William J. Burns
Encyclopedia
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
," is famous for having conducted a private investigation clearing Leo Frank
Leo Frank
Leo Max Frank was a Jewish-American factory superintendent whose hanging in 1915 by a lynch mob of prominent citizens in Marietta, Georgia drew attention to antisemitism in the United States....
of the murder of Mary Phagan, and for serving as the director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) (predecessor to the FBI) from August 22, 1921 to June 14, 1924. He was born in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
and was educated in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
. As a young man, Burns performed well as a Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
Agent and parleyed his reputation into the William J. Burns International Detective Agency
William J. Burns International Detective Agency
The William J. Burns International Detective Agency was a private detective agency in the United States, which was operated by William J. Burns.-Wheatland Hop Riot:...
, now a part of Securitas Security Services USA
Securitas AB
Securitas AB is a security services , monitoring, consulting and investigation group, based in Stockholm, Sweden. The group has approximately 300,000 employees in 50 countries in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Securitas AB is listed at Nasdaq OMX Stockholm,...
. A combination of natural ability as a detective combined with an instinct for publicity made Burns a national figure. His exploits made national news, the gossip columns of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s, and the pages of detective magazines, in which he published "true" crime stories based on his exploits.
Los Angeles Times bombing
The City of Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
hired Burns to catch the bombers
Los Angeles Times bombing
The Los Angeles Times bombing was the purposeful dynamiting of the Los Angeles Times building in Los Angeles, California, on October 1, 1910 by a union member belonging to the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers. The explosion started a fire which killed 21 newspaper...
of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
building on October 1, 1910.
BOI career
Burns was considered well qualified to direct the Bureau of Investigation, and was friends with President Warren Harding's Attorney GeneralAttorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
Harry M. Daugherty
Harry M. Daugherty
Harry Micajah Daugherty was an American politician. He is best known as a Republican Party boss, and member of the Ohio Gang, the name given to the group of advisors surrounding president Warren G...
. Burns was confirmed as Director of the Bureau of Investigation on August 22, 1921. He continued to run the Burns Detective Agency throughout his tenure as Director of the BOI. Under Burns, the Bureau shrank from its 1920 high of 1,127 personnel to 600 employees in 1923.
At the request of Attorney General Daugherty, Burns sent agents to investigate Montana Representative Thomas J. Walsh
Thomas J. Walsh
Thomas James Walsh was a lawyer and Democratic Party politician from Helena, Montana, in the United States.-Background:...
for evidence of criminal wrongdoing. The investigation was actually a pretext for retaliation; the congressman had been instrumental in opposing oil leases granted by Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall, a friend of Daugherty and fellow cabinet member. Burns later refused to turn over Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
documents to Congressional investigators, who in turn began investigating the BOI; Senate hearing revelations of BOI misdeeds were avidly covered in the press, and became known as the Daugherty-Burns scandal. Burns' BOI field agents made visits to the offices of newspapers around the country who had presented the BOI's actions in a negative light; their clumsy attempts to intimidate newspaper editors caused a backlash in public opinion and Congress. Burns was forced to resign in 1924 at the request of Attorney General Harlan Fiske Stone
Harlan Fiske Stone
Harlan Fiske Stone was an American lawyer and jurist. A native of New Hampshire, he served as the dean of Columbia Law School, his alma mater, in the early 20th century. As a member of the Republican Party, he was appointed as the 52nd Attorney General of the United States before becoming an...
and on May 10, 1924, J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
took over the position on a provisional basis.
Burns Detective Agency and Teapot Dome
Burns also became indirectly involved in the Teapot Dome ScandalTeapot Dome scandal
The Teapot Dome Scandal was a bribery incident that took place in the United States in 1922–23, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome and two other locations to private oil companies at low...
, involving the secret leasing of naval oil reserve lands to private companies. In November 1927, Harry F. Sinclair
Harry F. Sinclair
Harry Ford Sinclair was an American oil industrialist.-Early life:Harry Sinclair was born in Benwood, West Virginia, now a suburb of the city of Wheeling. Sinclair grew up in Independence, Kansas. The son of a pharmacist, after finishing high school, he entered the pharmacy department of the...
went on trial in federal court
Federal court
Federal court may refer to a court of the national government in a country that has a federal system of government. Examples include:* United States federal courts** A particular federal court, such as the United States district courts....
for conspiracy to defraud
Conspiracy to defraud
Conspiracy to defraud is an offence under the common law of England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-England and Wales:The standard definition of a conspiracy to defraud was provided by Lord Dilhorne in Scott v Metropolitan Police Commissioner, when he said that Conspiracy to defraud therefore...
the U. S. in the leasing of the Teapot Dome naval oil reserve. At the request of Sinclair oil executive Henry Mason Day, Burns secretly hired a squad of 14 men from the William J. Burns Detective Agency to "investigate" his jurors. Day arranged for their compensation and received their daily reports. Midway through the trial the government's investigators discovered Burns' agents, and a mistrial was immediately declared.
At a new hearing, Sinclair's defense was that he had had the jurors followed to protect them against federal influences; that in no case had the operatives made direct contact with the jurors. Sinclair was convicted on corruption charges and sentenced to six months in jail, Day to four months' imprisonment, William J. Burns to 15 days' imprisonment, and Burns' son, William Sherman Burns, was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. William Burns immediately appealed, and the Supreme Court later reversed William J. Burns' conviction.
Postcript
After his retirement from the Burns Detective Agency, Burns moved to FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and for several years published detective and mystery stories based on his long career. He died in Sarasota, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
in April 1932.
Writings
- The masked war; the story of a peril that threatened the United States New York, George H. Doran Co. 1913
- The Argyle case with Arthur Hornblow, Harriot Ford and Harvey O'Higgins New York, London, Harper, 1913
- The crevice with Isabel Ostrander New York : Grosset & Dunlap, 1915
See also
- Palmer raidsPalmer RaidsThe Palmer Raids were attempts by the United States Department of Justice to arrest and deport radical leftists, especially anarchists, from the United States. The raids and arrests occurred in November 1919 and January 1920 under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer...
- Teapot Dome Scandal
- The $5,000,000 Counterfeiting PlotThe $5,000,000 Counterfeiting PlotThe $5,000,000 Counterfeiting Plot is a 1914 Thriller films and directed by Bertram Harrison-Plot:A member of a counterfeiting gang gives a forged note to his daughter. When she spends it on a dress the note ends up in the hands of the secret service, who then bring the entire gang to justice.-Cast:...