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Pinkerton was born in Glasgow on August 25, 1819, and he dropped out of school when he was 10 after his father died. In 1842, after being involved in radical politics, he was forced to immigrate to the U.S. He went to Dundee Township, 50 miles northwest of Chicago, building a cabin for his wife and starting a cooperage in 1843. By 1844, he was working for the Chicago abolitionist leaders, turning his home into a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Source: (Getty/colorized).

While he was wandering through the woods looking for trees for barrel staves, he encountered counterfeiters, who he observed for a while. He reported them to the local sheriff, who arrested the men, which led to his appointment as the first police detective in Chicago in 1849. He was also a special agent with the U.S. Post Office. He then partnered with Edward Rucker, a Chicago attorney, to form the North-Western Police Agency, which eventually became Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

He Met Lincoln Early On

The agency started to make a name for itself when it solved a series of train robberies in the 1850s. After that, Pinkerton met George McClellan and Abraham Lincoln, who was, at that time, the lawyer for the Illinois Central Railroad. His abolitionist activities continued when he helped the slaves that John Brown freed in Missouri to gain transport to Canada.

They Hired The First Female Detective

Source: (Getty).

In 1856, they hired the first female private detective, Kate Warne, a 23-year-old widow who convinced Pinkerton that she could find out things that the men could not. And she did, proving herself to be an expert at working undercover. Although Pinkerton was hesitant to hire her at first, he would later say that she was the best detective he had hired. She also played a part in thwarting Lincoln’s potential assassination.

They Worked For The Union In The Civil War

Prior to Lincoln’s 1861 inauguration, Pinkerton claimed to learn from undercover intelligence that a group planned to assassinate Lincoln. Thankfully, Pinkerton managed to foil the plan by having Lincoln pose as Warne’s invalid brother. However, some historians do dispute whether the threat ever existed. Once the Civil War began, Pinkerton became the head of the Union Intelligence Service, and his agents worked as undercover Confederate soldiers as well as sympathizers, helping to gather military intelligence. Pinkerton operated under the name E.J. Allen to set up spy rings; they even interviewed escaped slaves to see what they could learn. While he did find out some useful information, some of it proved to be false.

Their Work After The Civil War

Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch, who the Pinkertons pursued. Source: (Reddit/colorized).

When Pinkerton’s service for the Union Army was finished, he pursued train robbers and other outlaws, including the Reno Gang and Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch. He also pursued Jesse James, but this pursuit did not end well for the Pinkertons. One incident when the Pinkertons were in pursuit of the James brothers turned public opinion against the Pinkertons. They raided the home of the mother of the James brother, but the brothers were nowhere to be found. When they got into an argument with Zerelda Samuel, James’ mother, a detective threw an incendiary device through a window, killing the half-brother. Pinkerton then called off the hunt because the papers derided the detectives as murderers. Pinkerton was hired by the Spanish Government in 1872 to help suppress a revolution in Cuba. They also developed a bad reputation as hired thugs for big business. In one case, the Carnegie Steel Corporation paid them to act as security to protect their interests at its mill in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, this resulted in a bit of a brawl that left at least 10 dead, including both steel workers and members of the agency.

His Death And Legacy

Allan Pinkerton. Source: (Wikipedia/colorized).

On July 1, 1884, Pinkerton died in Chicago, although his cause of death remains unclear. Some claim that he got gangrene after he slipped on the pavement and bit his tongue. Others claim he contracted malaria, while still others claim he died as a result of a stroke he had the year before. Before his death, he was working on a database of criminals that law enforcement could use. The database, or “Rogues’ Gallery,” was a collection of mug shots and case histories of wanted men. This was the most sophisticated criminal library that existed until the early 20th century.

After Pinkerton Died