and then for a time operated a stationary engine for W. II.
Wheeler. The facl that In- was quite proficient in his trade
enabled him to obtain a position as a sailor on the v< ssrl " I-.. \\ .
Cr..ss." plying between Oswego ami Chicago He followed the
lakes until' the fall of 1855, when he determined to settle in Chi-
cago. But first hi took a trip south and worked for some time on
a farm near l.aSalle, III , and also found employment in driving a
team. Then the western fever smirk him. and a portion of i>j;
and 1S5S he spent in and around Lawrence, Kas , being a com-
panion of Colonel James Lane, and a witness of many of the
exciting episodes of those days. Returning to Chicago, he
became employed on a farm in Palatine, and located permanently
in this city during the year [860. He tirst obtained a position as
foreman of the Mechanical Bakery, corner of Clinton and Lake
streets, and whose proprietor. Henry C. Childs, obtained a large
contract for supplying the army with " hard-tack." At one pel iod
he manufactured as high as one hundred barrels of flour every
twenty-four hours, the bakery being run night and day to meet the
demand. Mr. Hathaway remained in this position for three - ars,
but his health becoming impaired, in 1S63 he relinquished active
business and spent a number of months in sailing the lakes, to
regain it. As stated, during the fall of 1864 he joined the police
department and entered into the life-work which he has made such
a marked success.
The Detective Force. — The Board of Police
Commissioners instituted the first organized force of
detectives in 1861. Prior to that time the City Mar-
shals had occasionally detailed one or more of the regu-
lar force for special detective service.
The following officers were among the first who
were regularly engaged in detective work : Asa Wil-
liams, Isaac Williams, Henry A. Kauffman, Joseph H.
Dixon, William Douglas and Horace M. Elliott.
As a fitting termination to this mention of the secret
service department an account of a man of cosmopoli-
tan reputation is given.
Allan PlNKERTON was a man by nature filled for the profes-
sion to which he devoted his life, and in which he achieved a fame
bounded only by the limitation of the habitable globe. In the
grandeur of his work he made himself of such value to the law and
order interests, that the whole country can, and does, justly claim
. him as the greatest representative of the best interests of a com-
monwealth, of either ancient or modern times. But the fact that
he was a citizen of Chicago for over forty years, and that it was
here that he laid the foundation of his subsequent splendid career,
entitles him to a prominent place in the pages of her history and
among those of her citizens whom it is her duty, as well as her
delight, to pay this slight tribute of respect. It is no idle remark
that a history of Chicago would not be complete without a mention
of Allan Pinkerton and trje work he accomplished during his long
and eventful life ; while the story simply told will interest even the
most casual reader of these pages He was born in Muirhead
Street, Ruglen Loan, in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, on the 25th
day of August, 1S19. His parents were in humble circumstances,
his father, William Pinkerton being employed as a police sergeant
by the municipality. When Allan was but a small boy, In- fathei
died from the effects of injuries received at the hands of a prisoner
whom he was arresting, and the family were thus deprived oi their
means of support. Notwithstanding his extreme youth, being
then scarcely nine years of age, he sought and obtained employ-
ment with a prominent print maker, Neil Murphy, win. is still
living in Glasgow. After serving with Mr. Murphy for several
years, he was apprenticed to John McCauley, with whom he learned
the trade of a cooper. Before attaining his majority he became
imbued with the sentiments of independence and reform, which
were advocated by those who put forth tin People's < barter in
Great Britain, and he soon became identified with the celebrated
Chartist movement of the disaffected people. '1 he Government re-
solved to crush this revolutionary uprising, and several of the lead-
ers were arrested and transported. Fearful for his own safety,
Allan Pinkerton resolved to leave the countrj and seek a refuge in
America. He therefore, in 1S42, after being married to Mi
Carfrae, sailed the following day. with his wife, for America, land-
ing at Quebec after a perilous voyage, wherein their vessel was
wrecked and the suffering passengers pi. ked up by a passing vessel
and carried to that port From Quebei Mr. Pinkerton and his
