Marginalia #1: C.A.Barr and his amazing machine

There are various tangential stories that come out of the woodwork when you research deep into a subject matter.  These marginal stories have always had a strong lure for me, and I have had a constant desire to tell the full story only through the marginalia.  I also become part of that marginalia;  my adventures chasing the story begin to blend into the narrative.

This is the original marginal story that I tried to research further on its own:  C.A. Barr and his amazing machine.

The Pinkerton Detective Agency was hired by the L.Q.White company after a botched robbery of its payroll on Christmas Eve (this robbery attempt was the prequel to the Braintree Robbery).  They began to follow a dapper man who either claimed to know who the bandits were or was one of them.  He later was overheard saying that the would-be bandits were Italian Anarchists.  

The Pinkerton detectives along with Chief Stewart of the Bridgewater Police (the man who eventually set the trap that caught Sacco and Vanzetti) finally caught up with the dapper man.  He stated his name was C.A.Barr (originally Barosso, an Italian) and that he had invented a machine

 "with which he could detect who had committed a crime no matter where it was committed."

 He stated that one Mrs. Vetilia had looked into the machine and saw the [attempted Bridgewater] holdup happening and saw the men plainly but did not know who they were.

The detective declared his statement rambling and no one tried to examine the incredible machine, nor tried to find and interview Mrs. Vetilia.

BUT it is very interesting that someone planted early on into Chief Stewart's head that "it was a group of Italian Anarchists."  No matter how ridiculous the story is, it could have had a material, practical effect of subtly slanting Chief Stewart's investigation.

I refer to the handmade Opaque projector used at the beginning of the show as

 C.A.Barr's Miraculous machine.