Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-07
PINKERTON ON PINKERTONs.
II Officials Do Their Duty the Mercenaries |
VIII Not Be Needed.

II O"cieaAs Do Ine1r Duty the Mercenaries
VIII Not Be Needed.
Pail Mall Budget.]
II have not been in London" said he, for
l6 years, and when was last here it was to
carry out the not particularly pleasant duty
Of arresting a well-known criminal and
taking him back to the States, and inciden-
tally to 25 years. sentence. Now am here
for pleasure, and, though the outbreak Of
cholera cut short my Continental tour. /
have managed to see and to enjoy a great
deal" Thus "Bfll" Pinkerton talked to q
Pal Mall representative
"You ask me what think will be the out
come of the present cry that the 'Pinlxer-
tons must goP' Well, that is diff
cult thing to say offhand; but if it means SIM
ply that our firm must cease to supply de-
tenders OF property and lives which 1t is the
duty of the various States to defend for
themselves, I shall not be sorry to see it
brought about. But while it is as necessary
as 1t now is for the hands of the police and
militia to be strengthened by outside help,
guess we are about as well able as any one
else to do justice to the job. The fact Il,
though. that the most exaggerated reports
have been made public, and even before the
Congressional committee the widest ab-
surdities of statement were INDUCED in by
members of Congress themselves. 1t was
ADDE'S. and that scores of men on both sides
had been shot down. The fact of the mat
ter is that, roughly speaking, don't believe
we have ever had more than 1000 people on
our pay rolls ut the same time, including our
clerks and regular employees.
"Why should we be employed at all? you
ask. Well. l don't wonder at the question
from an Englishman. You over here cannot
understand much that is taken for granted
across the Atlantic. For one thing, you see,
both political parties are anxious to stand
well with the Labor party, and when a labor
trouble arises State Governor, be he Demo-
crat or Republican, is averSe to interfering
on one side or another. So with the other
officials, and hence it is that an outside
organization is called in, and neither Demo-
Gratis nor Republicans can throw stones at
each other ut the next election. Instead,
they both hurl them at the Pinkertons.'
We are q sort of cock-shy' for every one.
l guess we can stand it, but, at the same
time, l should not be sorry to see the
employment of our agency under
1t must not be forgotten, however,
that our men are all specially sworn in, and
become, in fact, part OF the regular force
of the State in which their services are re-
quired. 1t is now 40 years since my father
started the business. and for 25 at least we
have been employed to guard property, and
so forth, during labor disputes. but not yet
has one OF our men been found guilty of Il
breach of the law. If they were the ruffians
BILE? No, sir; let the officials do their duty,
and no necessity would arise for calling in
'Pinkerton men, Already the Homestead
affair (where, by the way, only four of our
men were killed) has had an effect. When
the trouble arose at Buffalo q few weeks ago
tho Governor did not wait until things had
gone too far, as has usually been the case,
but called out the militia at once. There
was no room for Pinkerton men after that,
and, though l am Pinkerton, I am glad
of it."