Burns, WJ
ACHIEVEMENT(S): Burns National Detective Agency
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: October 19, 1861, Baltimore, MD
DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: April 14, 1932, Sarasota, FL. Aged 70
DISCIPLINE: Detective
FIELD: Business
EDUCATION: School and business college in Columbus, Ohio
MAJOR WORK: McNamara-Los Angeles Times bombing case
LIFE AND TIMES:
During the 1880s, Burns assisted his father, the police commissioner of Columbus, Ohio, in a number of important cases, an experience that gave him the interest and the skills to become a detective. In 1889, he joined the U.S. Secret Service, set up by Pinkerton* during the Civil War, and over the next 10 years made a reputation as an efficient crime-buster.
In 1903, Burns was asked by the Department of the Interior to help investigate land fraud in Oregon, Washington, and California. Working closely with special prosecutor Francis J. Heney, Burns uncovered widespread corruption: false land claims, false affidavits, and bribery at every level of government. The investigation resulted in more than 100 indictments, 34 cases, and 33 convictions, including that of veteran U.S. senator John H. Mitchell of Oregon.
In 1905, Burns and Heney were persuaded by Fremont Older, editor of the "San Francisco Bulletin", and Rudolph Spreckels, a millionaire businessman, to investigate the city government of San Francisco. Over the next three years, Burns and Heney exposed a labyrinth of corruption that reached to the highest levels of San Francisco's business and politics, and included utility officials, realty promoters, and railroad magnates. After a dramatic trial, Abraham Ruef, the political leader of the city, was sentenced to 14 years in jail.
In 1909, Burns left government service to establish the William J. Burns National Detective Agency, with headquarters in New York. Branches soon sprang up throughout the country. Burns won a contract for the protection of the American Bankers' Association (12,000 member banks), and eventually counted among his clients the National Retail Dry Goods Association, and several hotel chains.
In 1910, Burns was called in to investigate a huge explosion that killed 20 people and destroyed the building of the anti-union newspaper, the "Los Angeles Times". Burns discovered that the bombing was only one of a series carried out by Indiana-based International Bridge and Structural Ironworkers (BSIW) as part of their war against the "open shop" policy, the policy that allowed non-union workers to work on the same site as union workers.
Burns collected enough evidence (including a description of the bombing plot by a union member) to arrest John J. McNamara, secretary of the BSIW, and his brother, James McNamara. Burns then, in effect, had the McNamara brothers kidnapped, to bring them from Indiana to Los Angeles for trial. The unions and their supporters in the media denounced Burns for his methods, but he was vindicated when the McNamaras pled guilty in the hope of getting lighter sentences.
It was Burns's most sensational case. The trial and subsequent conviction had enormous repercussions in organized labor, the Socialist party, reform politics, and industrial relations in America. Burns published his own account of the investigation and trial, "The Masked War", in 1913.
Also in 1913, Burns investigated the murder of prominent New York gambler Herman Rosenthal. As a result of his evidence, police lieutenant Charles L. Becker and four professional gunmen were executed, and several police inspectors were imprisoned.
News of Burns's exploits reached the ears of English novelist Conan Doyle*, whose Sherlock Holmes stories were favorites around the world.
When Doyle paid a visit in New York, Burns showed him the latest detective aids (for example, the "Detectaphone", by which a hidden detective could hear conversations in another room) and described many of his own experiences and those of the earlier detectives Allan Pinkerton and his agent McParlan*. Doyle developed a plot loosely based on McParlan’s work for his Holmes novel, "The Valley of Fear" (1915).
In late 1913, Burns investigated the sensational Leo Frank case in Atlanta, Georgia, in which the Jewish Frank was found guilty of the murder of a 14-year-old girl. Frank's trial was rife with anti-Semitism and in March, 1914, Burns presented a massive amount of evidence proving that Frank was innocent and that another man, James Conley, had committed the crime. Based on his evidence, the governor of Georgia commuted Frank's death sentence, although he was later killed by a lynch mob.
During the First World War, Burns's firm was hired by American banker, financier and art collector J.P. Morgan* to provide security for manufacturers who shipped munitions to the Allies.
Burns' agency handled thousands of cases and developed a fine international reputation. In 1921, Burns was hired by Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty to serve as director of the FBI. In this capacity Burns waged a relentless war against the Ku Klux Klan, which he considered one of the most dangerous and corrupting forces in America. There was, however, much criticism of his ruthless methods, which included illegal searches and seizures, the employment of criminals, and much political favoritism. He retired from the FBI in 1924 with a tarnished image.
In 1925 Burns published his last work: "Stories of Check Raisers and How to Protect Yourself", intended as a guidebook to prevent banking frauds.
ASSESSMENT: With his agency, achieved a remarkable level of success in the detection of large-scale criminal practices in the United States.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None
ONELINER: William Burns, great American detective
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
ANB
Caesar, Gene, Incredible Detective,Philadelphia, 1968.
LANGUAGE: English
PARENTS: Michael Burns; Bridget Trahey
SIBLINGS: Unknown
SPOUSE: Annie Maria Ressler
CHILDREN: Six