The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-27 00:00:00

TREACHERY DISCOVERED.

The following particulars disclose o'ne of the
most wicked attempts to ruin and ultimately de-
stroy a respectable tradesman that was ever dis-
covered :—Mr. Christopher Traylen, a general
shopkeeper and tallovi-chandler, at Debden,
near Saffron Walden, had his dwelling-house
and premises, with the principal part of his stock,
consumed by fire in the night of Easter Monday.
the 16th of April, 1827. Mr. Traylen
had any doubt in his own mind but tbs, it was
the work of an incendiary; he knew he was be-
set by a discarded journe
vPian, who had cor-
rupted his apprentices., and that he was frequently
defrauded. and rol's'oed by them, but it was a cosi-
s
''.3llle tilne before he could get evidence sill-
o prosecute. However, at the last as-
s et:
as-
sizes, he succeeded in convicting Thomas Ru-
therford, one of his apprentices, who was visited
with a slight punishment, in consequence, it is
supposed, of some strong affidavits made in his
favour, when bailed out of prison, previously to
his trial, together with the perjured evidence
offered to the Court on 'the latter event, which
the guilty parties have since admitted ; it has
also come to Mr. Traylen's knowledge, that
these miscreants had so conspired together, that
in the event of Rutherford's acquittal, they meant
instantly to prefer a bill of indictment against
Mr. Traylen, for arson, and to give false evidence
in furtherance of their plan ; but after Ruther-
ford was in prison, under his sentence, he learnt
that a fellow-apprentice at home was about to
confess his errors : he (Rutherford) sent to a
magistrate, and requested that he might also be
permitted to disclose the truth, the result of
which was, the apprehension of John Cock, the
journeyman, and others. Such was the effect of
the charge as concerned Cock, that he took the
first opportunity he could of cutting his throat,
but the wound did not prove mortal ; on the
contrary, from his apptarance, and from the evi-
dence of a surgeon, on Tuesday, it is likely he
will recover skinciently to be able to take his
trial in March, until which period he will remain
in. gaol. It is due to the character of Mr. Tray-
len, that these circumstances should be made
public, because such was the impression of the
governors of the Hertford and Cambridge Fire-
office, that they resisted his claim upon them in
the first instance, although they very fairly after-
wards agreed to refer the matter to the arbitra-
tion of respectable persons in the neighbourhood,
who ultimately awarded to Mr. Traylen his whole
claim of 9001. To such an extent had the malice
of Cock carried him, that nothing short of this
unfortunate man's destruction, it would appear,
could satisfy hiM. He procured a brace of pis-
tols for the apprentices, under the pretence of
affording them amusement in shooting at rats
about the premises ; but when he gave them to
the young mrn, he is said to have observed,
" Now you have got pistols, if Traylen says any
thing to you, or strikes you, shoot him." Pro-
videntially the minds of the young men were not
so hardened as to induce them to add to their

other crimes that of murder.— Chebnyinil
Chronicle.