young wife made theii ' IgO by the lakes. The young
couple, owing I., their misfortunes, were nearly destitute, but with
a stout heart he applied himself to securing employment. Meeting
George Anderson, win. was then engaged in the tobacco business,
he enlisted the services of that gentleman in his behalf, and soon
ss
HISTORY OF CHICAGO
succeeded in obtaining employment at his trade, that of a cooper, at
Lilt's brewery, for meager wages, which, however, enabled him to
live in a small house near to the present location of Rush-street
bridge. He remained in Chicago but a short time, and then jour-
neved to Dundee, in Kane County, where he began business for
himself. He prospered rapidly, and his establishment increased to
such a degree that he resolved to settle permanently in that local-
itv. but circumstances interfered and opened up to him the possi-
bilities of a new career which by nature and inclination he was so
well qualified to adorn. Mr. Pinkerton will be pleasantly remem-
bered bv manv of the old residents of Dundee now living. While
emploved in his business as a cooper he had frequent occasion to
visit some of the islands in Fox River, to procure materials for his
stock, and while on one of these, he discovered the existence of a
gang of counterfeiters, who made the island their retreat and there
established their headquarters. Having a natural love for adven-
ture, and being a stranger to fear, he determined to thoroughly in-
vestigate the entire operations of these counterfeiters, which he
eventually succeeded in doing, effectually breaking up the existence
of the gang and securing the arrest and conviction of John Craig,
the leader and prime mover, together with the most prominent and
dangerous of his associates. This exploit gained for the young
cooper considerable renown, and shortly afterward he was appointed
a deputy sheriff of Kane County ; the duties of which position he
filled in such an efficient manner that numerous bands of horse
thieves and counterfeiters were either captured and punished or
forced to leave the country, while wrongdoers were inspired with a
wholesome fear of his vigilance and relentless pursuit. The repu-
tation which he gained in this capacity soon spread to Chicago,
and attracted the attention of William L Church, who was then
sheriff of Cook County. This gentleman immediately offered Mr.
Pinkerton the appointment of deputy sheriff, with increased powers
of usefulness and added remuneration, which he at once accepted.
He continued in this position during the term of Mr. Church, and
also under his successor in office, Sheriff C. P. Bradley. When
Mr. Boone was elected mayor of Chicago he appointed Allan Pink-
erton as a detective of the city force. This was the first appoint-
ment of a detective in Chicago, and was the initial step in the career
of this greatest detective of the age. In the year 1S52 Mr. Pink- .
erton became impressed with the importance of establishing a
detective agencv which would be independent of political influence,
and by whose efforts the criminal could be punished without fear
or personal favor. He accordingly associated with him Edward L.
Rucker, an attorney-at-law, and securing the patronage of several
railroad companies', then in their infancy, they started the " Pink-
erton Detective Agency," the first institution of its kind in the
United States. Mr. Rucker continued with him only about a year,
when Mr. Pinkerton undertook the entire management of the con-
stantly increasing business. When the agency was first estab-
lished, they employed some four or five men ; among the most
prominent being George H. Bangs, afterward general superinten-
dent, who remained with Mr. Pinkerton until his death, which
occurred in 1SS4, and Timothy Webster, who, while in his employ,
was taken as a Union spy, and executed at Richmond, Va. , during
the war of the Rebellion. From that small beginning, the detect
ive force, under Mr. Pinkerton's orders, increased steadily, until
it now numbers nearly three hundred men. Mr. Pinkerton, from
his boyhood, was an ardent lover of freedom and free institutions,
and on coming to America was impressed with a deep-seated hatred
of slavery. When the fugitive slave law was enacted, his opposi-
tion to this barbarous measure was aroused, and he resolved to use
his utmost efforts to defeat its operation. He immediately associ-
ated himself with those old patriots, John Brown, James H.Collins,
the Lovejoy brothers, and other prominent abolitionists, and ren-
dered most heroic and important service in running what was then
called the "underground railroad." By his efforts and energv.
