# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-john-burns
# Generated: 2026-08-14T00:22:29.508Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-john-burns"
name: "William John Burns"
slug: "william-john-burns"
description: "William John Burns was an American private investigator and law enforcement official. He was known as \"America's Sherlock Holmes\" and earned fame for having conducted private investigations into a number of notable incidents, such as clearing Leo Frank of the 1913 murder of Mary Phagan, and for investigating the deadly 1910 Los Angeles Times bombing conducted by members of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers. From August 22, 1921, to May 10, 1924, Burns served as the fourth director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), predecessor to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)."
tagline: "American Secret Service agent (1861–1932)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/William_J._Burns.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Writers"
  slug: "writers"
profileType:
  name: "Writer / Author"
  slug: "writer"
birthDate: "1861-10-19"
deathDate: "1932-04-14"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           47.74
  momentum:             0
  historical:           7.696912
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     45
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A8%81%E5%BB%89%C2%B7%E7%BA%A6%E7%BF%B0%C2%B7%E4%BC%AF%E6%81%A9%E6%96%AF"
    title: "威廉·约翰·伯恩斯"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85_%D8%AC%D9%8A._%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%B3"
    title: "وليم جي. بورنس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_John_Burns"
    title: "William John Burns"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Burns"
    title: "William J. Burns"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Burns"
    title: "William J. Burns"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_John_Burns"
    title: "William John Burns"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BBJ%E3%83%BB%E3%83%90%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BA"
    title: "ウィリアム・J・バーンズ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D1%91%D1%80%D0%BD%D1%81%2C_%D0%A3%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F%D0%BC_%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%BE%D0%BD"
    title: "Бёрнс, Уильям Джон"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2579424"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump