Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1895 — ALLAN PINKERTON. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ALLAN PINKERTON.

Without Exception the Greatest Detective the Country Ever Knew. Without doubt the greatest detective the country has ever seen was Allan. Pinkerton, the founder of the national detective agency which bears his name, and who achieved such fame in connection with the administration of Abraham Lincoln, he having been his especial guard. Pinkerton was a born detective, though during the early years of his life he was a cooper. He was born in 1819 in Scotland. When he came to this country he located in Illinois and established a fine business, following the trade he had learned in his native country. He continued as a cooper until he .was 33 years old. Then, through a lucky accident, he entered upon the true work of his life. In 1850, when State banks and wildcat money were the order of the day, counterfeits were common, and the storekeepers throughout the country were frequently swindled. One day a saddler of Dundee, where Pinkerton was located, came to him and said that he had been taken In by a bogus bill. He said he thought he could point out a suspicious character. Pinkerton followed the man whom the saddler Indicated. The cooper-detective was disguised as a workman and succeeded in shadowing the man he had has eye on without exciting his suspicious. At last he traced to an Island in Fox River, and there a complete establishment for making counterfeit money* was discovered. The entire gang was arrested and Pinkerton became famous throughout the country. It was seen that the cooper had the making of a detective and he was appointed deputy sheriff of the county. In this capacity he soon became the terror of cattle thieves, counterfeiters and evil doers generally. Soon after he was tendered a position as deputy sheriff of Cook County, but he did not remain long in this capacity, for the Illinois Central and Rock Island Railroad, recognizing his ability as a detective, prevailed upon him to organize a detective agency for the protection of the road against train robbers. It was In the capture of express thieves and bank robbers that Pinkerton achieved his most remarkable success-

es. Beginning with the Maroney robbery in 1858, where after months of persistent shadowing, he recovered nearly $40,000 for the Adams Express Company, he conducted the work in scores of similar cases and was usually successful. He captured the notorious Carbondale bank robbers, recovering $35,000. Then came the great robbery of the Adams Express Company on the New York and New Haven Railroad, Jan. 6, 1866, when a gang of six thieves burst open the safe and secured nearly $700,000. Allan Pinkerton secured the conviction of the guilty men, and got back all but a very small portion of the money. The following year he succeeded in breaking up the formidable Reno and Anderson gang, who had for years been the terror of the West, plundering towns, robbing stores and blowing open safes with apparent impunity. So greatly was public indignation aroused against these desperadoes that after their arrest they were taken from the jail in New Albany, Ind., by 100 masked men and hanged. In bls whole life Allan Pinkerton never touched cards, never made a bet, or indulged in any form of gambling. He was fond of driving and horseback riding, and in his later years took much pleasure and spent much of his spare time in literary work. In all he produced seventeen books of his thrilling experience as a detective. At the age of 66 years he died of cancer of the stomach.

ALLAN PINKERTON.