many a famished and hunted neg^o, who, guided only by the glim-
mering light of the north star, had broken away from the bonds
of slavery, and made his way to Chicago, on his terrible journey
to the welcoming borders of Canada, has been fed and clothed and
passed safely on his way, many times under the very eyes of the
officers of the law who were ready and anxious to send him back
to servitude and punishment. In those clays, it was not an uncom-
mon thing to see Mr. Pinkerton's hows.-, which was then on Adams
Street, besieged by numbers of prayerful negroes, seeking his aid
in behalf of some trembling and hunted fugitive, whom the law was_
about to consign to a physical punishment worse than death ; and"
it is needless to say that these appeals were never made in vain,
in the year 1S60, Mr. Pinkerton increased his business by adding
to it an important feature, consisting of a corps of night-watch-
men, or Merchants' Police. This force, which was started with
only six men, now numbers more than two hundred able-bodied
watchmen. The first captain was Paul H. Dennis, and the next
was the late James Fitzgerald. Mr. Pinkerton's detective business
soon grew to gigantic proportions, and his reputation extended to
all the leading cities of the East Among the first notable and
important cases which came to him, was that of the robbery of the
Adams Express Company at Montgomery, Ala., by one Nathan
Maroney, the agent of the company at that point. Mr Pinkerton
was engaged for this investigation by the late E. S. Sanford, vice-
president of the Adams Express Company. At the time the rob-
bery occurred, Mr Sanford was in New York, and he at once
applied to Robert Boyer, an expert detective in that city. Mr. Boyer,
on learning the particulars of the case, at once informed Mr. San-
ford that there was only one man in the country who was possessed
of the detective ability, the natural firmness and dogged persever-
ance for the task. Mr. Sanford listened incredulously to these
statements, and regarded with ridicule the idea of sending to Chi-
cago for a detective, while New York City was full of them.
However, he took the advice as offered, and placed the case in Mr.
Pinkerton's hands. The result proved the wisdom of Mr. Boyer's
recommendations, and although the operation extended over several
months, and the suspected parties were followed from Alabama to
New Jersey, thev were finally arrested, and nearly the entire amount
of the money taken by the thieves — some S40,ooo — was secured,
most of it in the original packages. This money was unearthed
from a cellar in a frame house, and over a thousand miles from the
scene of the robbery. A handsomely engrossed testimonial was
presented to Mr. Pinkerton, by the company, for this exploit, and
now adorns the walls of the office of the Chicago Agency. The
success of this operation at once established Mr. Pinkerton's repu-
tation with the various express companies throughout the country,
and when the car on the New Haven Railroad was robbed, some
time afterward, bya gang of the most expert and desperate thieves,
Andy and William Roberts, and others, Mr. Pinkerton was again
sent for, and in an incredibly short space of time the entire money
— $30,000 — was recaptured, and the burglars in jail, waiting their
trial. In 1861, being employed by Mr. Felton, and other officials
of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, to look out
for incendiaries on their road, Mr. Pinkerton discovered, in Balti-
more, a plot to assassinate President Lincoln, on the journey from
his home to Washington to be inaugurated as president. Mr.
Pinkerton at once took charge of affairs, and carried Mr. Lincoln
safelv through Baltimore and the waiting conspirators, and deliv-
ered him to his friends at Washington. When the war of the Re-
bellion broke out, President Lincoln sent for Mr. Pinkerton to come
to Washington, and authorized him to organize the secret-service
division of the army, the first Government police force ever organ-
ized in this country. This was done with Mr. Pinkerton at the
head, under the nam deplume of E. J. Allen. In this capacity he
served the country during the war, leaving his Chicago office in
the charge of capable people, and, at the close of the war, came
oack to take charge thereof himself. His first important case, on
resuming his former duties, was the robbery of the Adams Express
Company, near Baltimore, by throwing the safes from the train while
it was in motion, and getting away with over $100,000. This case,
with other cases of the same nature, was a success, the thieves, six
in number, being arrested, tried and convicted, and the money all
recovered. Some time later came the robbery of the Harnden
Express Company, in Baltimore, by which $20,000 was secured.
The thieves in this case were also convicted, and the money recov-
ered. The next important case was the robbery of the Carbondale
Bank, at Carbondale, Penn. , in which case the thieves were arrested,
and the money — $40,000 — recovered. Following these came the
robbery of the Adams Express Company on the New York & New-
Haven Railroad, on January 6, 1S66. the thieves, six in number,
including the brakeman, entered the express car by wrenching off
the lock, and then bursting the safe. They secured about $700.-
000 in this exploit. Through the efforts of Mr. Pinkerton and Mr.
