal as the
contribution of the society towards the expenses in-
curred. If you can point out any way in which I
can be of service in making this matter more public
in this quarter, you may command my beat services.
" I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
" SAMUEL EBOTHAM."

Several mercantile gentlemen, who accompanied
Mr. Gray, said the conspirators obtained goods to
the amount of 30.000/. by fraudulent means before they
were detected; that a respectable Scottish firm was
cheated of one consignment of goods to the amount
of 1,1711. by them; and that Halliday, now in New-
gate, who was once connected with a respectable house,
and who had some years since acted bona fide and
paid for goods on delivery to a large amount, became
the chief of the gang, and by the influence of his name
put tradesmen, manufacturers, and warehousemen off
their guard.