An obscure bit of early 20th century technology embroiled Dr. Woody Register in a murder mystery. Register, a professor of history at the University of the South (Sewanee), became intrigued by the detective dictograph and followed its trail to the 1914 murder of Louise Bailey in Freeport. Mrs. Bailey was shot in the Merrick Road office of Dr. Edward Carman. Dr. Carman’s wife, Florence, had secretly installed a dictograph in her husband’s office hoping to capture evidence of his philandering.

What followed was a media frenzy of an investigation that played out in countless inches of newspaper columns across the country. Register’s 2014 essay in the Journal of Theory and Practice examined the case, the surrounding newspaper coverage, and the legal, social, and philosophical issues that lay at its heart. We do not find all the answers but on this episode you’ll hear more about the tragic crime that rocked Freeport and momentarily knocked the First World War off of the front page.

Further Research

• Woody Register (University of the South)
  • “Some truths about the rumors, gossip, hearsay, and innuendo surrounding the Freeport murder mystery of 1914.”
  • The Muckers: A Narrative of the Crapshooters Club (Amazon)
  • The Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation.
• “What is the Limit of a Married Woman’s Jealousy?” (Chronicling America)
• A Suspicious Wife (IMDB)
• Mrs. Balfame by Gertrude Atherton (Google Books)
• Intro music: https://homegrownstringband.com/
• Outro music: Capering by Blue Dot Sessions CC BY-NC 4.0