The sun., 1917-01-27
BURNS GUILTY.:
PAYS$100 FINE
Detective Accused of "Pub-
fishing" Private Letter
Escapes Jail Term.

Detective William J. Burns, his face
solemn, heard the sentence of guilty as
charged" pronounced upon him by JUS
tices Freschi. Collins and Garvln in
Special Sessions. yesterday afternoon
at the end of his trial on the charge of
copying and publishing" a private let
ter while working in the interests Of the
firm of J. p. Morgan. & Co.
Martin Egan of the publicity depart
ment OF the Morgan firm and codefend-
ant with Burns was declared sac
Quilted and discharged the Justices
taking the view that Mr.. Egan was not
guilty of publishing" the letter, mas
much as he merely had accepted the
paper from Burns.
His Motive UnauestlOned.
Justice Freschi, speaking for himself
and his colleagues. shared the Eiew of
Lawyers Delaney Nicoll, Francis l..
Wellman and John d. Lindsay, attorneys
for the two defendants. that when Burns
had copied the private letter in the Of
fees of Seymour & Seymour. l20 Broad
way, he was "actuated by good motives"
and was doing what he believed was
his right to do" With this and other
extenuating circumstances in view the
punishment for the misdemeanor, which
might have been as severe as year In
prison and n fine of $500 was a fine
of 500.
There were many operatives and other
members of private detective agencies
known to be bitter rivals of the Burns
Detective Agency in the court room dur
ing the trial listening attentively, and
none of these showed any great signs OF
grief when Burns was found guilty.
Permit me to say pleaded Mr.
Nicoll when, judging from the argu
ments passing between Justices and law
yers, there was reason for believing that
the court considered Burns guilty, "tha
| think to declare this defendant guilty
would be great injustice. 1t woult
expose him to loss of his license per
I haps destroy his great business"
This is the first case Of this kind un
! der the statute said Justice Freschi
addressing Burns. "and We feel tina
your activity In this matter was ac
tuated by good motives We believe
! that you acted cautiously and withou
intent to give these matters publicity
but rather on the contrary to keep then
secret.
Serious QnestiOn of Law.
"It may be taken into account that W.
feel that no detective, no private detec
| tive. has any right TO enter place o
business of individual or individuals il
order to get information for purpose
of hts avn. II your conduct was ma
! ~ hAp cot at
prison sentence. There is seriou
question of law here and our Judgmen
Is that the law was violated. Becaus
Of the surrounding circumstances tn
court feels justified in imposing only
fine We are informed by your counse
that the Judgment here will be reviewed
We hope it will be-
After the Justices had retired fror
the court room there seemed to be
general opinion among those who ha
followed the trial that there was n
likelihood that Burns is In danger c
losing his detective license.
Both Detective Burns and Mr., Ega
took the stand as witnesses during tn
day. o. B. Phillips, who had desk ROOF
in the offices of Seymour & Seymou
early In 1916. and Carlos Moore.
hrother-in-law OF Archibald White. sal
10 he a friend of Count Won Bernstorf
were also called From these witnesse
the details of the now familiar effort {
a cliaue to obtain inside Information
from the Morgan firm about British an
French war contracts so that the littl
group could profit from the leak" weI
repeated again and again.
Tells OF Finding Letter.
Burns testified that the law firm
Seymour & Seymour had been named b
, Mr.. Egan to him in putting the detect,
upon the case Burns then related thi
when he had entered the law firms o
fees TO install detectaphone he ha
! come upon the letter in question lyir
omen on IA desk in the deserted offices.
/ Mr.. Egan. who began his testimor
r by saying that the Morgan firm "ows
3 protection to every decent manufactur,
in the country and therefore had set o.
TO run down the leak. testified that
, had set Burns to work on the case. b.
r at no time authorized the detective
20 to Seymour Il seymour's offices.