St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-26
A Peculiar Eye in the Head of
a Cooper Of Kane County,
Illinois.
How Allan PinkertOn Became
the Famous Thief Taker
Of the Age.
How He Cutely Drew Coun-
terfeiter Craig Into the
Tolls.
The Celebrated "Medieal hob"
at st. Charles in the
Year 1S49.

Chicago Tribune.
If Kane county has been the scene of
comparatively few Infamous crimes, it
at least may claim the distinction of
having drought OUT the most famous
of all American detectives-Allan Pink
erton. 1t may be said that the crafty
old Scotchman blundered into his mar
velous career of catching criminals at
middle age. In 1858 1.-The eye that
never sleeps" was spending its cunning
in making barrels at Dundee, and i'll
taking its regular sleep, all unconscious
of the terrors its glance would possess
some time for the whole craft of GRIM
inals. The cooper trade was then a
prosperous one, Pinkerton was thrifty
and industrious. and had quite force
of men working for him, and snug
little home close by his shop.
Cooper AIlan's First Arrest.
One day his search for small straight
saplings from which to shave hoops
carried him up the Fox to a small island
Just above where the little town of AL
gonquin now stands. Here, on the cen
ter of the island, in the thick under
seemed to arouse all the subtle forces of
suspicion which in after life gave him
so keen a scent for crime and criminals.
The ground was Uttered with the leav
ingS of camps, which Pinkerton we'll
knew had not been the meeting place of
picnickerS or gypSieS, as neither
were common then. He told his
suspicious to Luther Dearborn, then.
sheriff of Kane county. They watched
the island, and in the right quarter of
the moon raided it with posse of
picked men, bagging gang of male
and female thieves and cOunterfeIters,
with a supply of bogus dimes and the
tools used in their manufacture. This
made Pinkerton little local reputation,
but he thought no more of 1t until In
crease G. Bosworth and II. E. Hunt,
who were leading merchants of Dun
dee. came to him with the information
that they were sure there was counter
feiter in town and begged him to help
them capture the ''Queer'' man. He
tried to laugh them off, but they stuck
and hung until he yielded.
Counterfeit ssTens..s
The country was full of wildcat"
money at that time, and the only scrip
that could be banked on with certainty
that it would be worth as much at sum
set as at sunrise was George Smiths
money" otherwise the currency of the
Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance
company, which was owned principally
by George Smith, with the late Alex
ander Mitchell as partner. Smiths i'm
mense wealth. well-known Shrewdness,
closeness and integrity made his money
in demand everywhere. and conse-
quently more likely to be counter
feited than any other bills in
circulation. Bosworth and Hunt had
heard that there were counterfeits of
George Smiths" $40 bills in circula-
tien in the vicinity and that there was a
stranger in town inquiring the way to
"8ld Man Cranes" The latter was
sort of hermit, who lived over in Lake
county, in the vicinity of Libertyville,
and was suspected universally Of being
hardened old rascal on general princi
pies, and the chief distributor of
''queer'' for that section of country.
Besworth and Hunt put the two things
together and concluded that the hand
some stranger who was having his sad
die repaired at Eaton Walkers little
harness shop would bear watching; and
Pinkerton agreed with them.
Unable to resist the fascination of
following out scent, Pinkerton, in his
shop OverallS, Sauntered down to the
harness shop and was assisting Walker
in adjusting the saddle when the stran-
ger made ready to mount. Plnkerton
engaged him in conversation, and
finally was asked in confidential I'M
dertone for directions to old man
Cranes. Pinkerton quietly replied in
as confidential a tone, giving him the
q
added, in the shape of a knowing wink
at the mention of Cranes name. The
counterfeiter caught at this clever bait
and insisted on meeting Pinkerton on
the quiet little later i'll ravine just
out of town.
Slicker than Craig.
Pinkerton, under preteXt of changing
his clothes. went to Bosworth and was
furnished with $50 with which to buy
bogus bills, if necessary. He met the
stranger in the ravine according to APP
pointment The stranger parleyed
awhile. but was convinced finally that
Pinkerton was an honest rogue and
confessed that his own name was Craig,
that he was an uncle of George Smith
in Elgin, that he had Headquarters at
Fairfax and was West distributing his
QuccI. liz dloU SuONtu L lHhtIIOIl d
couple of $40 bills, counterfeits of those
issued by the Wisconsin Fire and Ma
rine Insurance company, and bargained
to sell Pnkerton $3.50 of that counterfeit
at % per cent cash, the delivery to take
place, at Pinkerton's suggestion, in the
basement of the old Elgin academy,
then in process of erection on the hill
overlooking East Elgin.
Pinkerton was on hand in the base
ment at o'clock that afternoon, and
Craig soon put in an appearance and re-
ceived from Pinkerton SIPS. The latter
was told to leave the basement and see
that no one approached while the coun-
terfeit was placed in certain place tC
which Pinkerton would be directed on