Inventing Madness

Benjamin Bredding

"As I have told you, Bredding helped Stearns patent and sell the duplex transmitter. He also helped me improve the duplex transmitter, and I later patented it as the world's first quadruplex transmitter.

"Bredding was a weak and mild-mannered man, but I had to make certain he would not try to stop me from patenting the quadruplex transmitter. I put on my gloves and then carefully measured out an appropriate amount of the foxglove powder. Although I had access to many other poisons, I continued to feel most comfortable using foxglove. I placed the powder on a clean sheet of paper, rolled up the paper and gently tapped the powder into a small glass vial, as I had done so many times before. I then went back to Boston to visit with Bredding, allegedly to repay him the thirty-five dollars he had loaned me to get to New York City. Not surprisingly he died during my visit."