The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-11-22
ROBERT P1NKERToN's LUCK.
Famous Detective, Who Died Recently
Had Many Exciting Experiences.

of the United States There is no fed
eral prison in the country, and hardly
a state prison, which does not hold one
or more prisoners who owe their cap
ture more or less directly to him.
Pinkerton is deadi'' ran from tier to
tier, and the big criminals heaved a
sigh of relief. They hope to get out
some day, and the fear of Robert A
Pinkerton was stronger in their breasts
than the fear of the law. They Will
still have his brother William to reckon
with, but of the two sons of Allan
Pfnkerton, the famous civil war secret
service man, Robert was the most fear
ed. His knowledge of criminal faces
was almost uncanny in it's extent ana
accuracy, and his keenness in determ1n-
ing the work of old hands from the way
the job was done was almost as IL they
had left their business cards behind.
The big detective jobs which Robert
A. Pinkerton directed, and paruc1pateo
in-the overthrow of the Molly Ma
CURES and the Homestead riots, for IN
stance-have been revived in pubic
memory by the obituary notices re-
Gently published. There are, however,
scores of instances of "Bob's" personal
daring and persistency which have new
er been published. Sentence of death
had been passed on him times without
number by criminals whose arrest he
had accomplished. He had been am
pushed, shot at and waylaid time and
again, but never received as much as
pin scratch from criminal hands
0ll) university when the civil war
broke out, and he hurried to Join his
father in the government secret service.
After the war, with his father and
brother, who survives him, he took up
man hunting in the middle west, where
train robbing, bank sticking and dar-
ing "hold-ups" were the amusement
and source of livelihood of many wild
bands which had been formed to harass
the enemy's ranks in the long struggle
between the north and South
The Pinkertons first turned their at
tention to suppressing epidemic of
train robberies in Indiana. The Jeffer-
sonvilIe & Indianapolis railroad, row a
part of the Pennsylvania system, was
particularly unfortunate, and the Ad-
ans Express company the chief loser.
The Pinkertons discovered that a gang
headed by the Reno brothers was
sponsible for most of these robberies,
and that their bad example caused 9TH
er wild youths to form train robbing
bands.
Robbery after robbery occurred"
said William A. Pinkerton recently in
discussing this phase of their activity;
but the powerful influence of the Re-
nos and desperate intimidatfons made
conviction next to impossible. Far
mers supposed to be inimica1 to the
band and their friends were terroriZ-
ed, had their cattle poisoned and
manned, and their homes and barns
burned, until practically a reign of
terror existed over all southern In
DIANA
After the Reno brothers had rob-
bed the county treasurer's office at
Gallatin, Mo-, of $4,000, Robert A.
Pinkerton, evolved a scheme which
resulted, in their first Waterloo. John
Reno, leader of the band, had return
ed. to Seymour, Ind, not fearing ex-
tradition from his stronghold Pink
erton had a detective decoy him to
the railway station by a ruse A train |
came in, on which were six deputies
of the Missouri sheriff. They pounc- |
ed on Reno and pulled him on board |
the'-train. There was no time for ha-
beas corpus or any other legal formal |
ity to prevent his removal. The wires !
were cut so that no OBTAINING dis
patches could get ahead of the train, |
and Reno was kept on the jump until
he was finally landed in Jail at Gal |
latin. He was sentenced to 20 years
in the penitentiary and served every
day of his time.
pursuits which Robert A. Pinkerton
led in person and which will long be |
remembered at the Pinkerton head |
quarters followed the first raidfng ex-
petition of the James and Younger
brothers.
1t was on June 8, 1871, that the
combined bands of outlaws visited |
Corydon, Wayne county, Iowa, having
learned that the county treasurer had
a large store of recently collected tax
es. Jesse James entered the treasur-
er's office. asking for change for
800 bill.
1.-THE treasurer has the combination
of the safe" said the man in charge,
suspecting nothing, land he's attend
ing a meeting out in the grove. They
are talking over the building of a new
schoolhouse."
James was going out after the
county official when the clerk re-
marked that a new bank had opened |
across the street and that he could |
probably get it there
James led the gang across the
street, and at the point of their revol-
vers got $4,000, half the banks capi-
tai, which had just been deposited. AS
they were going out the door they met
negro preacher coming in to open
an account He had his money in his
hand, and they made him drop 1t into
their saddlebags.
On their dash out of town they
passed the scene of the public meet
ing. They informed the school COM
mittee that the Corydon bank had just
been robbed and told the villagers
that they'd better hurry back to town
and start a new bank.
The case was given to Robert A.
Pfnkerton, still youth, by his father |
He organized posse and followed the
trail of the outlaws through the lower
Iowa counties. Just BEFORE the Mis-
souri, line was reached all the posse
except an Iowa sheriff decided they
tiou Hau ellouSn nara rldlng ana re-
turned home.
The sheriff and Pinkerton rode on
together as far as Cameron Junction,
crossroad station. Then, on the ex-
cuse or getting more help, the sheriff
turned back. Pinkerton rode on alone
into the heart of the bandit country.
With his life in his hands he followed
the band to the home of the James
boys. in Clay county, determined
where they had crossed the Missouri
river after separating and located the
Old Blue Mill, where they all came
together again. Having identified the