Pinkerton (detective agency)

This article is about the Pinkerton detective agency. For the Canadian television show of a similar name about the agency, see The Pinkertons.

"We Never Sleep" redirects here. For the 1917 film starring Harold Lloyd, see We Never Sleep (film).

Pinkerton

File:Pinkerton logo.svg
Type	Private incorporation
Industry	Private security contractor
Founded	Chicago, Illinois, United States (1850 (1850))
Founder	Allan Pinkerton
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Investigations, employment screening, protective services, security, crisis management, intelligence services
Services	Security management, full-service risk management consulting
Parent	Securitas AB (since 2003)
Slogan	We never sleep.
Website	pinkerton.com

Pinkerton, founded as the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, is a private security guard and detective agency established in the United States by Allan Pinkerton in 1850 and currently a subsidiary of Securitas AB. Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired Pinkerton agents for his personal security during the Civil War. Pinkerton's agents performed services ranging from security guarding to private military contracting work. Pinkerton was the largest private law enforcement organization in the world at the height of its power.

During the labor strikes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, businessmen hired the Pinkerton Agency to infiltrate unions, supply guards, keep strikers and suspected unionists out of factories, and recruit goon squads to intimidate workers. One such confrontation was the Homestead Strike of 1892, in which Pinkerton agents were called in to reinforce the strikebreaking measures of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, acting on behalf of Andrew Carnegie. The ensuing battle between Pinkerton agents and striking workers led to the deaths of seven Pinkerton agents and nine steelworkers. The Pinkertons were also used as guards in coal, iron, and lumber disputes in Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia as well as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921. The organization was pejoratively called the "Pinks" by its opponents.

The company now operates as "Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations, Inc. d.b.a. Pinkerton Corporate Risk Management", a division of the Swedish security company Securitas AB. The former Government Services division, PGS, now operates as Securitas Critical Infrastructure Services, Inc.

Origins

In the 1850s, Allan Pinkerton met Chicago attorney Edward Rucker in a local Masonic Hall and formed the North-Western Police Agency, later known as the Pinkerton Agency.

Historian Frank Morn writes: "By the mid-1850s a few businessmen saw the need for greater control over their employees; their solution was to sponsor a private detective system. In February 1855, Allan Pinkerton, after consulting with six midwestern railroads, created such an agency in Chicago."

Government work

Pinkerton guards escort strikebreakers in Buchtel, Ohio, 1884

In 1871, Congress appropriated $50,000 to the new Department of Justice (DOJ) to form a suborganization devoted to "the detection and prosecution of those guilty of violating federal law." The amount was insufficient for the DOJ to fashion an integral investigating unit, so the DOJ contracted out the services to the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

However, since passage of the Anti-Pinkerton Act in 1893, federal law has stated that an "individual employed by the Pinkerton Detective Agency, or similar organization, may not be employed by the Government of the United States or the government of the District of Columbia."

Chicago "Special Officers" and watchmen

• July 27, 1877: J.J. White, who had been hired as a "Special Officer" during a strike, was shot and killed.
• July 19, 1919: Hans Rassmuson, Special Officer, was shot and killed.
• March 12, 1924: Frank Miller, Pinkerton Watchman, was shot and killed.

Molly Maguires

Main article: Molly Maguires

In the 1870s, Franklin B. Gowen, then president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, hired the agency to "investigate" the labor unions in the company's mines. A Pinkerton agent, James McParland, using the alias "James McKenna", infiltrated the Molly Maguires, a 19th-century secret society of mainly Irish-American coal miners, leading to the downfall of the labor organization. The incident inspired Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novel The Valley of Fear (1914-1915). (A Pinkerton agent also appears in a small role in The Adventure of the Red Circle, a 1911 Holmes story. A 1970 film, The Molly Maguires, was loosely based upon the incident as well; the film starred Richard Harris, Sean Connery and Anthony Zerbe.)

Pinkerton men leaving a barge after their surrender during the Homestead Strike

Homestead Strike

Main article: Homestead Strike

On July 6, 1892, during the Homestead Strike, 300 Pinkerton detectives from New York and Chicago were called in by Carnegie Steel's Henry Clay Frick to protect the Pittsburgh-area mill and strikebreakers. This resulted in a fire fight and siege in which 16 men were killed and 23 others were wounded. To restore order, two brigades of the Pennsylvania militia were called out by the Governor.

As a legacy of the Pinkerton's involvement a bridge connecting the nearby Pittsburgh suburbs of Munhall and Rankin was named Pinkerton's Landing Bridge.

Detective Frank P. Geyer

In 1895 detective Frank Geyer tracked down the murderer of the three Pitezel children, leading to the eventual trial and execution of the United States' first known serial killer H. H. Holmes. His story is told in his book, The Holmes-Pitezel Case. Pinkertons had previously apprehended Holmes in 1894 in Boston on an outstanding warrant for insurance fraud perpetrated in Chicago.

Steunenberg murder and trial

Main article: Frank Steunenberg

Harry Orchard was arrested by the Idaho police and confessed to Pinkerton agent James McParland that he assassinated former Governor Frank Steunenberg of Idaho in 1905. Orchard testified (unsuccessfully) under threat of hanging against Western Federation of Miners president Big Bill Haywood, naming him as hiring the hit. With a stirring defense by Clarence Darrow, Haywood and the other defendants of the WFM were acquitted in a nationally publicized trial. Orchard received a death sentence, but it was commuted.

