Men, mortar and equipment were dispersed into the night air and a fire erupted. When the dust eventually settled, 21 newspaper employees were dead and 100 others were injured, many seriously.
Newspapers called the tragedy “the crime of the century.”
William J. “Billy” Burns, famed anti-union private detective, was hired to solve the crime...
Burns’ investigation of the dynamiting brought national notoriety to three Terre Haute men: Eugene V. Debs, Frank P. Fox and Kelly Monroe Turner...The March 30, 1912 issue of “Scientific American” and the Science and Invention section of the June 15, 1912 issue of “The Literary Digest” contained lengthy articles describing Turner’s invention and its use in the case... (Burns extensive use of Dictograph equipment later led to him being investigated for wiretapping.)
Turner, a native of Pimento and later a Terre Haute, Indiana resident, invented the dictograph, an eavesdropping device that “solved the crime” in December 1911 and sent John J. and James B. McNamara, represented by legendary Clarence Darrow, to prison. Placed in the McNamaras’ jail cells, the device “heard” the men admit to the crime...
In the June 1912 issue of “Popular Electricity,” novelist Edward Lyell Fox wrote: “In the past six months the dictograph has revolutionized crime prevention. In walls, under sofas and chairs, in chandeliers, behind desks, beside a window, it is the unseen listener to secret conversations. The secret of prison cells have been tapped, hotel rooms and offices have given up incriminating conversation… It has figured sensationally in the undoing of dynamiters, legislative bribe takers, grafters high and crooks low, across the continent.” (more)The 100th anniversary of the Dictograph is coming up soon. Turner would be stunned by today's eavesdropping and wiretapping technology. Also stunned are its victims. Make sure you are not one of them. Call me. I have a time-proven (30+ years) protection program waiting to solve your concerns. ~Kevin
