The Portland daily press., 1892-07-13


vices in the War and What Came of
Them.
A poor Scotch lad came over here from
Glasgow long before the war. By acct
dent Allen Pinkerton, who was then
cooper's hand in Elgin, ILL.,, was selected
| by the sheriff of the county to discover
| and arrest a counterfeiter. He succeeded
That was the beginning of the mighty
| force of Pinkertons, an organization that
been characterized as standing army of
private myrmidons in free country.
From a member of the Chicago police
force Allan Pinkerton developed into
the greatest detective of the age. He Or
| gained a war secret service, and some
| of his feats as a government detective
read like the romance of Gaboriau
He was trusted by Lincoln, whose life
he once saved; by Grant and the other
| generals of the Federal army. After the
war, with the fame of his achievements
as basis, he returned to Chicago to
found the organization which is now
called upon IN emergencies by corpora
tons and individuals in every section of
| the land. The nucleus of the force was
terminated in musty little office on La
Sale street, Chicago. The headquarters
| OF the gigantic orgaization are there yet.
Plnkerton detectives and operatives were
soon securing the country from end to end
| They sought after murderers, embezzlers
and forgers; but old Allan Pinkerton
saw that there were more profitable
means of employing his men than of
mere detectives. His men became
watchmen of banks, and then the vista
of Pinkertoniah possibilities widened.
| The ''Pinkerton Preventive Watch'' was
established in Chicago Small at first,
| it grew in numbers as the city grew, and
| its commercial and financial interests in
creased. At every block in the business
district Pinkerton policeman could be
] seen. They acted independently of the
regular municipal police, and although
uniformed and armed, they were simply
private watchmen, paid by the persons
and corporations that employed them.
| Allan Pinkerton was getting old, and
he gave the direction of his rapidly
| spreading interests as a protective
agency to his two sons, William A. and
Robert A. The New York Bureau was
established, and Robert went there to
take charge of it. William, the elder
brother, remained in Chicago. A SINH
lar institution to the s'Pinkerton Proven
tive Watch was established in Kansas
City. They have no such enterprises in
New York or any of the eastern cities.
| These watchmen are distinct from the
detectives or operatives The latter
number several hundred men, and with
the watchmen constitute a formidable
army that can be modified at any parti-
! cular spot in very short time. The
Pinkertons have agencies, with regular
| forces of men, in New York, Chicago.
Philadelphia and St Paul, Kansas City
and Denver
1t has been charged that the Pinker-
tons kept standing army of $4,000 men,
but that is a gross exaggeration. 1t is
! true, though, that they can concentrate
a force of 1000 men at any point in the
| country on forty-eight hours notice.
founded upon the celebrity with which
Pinkerton operatives swooped down
on points where strikes were in progress.
| A company of 200 or 300 men wearing
| the Pinkerton badge might be in the
Hooking Valley, and simultaneously
another of the same proportions in
Albany and still another in Chicago.
The means, used by the Pinkertons to
recruit thier forces are simple, though
| they are surrounded like everything
| else of the Pinkertons, with secrecy. A
| force such as they have at command
could not be collected in day or a week.
In the first place they advertise for men,
They do this in all the cities where they
have branches. An advertisement is in
serted in the papers asking for able
bodied men with courage. Sometimes
the phrase those with army experience
preferred is added
Tha applicants do not understand that
they are to be engaged by
The Famous Pinkertons.
| The name of the advertiser is never in
| serted, only an address given. In New
| York the address is building on lower
Broadway, near the United States Ex-
press office. Here the Pinkertons have
| an entire upper floor and an armory.
Winchester rifles, revolvers, policeman's
clubs and uniforms are stored here, aud
! acceptable applications are equipped.
There is always on hand, kept available
| for emergencies, well-drilled corps of
| from $50 to 200 men. When a man is ac-
cepted he is told of and instructed upon
| the duties he will have to perform. An ex-
courageous detective, is placed in charge
of the squad, and he puts them through
a few evolutions, sufficient to ground
| them in the rules of marching and
maintaining solid front.
! When the required number of men
has been secured the names of the other
applicants, if they have answered the
| questions satisfactorily, are taken for
future call. By that means, when de-
mand is made on the Pinkertons for an
extra force they get the men by sending
to the addresses of those who were told
that they would get places when vacan-
| cies should arise.
Pinkerton operatives also visit the
United States recruiting officers and get
the men rejected by the regular army or
the surplus of applicants. They also
visit the large shipping offices and secure
men, who when out of work, decide
upon going to sea as last resort. The
recruits are always told to be careful
and never draw their weapons except in
| the direst emergency. This instruction
| has nroved worthless in n1,rnaro,,o -,