Outlaws and competition

Pinkerton agents were hired to track western outlaws Jesse James, the Reno Gang, and the Wild Bunch (including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). On March 17, 1874, two Pinkerton Detectives and a deputy sheriff, Edwin P. Daniels, encountered the Younger brothers (associates of the James–Younger Gang); Daniels, John Younger, and one Pinkerton agent was killed. In Union, Missouri a bank was robbed by George Collins, aka Fred Lewis, and Bill Randolph; Pinkerton Detective Chas Schumacher trailed them and was killed. Collins was hanged on March 26, 1904 and Randolph was hanged on May 8, 1905 in Union. Pinkertons were also hired for transporting money and other high quality merchandise between cities and towns, which made them vulnerable to the outlaws. Pinkerton agents were usually well paid and well armed.

G.H. Thiel, a former Pinkerton employee, established the Thiel Detective Service Company in St. Louis, Missouri, a competitor to the Pinkerton agency. The Thiel company operated in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Due to its conflicts with labor unions, the word Pinkerton continues to be associated by labor organizers and union members with strikebreaking. Pinkertons, however, moved away from labor spying following revelations publicized by the La Follette Committee hearings in 1937. Pinkerton's criminal detection work also suffered from the police modernization movement, which saw the rise of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the bolstering of detective branches and resources of the public police. Without the labor and criminal investigation work on which Pinkertons thrived for decades, the company became increasingly involved in protection services, and in the 1960s, even the word "Detective" disappeared from the agency's letterhead. In July 2003, Pinkerton's was acquired along with longtime rival, the William J. Burns Detective Agency (founded in 1910), by Securitas AB to create Securitas Security Services USA, Inc., one of the largest security companies in the world.

Badge history

• 1870–1925—Solid Silver Badge Engraved Lettering
• 1925–1930—Silver Colored Eagle Badge with Blue Lettering
• 1930–Present—Gold colored shield with Black Lettering

Appearance in popular media

• The Pinkertons have been mentioned in season 1 and featured in seasons 2 and 3 of the HBO series Deadwood, and also the 1980 movie The Long Riders, where Pinkerton agents are depicted investigating criminal activity of the James brothers.
• In "False Colors" the eighth episode of the first season of the 1989 TV show The Young Riders, a detective named Pinkerton is working with the security of a gold shipment.
• In the fourth season episode "Havre de Grace" of Boardwalk Empire, the character Roy Phillips is revealed to be a detective working for the agency.
• The protagonist of the video game BioShock Infinite, Booker DeWitt, is an ex-Pinkerton, known for his violent methods in putting down strikes. Given his description, he was probably part of a goon squad and involved in the Homestead Strike.
• The character Captain Homer Jackson in the BBC series Ripper Street is also revealed as an ex-Pinkerton agent in series one.
• Two Pinkerton Agents were featured in the movie The Legend of Zorro.
• The Pinkertons are featured in the 3:10 to Yuma remake featuring Russel Crowe and Christian Bale, appearing at the start of the film defending a carriage from bandits.
• In Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, Felix Leiter worked for Pinkertons.
• Three Pinkerton Agents were featured in the first season episode "Husbands & Fathers", of the BBC America show Copper.
• In 1966 Irwin Allen series The Time Tunnel on episode 12 "The Death Trap", Mr. Pinkerton, with the help of the two main characters, saved President Lincoln.
• In the Sherlock Holmes novel The Valley of Fear, Birdy Edwards is a Pinkerton agent. In the Sherlock Holmes novel Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz, Frederick Chase claims to be a Pinkerton agent.
• In Penny Dreadful season 1 episode 8 "Grand Guignol" Ethan Chandler is confronted by 2 Pinkerton agents in a bar as his past catches up with him.
• In the 1994 western film Bad Girls the three main characters are being tracked down by two Pinkerton agents.
• The song "Ballad of a Well-Known Gun" on the 1970 Elton John album Tumbleweed Connection references 'the Pinkertons' – "The Pinkertons pulled out my bags and asked me for my name".
• The song "Book, Saddle, And Go" on the 2013 Clutch album Earth Rocker references 'Pinkerton Man' – "Pinkerton man, murdering bastard, I’m gonna get even, get even with you, Get even with you".
• The Pinkertons, a scripted one-hour syndicated starring Angus Macfadyen as Allan Pinkerton, debuted in 2014.
• Cole Hauser plays Charlie Siringo, a Pinkerton investigating Lizzie Borden, in the 2015 mini-series The Lizzie Borden Chronicles.
• In Laird Barron's short story "Bulldozer", the Pinkerton protagonist Jonah Koenig hunts down a wanted criminal who also happens to dabble in profane occult rituals.
• Many Louis L'Amour books contain references to the Pinkertons, including Milo Talon
• Maria "Belle" Boyd, a lead character in Cherie Priest's steampunk novel Fiddlehead, works for the Pinkerton detective agency.

See also

• Anti-union organizations in the United States
• Anti-union violence
• Baldwin-Felts detective agency
• Battle of Blair Mountain
• Coal and Iron Police, a Pinkerton-supervised private police force in Pennsylvania
• Colorado Labor Wars
• George Samuel Dougherty, private detective for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency from 1888–1911
• Morris Friedman, author of Pinkerton Labor Spy
• Dashiell Hammett, author and former Pinkerton operative.
• Historian J. Bernard Hogg, public reaction to Pinkertonism and the Labor Question
• Industrial Workers of the World
• Labor spies
• Andrew Hamilt, tracker for the Pinkerton Detectives
• Frank Little, American labor leader; lynched in 1917, allegedly by Pinkerton agents.
• Murder of workers in labor disputes in the United States

External links

• Official website
• Radio Programme with Professor Ward Churchill