In the 1840s, Scottish cooper Allan Pinkerton arrived in Illinois, seeking to create a new life for himself and his wife. A gifted investigator, he soon became a lawman and moved from barrel-building to crime-solving, creating a legendary detective agency and pioneering many crime-fighting methods still used today.
From Scottish Barrel-Maker to Chicago’s Very First Detective
Allan Pinkerton was born in Scotland in 1819. The son of a policeman and a cooper (barrel-builder) by trade, he was involved in the Scottish Chartist movement in the 1830s, pushing for more rights for commoners. He and his wife came to America in 1842 because of his involvement with the movement, settling first in Detroit and moving to Illinois shortly afterward. Pinkerton continued his trade as a cooper when he took on an independent investigation – including going undercover in disguise – of some counterfeiters in the local woods, leading to their eventual arrest.
Pinkerton gradually became more involved in police work and investigations. He became a deputy sheriff in Kane County, Illinois, and then eventually in Cook County, Illinois, and the fast-growing city of Chicago. Through his work that led to the arrest of the counterfeiting ring, he was appointed as Chicago’s first police detective in 1849. Shortly afterward, he established the North-Western Police Agency with attorney Edward Rucker, which then became Pinkerton and Company.
Undercover Mail Traps and Counterfeiter Hunts That Launched Pinkerton to Fame
In addition to his undercover work in capturing the counterfeit ring, Pinkerton became a Special Agent with the United States Postal Service. He undertook an investigation into stolen mail, where he put decoy packages containing money where a suspect could find them.
He caught two brothers, Perry and Theodore Denniston, who were stealing mail and pocketing the cash they found. The mail case and other similar stories, where Pinkerton would use meticulous methods and ingenious ideas to catch criminals, brought him and his agency to national prominence. Much of Pinkerton’s work also involved the railroads.
How Pinkerton Built the Predecessor to the Secret Service During the Civil War
Allan Pinkerton was a staunch abolitionist, and his home was a “stop” on the Underground Railroad. A few months before his failed raid on Harpers Ferry, John Brown escorted 12 escaped slaves and stopped at Pinkerton’s house on his way north.
Pinkerton also encountered two other Union giants in his work for the railroads – George McClellan, President of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company, and the railroad’s attorney – Abraham Lincoln.
When the Civil War began, Pinkerton went to work for McClellan, establishing the United States Intelligence Service, the predecessor to the Secret Service. Pinkerton not only sent agents throughout the South to infiltrate the Confederacy, but he also served as an agent himself, posing as Major E.J. Allen.
The Secret Train Disguise That Saved President Lincoln’s Life
In 1861, Pinkerton uncovered what became known as the Baltimore Plot. On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president and had planned to go on a train tour before his planned inauguration the following February. Pinkerton had been hired to provide security for Lincoln, as many threats from the South were coming against Lincoln’s life.
Of particular concern were the planned stops in Baltimore, Maryland, where Pinkerton’s agents (including the first woman detective, Kate Warne) uncovered various possible assassination plots. Pinkerton and Warne arranged for Lincoln to travel the last part of the journey in disguise as an invalid, wearing a soft felt hat and overcoat instead of his trademark stovepipe hat.
Pinkerton’s Detective agency went on to become the most famous – and infamous – in the world, and still exists today as a large security company, performing many similar functions to those of its founder.