Frank Warner (the latter being, at the time, the superintendent of
the New York office), the thieves were convicted, and the money
all recovered but about $12,000, the most of which was afterward
returned through a Catholic priest. The arrest and conviction of
the robbers of Mylart's Bank, at Scranton, Penn., next followed,
and about this time — 1S66 — Mr. Pinkerton determined to enlarge
Ins business, and establish an office in New York, which he did
that year, and afterward instituted another one in Philadelphia,
both under competent superintendents. The next case of impor-
tance- of which Mr. Pinkerton had charge, was the robbery, by
Morton anil Thompson, of the express car of the Merchants' Union
Express Company, on the Hudson River Railroad, whereby they
secured $300,000. These men were tracked to Canada, and there
THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
89
arrested, and, in spite of all that man could do and the help winch
they received from corrupt government officials, they were extra-
dited to White Plains, New York. They afterward broke from
prison, raided the Boylston Bank in Boston, and then fled to Eu-
rope. In the same year came the death of the Reno brothers and
Anderson, of Seymour, Indiana. These men were desperadoes "I
the most pronounced type. They robbed stores ami express trains
burglarized safes, and their very names became a terror along the
railroad lines in that section of the country. Entire discontinuance
of express service was seriously thought of by the companies. In
1S6S, near Osgood Station, Indiana, they robbed the Adams Ex-
press Company of $97,000, by boarding the train, throwing the
messenger from the car, opening the safes, anil deliberately appro-
priating their contents. This case was given to Mr. Pinkerton,
and Simeon and Bill Reno were arrested by him at Indianapolis;
Erank Reno and Charles Anderson fled to Canada, were pursued
to Windsor, Ontario, and extradited, after a long siege of more
than three months During the trial which followed, another por-
tion of the gang, for the purpose of diverting suspicion from them,
attempted another express robbery ; but of this Mr. Pinkerton was
fullv advised, and prepared for them. After one of the men had
been shot, the rest were captured ; but while awaiting the action
of the law, the indignant and outraged populace of the country
took them out, and hung them within full view of the jail. When
Erank Reno and Charles Anderson were returned to the United
States, they were put into jail at Xew Albany, Indiana, in company
with Simeon and Pill Reno. About three weeks after their arrival
there, one hundred masked men marched to the jail, having come
in on the north-bound train, overpowered the sheriff and jailer,
and hung the three Renos and Anderson, and that ended the ban-
ditti in Southern Indiana. On May 7, iS6g, Mr. Pinkerton was
stricken down with a severe stroke of paralysis, from which he
never fully recovered, and since that time, has never been actively
employed in his business, leaving the management of it to his two
sons and other superintendents. One of the last cases he man-
aged, was the work of breaking up the Molly Maguires in Penn-
sylvania. By working his operatives into their secret organizations,
and having them admitted to a full knowledge of their mysteries
and plans, Mr. Pinkerton was enabled to, at least, bring their
schemes to a full exposure, and to stop, effectually, their course of
robbery and murder. Twenty-four of them were hung, after due
trial, and more than fifty were sent to the penitentiary for long
terms of imprisonment. Mr. Pinkerton was the author of fifteen
volumes of detective experiences, which have had an extensive cir-
culation throughout the country, and left several volumes in manu-
script behind him, which will probably be given to the press at an
early date. His last published volume, " Thirty Years a Detec-
tive," recounts, with all the original force of his strong mind, the
various devices resorted to, by criminals of every class, to effect
success in their several branches of crime. Mr. Pinkerton's ruling
idea, in the publication of these works, has been to show to the
public how surely and inevitably detection and punishment follow
the commission of crime. However skillful the criminal may be,
however careful he may have planned to escape suspicion or pur-
suit, and notwithstanding the precautions he may have taken, the
cool, intelligent and skiliful detective will follow him relentlessly,
until escape is impossible and arrest and punishment overtake
him. The moral invariably sought to be inculcated by these works
is, the beneficial enlightenment of society and the installation of
a wholesome fear of the law, which will deter those tempted to crime
from taking the fatal step which leads to dishonor and the prison
cell. Mr. Pinkerton was a man of strong physique, which enabled
him to rally several times when his physicians despaired of his re-
covery. He was ever noted for his iron will and indomitable per-
severance, and was remarkably strong in his affections and hatreds;
his friends were tied to him with " hooks of steel," and his enemies
were made to feel the full force of his anger when he was aroused.
