The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-04-12
New York WOrld.l

Il lH0 1A0 kG -
height. aud he figured prominently
among those who were agitatiug fol
\ more liberal form Of government
This agitation culminatedsln the BIT
minRham riots aud in the arrest and
con viction of several OF the leaders,
who were sentenced to death and to
various terms % impri onment. Allan
thought there were other lands more
conduciveto longevity than his native
country, and AS he felt that he was a
marked man he hurriedly married 9
Young lady to whom he was af1anced
and secretly left for America. The
vessel was wrecked ear Sable Island
and on the 9th OF May, 1872, he and
his yo ing BRIDE f ,und themselves in
\ destitute condition at this point.
He. however, managed to obtain
passage by water through the lakes
TO Chicago, where he >oon found
work at his trade. After a few years
he established y cooperage of his own
at Dundee, lit 80 miles northw of
Chicago. He gradually built mp a
thriving business and had q large
number of men in his employ.
FORGED CHECKS.
At this time there was very little
money in circulation, the want of it
being supplied by the checks of the
Milwaukee Fire and Marine Insur-
ance Company. which passed current.
These were crude aud easily initiated.
The consequence was that q large
humber of forged checks were put ON
the market which were so ~excellently
done as to almost defy detection. 1t
was lere that PinkertOn did his first
piece of detective work. He had
suffered through some OF these Forged
cheeks and determined to put q sop
to it if possible. He struck a clue to
John Grav. a very skllltul G inter
reiter of Vermont and leader of the
gang, and soon had him in jill. 1t
Was the detection of Gray that first
brought Pinkerton into public notice.
The forgeries continued even after
the capture of Gray, and he was re
ouesttd by the merchants OF that
| section to follow up his work and
break up the gang. He went to work
| and in a few years had a number of
fnryers in the clutches of the aw.
| While carrying on this investigation
| ne was twice shot, once coming very
| near losing his life. During this
| time he still successfully carried on
his cooperage business at Dundee.
This o~peration made him well known
| and popular in Illinois aud he was
finally induced to accept the position
! of deputy sheriff Of Cook county. In
| 1913 he became special agent of the
! Treasury department under Secre-
| tarv Guthrie and was subsequently
I made special mail agent. He did
some good work while in these posi-
tons aud seemed to be successful il
every detective investigation which
came under his direction. When
Lincoln became President ne was
called to the Secret Service OF the
United States by Mcclellan and Lin
coin, where he remained for several
years. When Pinkerton first came
to America he became a strong OppO-
nent of slavery. When the Fugitive
Slave law was enacted he became
prominent with John Brown; James
H. Collin and other noted abolition
lists in running the SO called under
ground railroad, and by his energy
and assistance many negroes were
saved from being carried back into
servitude.
A REPUTATION.
In 1854 MI. Pinkerton's name vas
we'll known throughout the West
and Northwest, and it was then, at !
the urgent solicitation of the leading
railroad men and bankers Of that
section. to whom he had rendered
great service at various times, that he
Established his detective agency and
formed that system which later on
became known ss Pinkerton's Ma
fional Detective Agency. He estab-
lished his headquarters at Chicago
AM! had associated with him in the
beginning only a few men. The field
was a large Il end there were many
daring criminals and outlaws abroad
i'm the land. HIS business rapidly in
creased and he was obliged to increase
his force in proportion. Al times be
had detectives located in every state
in the Unlen. He soon found that
the Chicago office alone could not
,uduct tue affairs properly, so he
e tablished branch Offices in this city
and in Philadelphia. At present he
has nearly 200 detectives in nis en-
plny, both men and women. From
the commencement of the detective
business he has laid down and adj
hered to the most stringent rules,
the old maxim, "a bon
that, bon rat" and only permitted
on his force detectives whose charac-
tiers were unimpeachable. He claims
that the honest MUD: guided by an
upright principle, is best competent
to grapple with the criminal. and his
un orecedented success has demon
the truth of his theory. He
doe, not receive, nor does be allow
any n in his employ to receive.
rewards, but pays all his
Diet. ctives a regular stated salary and
charges a per diem rate tor his SER
vices in all mattel rs in which he is
retained. These salaries range from
a day to $1,000 a year. He insists
upon nc compromise with thieves,
and for the express companies alone
.a- recovered several millions of
dollars. covering innumerable thefts
and robberies both largeand small, in
each a s prosecuting the thieves.
THE CLASS OF BUSINESS. !
His chief business is with banks
md express companies, but he will
lake up any line tut divorce cases.
He has made it q rule from the start
never to interfere in family matters
He has IS detectives working from ,
he offices in this city, who look after t
he Eastern and Atlantic states. The q
Chicago office takes care Of the West r
md Southwest and employs 40 detec- .
ives. In the Philadelphia office s
here are 20 men, whose chief busi- q
less is in the coal regions of Penn Y
ylvania. The work Of these men is T
lot confined to the cities. They ex- b
end over the country, reporting to c
he Office from which they have teen t
In addition to this he has n