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THE PHONOGRAPH AS A WITNESS. When Mr. Edison invented the Phonograph he thought he had merely perfected a toy for the amusement of those who find an interest in scientific novelties. He has said, in fact, that the Phonograph is the only toy he ever in- vented. It is well known that Mr. Edison wastes no 0 time on inventions that promise no practical utility or com- mercial value. But the Phonograph, wonderful as it seems to the average mind, came so easy he couldn’t help Mr. Edison has lived to see the Phonograph become something else than a mere toy. It is true that it has furnished instructive entertainment in thousands of homes. The various forms in which the original Edison invention has been embodied in talking machines have led to the de- velopment of extensive industries and the employment of large capital. The machines are used in many of the large mercantile establishments of the country, taking the place of stenographers in the dictation of correspondence. It remained for Chicago to introduce the novelty of a Phonographic cylinder as a witness in a coroner’s inquest. In the investigation of the Larson murder now in progress in this city it is claimed that the defendant, charged with the crime, will base his defense solely upon an alibi to be proven by a Phonograph into which he talked in the home of a friend at the time the murder is said to have been committed. Into this Phonograph it is claimed, the de- fendant told a “sailor’s story.** / The cylinder bearing the record of the story was after- wards broken, but it is the belief of the defendant that it can be patched up in such a way as to reproduce his voice so that it may be recognized and establish his innocence.