Of late years he took great pride in his stock farm at Onarga,
Iroquois Co., 111., called " Larch Farm" which is said to lie one
of the handsomest places in the country, and upon which Mr. Pin-
kerton has expended many thousands of dollars. In prosecuting
his business Mr. Pinkerton made it his inflexible rule never to
operate for rewards, or on payments contingent upon success, and
would never allow any of his operatives to receive any reward or
gratuity for his services. He paid his employes liberally, and
worked for those who engaged him at certain fixed per diem, which
was all that was ever received. Another notable and praiseworthy
feature of his immense business, and one of the strictest rules "1
his institution was, that he never, under any circumstances, 1 ould be
induced to operate in a divorce case or where family matters were
in dispute. In following out this line of conduct he flatly refused
many thousand dollars annually. It was also a principle of Mr.
Pinkerton that the old maxim o'f " setting a thief t.. catch a thief "
was morally wrong and unwise in action, and that taking two men
of the same mental caliber, the one guilty and the other innocent,
tin' latter would invariably prevail over the mental and moral 1
of tin- former. Mr, Pinkerton leave- a widow. Mr-. Joan Pinker-
Ion, the devoted wile who followed her young husband in his
voluntary exile to America, and who has been I"- constant com-
panion and wise counsellor through the many years and changing
fortunes of their wedded life. To them were born eight children,
only three oi whom are living: — William A., the eldest, in charge
of the Chicago office and the western division; while Robert A
is the general superintendent, and has, immediate charge, ol the
Eastern office. Mr. Pinkerton has also a daughter living, who is
now the wife of William J. Chalmers, of the firm ol I 1
Chalmers, in Chicago Mr. Pinkerton ha- acquired a handsome
competency, having an elegant home and much valuable real
estate in the city, besides one of the most magnificent farms in the
state. The following just analysis ol in- character and tribute
to his worlii was spoken by Luther l.allin Mills, at the funeral
services held over his remains in this city. July 3, i^"4:
" When the intelligence of the death of Allan Pinkerton was
sent throughout America ami across the sea, there was felt in every
part of this continent and remote countries as well, a profound
sorrow. From San Francisco to the busy river Clyde, from the
Mexican Gulf to London, the hearts of thousands were made sad.
The patriot soldiers of the Nation, whose comrade he had been,
the freedmen whom he had helped to rescue from their slavery,
and millions in many lands whom for a generation he had aided to
guard in his battle against crime, were thrilled by the conscious-
ness of their loss. And so, to-day, Chicago mourns him, and to
his loved ones hand a laurel and a flower of grief to be placed upon
his grave. How can a few words tell again the history of his life,
so crowded with character and incidents. The school-boys know
it by heart. Full of truth, it reads like a romance or a dream.
The birth, amid surroundings of poverty, in the heart of Scotland;
the child's brave struggle; the youth's fidelity to the rights of man
in the historic agitation for suffrage and the recognition of equality
in his native country ; the early journey across the sea; and the
long, brave fight against circumstances he here conducted, until
recognition rewarded him with better opportunities — of these facts
we need no reminding. His thousands of successful assaults
against organized and determined crime, in many countries; his
patriotic deeds for this nation ; his work for the slave; and his
myriad broad humanities, are facts familiar. But now they may
constitute a foundation for a fair and just estimate of his life and
the man's real character. Allan Pinkerton was shaped to a larger
model than most men. Physically, he was provided by nature
with strong flesh and blood, made stronger by his youthful
toils. There was no storm at sea, there was no winter on the
shore, too severe for this man's endurance No privations Were
too great for his bodily resistance, until, at last, his Scottish
strength, like the tree on Loch Leven's bank, yielded to the
storms of time, and fell heavy with years." ****■• His
courage was unwavering, as his will was indomitable. lie was
never afraid. In his presence the outlaw was a coward, and before
his eve the robber grew pale. In the old war-days, how Allan
Pinkerton carried his life in his hands, and, with a few brave men
around him, entered the lines of the enemy, the historian hereafter