by Rebecca Wyncoop
The following notice appeared in a Boston newspaper years ago.
A man about 46 years of age, giving the name of Joshua Coppersmith, has been arrested in New York for attempting to extort funds from ignorant and superstitious people. He's exhibiting a device which he says will convey the human voice any distance over metallic wires that will be heard by the listener on the other end. He calls the instrument a "telephone". The word is obviously intended to imitate the word "telegraph" and win the confidence of those who know of the success of the latter instrument, without understanding the principles on which it is based.
Well-informed people know that it is impossible to transmit the human voice over wires as may be done with dots and dashes and signals of the Morse Code. Were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical value. The authorities who apprehended this criminal are to be congratulated. It is to be hoped that his punishment will be prompt and fitting, that it may serve as an example to other conscienceless schemers who enrich themselves at the expense of their fellow creatures.