And if it was nearby why was the box not used to alert the police back at the station on the day of the murder? Why did the officer walk back to inform them of the situation?Trial testimony John Coughlin page 1162:
( This pertains to the visit made to the Borden home on Saturday evening.)
Q. As you approached toward the house did you see any persons on the street?
A. I saw a large number of people congregated around the Borden house.
Q. What was done with reference to those people?
A. I instructed the marshal to have them removed.
Q. Were they removed?
A. They were.
Q.Can you give us an idea of about how much of a crowd there was there on the street?
A. The sidewalk on the east side was some little distance down, both north and to the south, was crowded with people. The middle of the street--- there were a large number of people gathered there, and, in fact, it was with difficulty, that we were able to drive through without running some of them down. I notified the marshal that they should be removed. We drove to a police box, he got out of the carriage and pulled in the box.
Q. Well, I don't care to go into the details. The officers were called?
A. Yes, sir.
During the 1800's there were police alarm systems that could be used to call for assistance in case the need arose. They were, however, usually kept locked to avoid false alarms. I wondered if citizens as well as officers had access to using this alarm system. So I did a little checking around. Most of the information I found pertaining to alarm systems of this nature were the ones used by the fire department. But both systems worked using the same principle. There seems to have been a variance in the manner in which citizens had access to these alarms. The most common practice seems to have been to entrust the keys to residents who had places of business near the call box, or if there were no businesses close by, to citizens who were deemed responsible enough by the community. There were other sites that gave some pretty detailed information this is just one description I found for the police call box. It was on a site that describes systems that were in place in Chicago during the 1800's.
By 1879, the Chicago Police Department approached their alert and response problem with a radical new idea, the police box. Using the original concept of the firebox used by the CFD in the early 1870s, the CPD erected a new advanced alert system for beat patrolmen. An officer, while walking his beat, would notice a crime being committed. If the situation warranted more assistance then he himself could provide, he would race to the local police box, a wooden structure approximately six feet in height that looked like a telephone booth. Inside this signal box was another box that contained the signal system. The patrolman would move the activator (dial and pointer) and choose one of a number of options, including riot, murder, fire, and forgery.18 Other options were available, such as tones for a line check. The booths were also attached to a streetlamp with a glass section to the roof so that the officer could use the ambient light to see the alarm box. When the alarm was activated at the site a signal box at the station would ring. It would denote the box from which the alarm was sent so that a response force could be sent as soon as possible. For example, if an officer had made an arrest he would turn the annunciator to arrest on box number 287. The alarm for box 287 would ring at the station, showing an arrest, and then a police wagon should be sent for pickup. All officers on patrol and officers in the station manning the telegraph systems were required to know the location of each patrol box. Furthermore, the exact locations of each existing and newly-added box were published in the Police Superintendent's annual report.19
The city boosters touted this system as a godsend against "terror gangs" as well as a technological advance that would help maintain law and order.20 As with the firebox system, local citizens of civic reliability were issued keys to open the alarm boxes. The citizen's keys were held fast in the lock opening by a trap lock. When the officer responding to the call arrived, he used his master key to remove the citizen's key. If a person had called in a false report with a stolen key the officer had the numbered citizen key. He could check the number against a list of people who had the key and could follow up with the particular individual, or he could cancel the alarm from the box.21 It was a benefit for officers as well as citizens. Until this new system was instituted an officer had to walk back to the station to report any incidents that might require help. Often, by the time the officers returned to the scene, the perpetrators had left. This old system of walking back to the station was made even more difficult in the event of an arrest. The officer would have to walk his prisoner back to the station, often with nothing restraining the prisoner except the sense of shame for committing the criminal act. This system of arrest and "transport" proved cumbersome, if not impossible, when an officer had to arrest several people. With the alarm system in place, help could be dispatched to retrieve prisoners or send further help. This response team required the other major technological invention to the CPD's arsenal: the police wagon.22
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... 08871/pg_4
