As a young cub reporter, I recall covering news inside the courthouse during the Ted Bundy murder trial. Back then, there was a real need for quarters and also the necessity and urgency to stake out a nearby payphone for breaking news, because, despite cells, mobile phones are still not allowed inside the courthouse.
For those who may not know what I'm talking about, a payphone is a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or a privacy hood, with pre-payment by inserting money or by billing a credit or debit card, or a telephone card.
A prepay telephone, known as the Western Electric “No. 5 Coin Collector” and was first installed in Chicago back in 1898. The use of payphones spread, and by 1902 they totaled 81,000 payphones across the U.S. And up until 1905, all payphones were placed indoors in buildings where the public could access them.
This day will bring back some of those memories as information from today's Manafort sentencing will be another blast from the past for the working press.
For Manafort's sentencing, a trip to the pre-cellphone era https://reut.rs/2HuWxqL
Manafort returning to federal court for another sentencing https://apnews.com/a62cc8ad4faa493a8807d823417d2f7f