”A man about forty-six 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 by exhibiting a device which he says will convey the human voice over metallic wires, so that it will be heard by the listener at the other end. He calls the instrument a ”telephone”, which 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, and that were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical value. The authorities who apprehended this criminal are to be congratulated, and it is to be hoped that it may serve as an example to other conscienceless schemers who enrich themselves at the expense of their fellow creatures.”
– from a Boston ( U.S.A) newspaper published in 1873
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