It was used not only for courtroom testimony but also for recording political events such as the Free Soil Convention in Buffalo, New York, and sessions of the 30th United States Congress in Washington, D.C., in 1848.

His 1868 exposé of John Allen caused the saloon keeper to become infamously known as "the wickedest man in New York" and forced to close his dance hall.

[3] After receiving permission from the school, he taught a volunteer after-school class of 250 students free of charge from which would emerge some of the most prominent shorthand writers of the period such as Dennis F.

In 1852 as editor of the Musical World and Times, he hired Fanny Fern from Boston as the first woman to have her own newspaper column, to great success and rapid fame.

[8] It also made Packard's Monthly very successful and set the tone for future stories; the magazine's official slogan became "truth is stranger than fiction".

[9] Even Allen, despite his notoriety, embraced his new-found publicity by pasting copies of the article in the windows and on the bar mirror of his dance hall, and had business cards printed up using the title "Wickedest Man in New York" as the owner.

He was one of the signatories to the "street preaching" document which gave support to religious leaders' efforts to convince saloon keepers and other criminal figures to abandon crime as a way of life.

[8][10][12] In his later years, Dyer became a published author on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from religious writings and political topics, such as the effects of Reconstruction, and the history of The New York Sun.

He also wrote biographies on fellow journalist Henry Woodfin Grady, historian George Bancroft, and former U.S. Presidents Andrew Jackson and James A. Garfield.