PINKERTON'S

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 86, 10 April 1924, Page 16

PINKERTON'S

GREAT DETECTIVE AGENCY

FAMOUS CASES RECALLED i

AMERICAN FORGERS IN LONDON,

The life history o£ Mr. William Allan Pinkerton, whose death in his 78th year occurred on 11th December, 1923, was largely bound up in the later development of the famous American detective agency of which he and his brother became joint heads on the death of their father, Mr. Allan Pinkerton, in% 1884. Born in Illinois, he; entered,his father's office, and soon became chief assistant in the agency, which employed last year, he said, when he was in England, beH tween 2500 and 3000 . detectives, and whose .branches cover the whole of the American Continent. One of the most important cases in -which Mr. Pinkerton played a prominent part, says'the London "Daily Telegraph," was the arrest of the brothers Austin and George Bidwell and their accomplices, Macdonnell and Noyes, who were concerned in one of the biggest and most successful forgeries ever carried out against the Bank of England., ■„ '. In the year 1873 Mr. Pinkerton waswith Detective-Inspector Shaw, of Scotland Yard, in a small tailor's shop in London, where they were tracing some notes in ' connection with a robbery in Baltimore,' when two well-diessed men entered. He knew them at orrce as two of the greatest American forgers, and. stepping to the'back of the shop, signalled to iNlr.'-.Shaw to,follow them. "He, located them," said Mr. Pinkerton, in recalling the case recently, ."somewhere, up .Piccadilly-way, and next: day I told Mr. Shaw who they were, and said, 'I will send over to' America and bring over the pictures of the two men. 'The very first big forgery, there is here, you wiU probably find them useful,' so I wrote for them, and-in time ''they arrived. Then came the news that the Bank of England hadv been" defrauded'of over £luo,ooo. by forgers, and Mr: Shaw was put on' to attend to v the matter." Austin Bidwell and Macdonnell were at once identified, by means-of the photographs, and after an exciting chase in Various' parts of the world the four members of the gang were eventually, arrested, Mr.Pinkerton himself-'capturing Austin Bidwell at Havana. . The four were convict- : ed and sent to-imprisonment for life. . AN, cAiMZING STORY. ■ _An amazing story,of crime which Mr. Pinkerton had a hand in unravelling was that of Jacob F. Guthrie, a college graduate and a. man of culture, moving in/gopd society., Chicago had been 'the scene.ofa scor£or more of burglaries, aE of them committed at ;tlio, houses of the .wealthiest citizens. In some' cases statuary: was stolen, and in all ,the plunder included many articles -.' that -would- be passed, by as, .''impossible", to .dispose of by. the, professional; thief..: Valuable paintings also disappeared.'-The. thief afterwards' confessed that he had a joy in stealing,, similar, he suid, to that which fills, the. soul of. other, men', when they have done some great deed for science or humanity. .At last.there came news of, a big'forgery. A lady had left her house to go abroad,.and later £4000 was obtained from her bankers by olever forgery. ■■•••■;.;.■■..■ .-. ..- /■■ ■'„ ; "Within a, short time," said Mr. Pinkerton, " a bank communicated with us that they had some- suspicious -cheques; and we sent a. man, along. By. and by the man who had presented the cheques made^ his appearance.': He was sft, in height,- and a heavy felloW, and there was a mighty struggle 'when he was arrested. Indeed, he broke away, but was captured again after a; tough encounter, and to the polios depot to be searched. He submitted then all right, but he was stopped when about to swallow'a piece; of paper. When we got hold of it there was the receipt :for a barn he ■had hired, quite close to where I live. The detectives searched it, and' found £60,000 worth of property stowed away .there-^all the plunder he had taken in a score, of burglaries. .All the. time he had. been pursuing his studies ,: or followinghis employment,' without anyone haying the least suspicion he was a criminal. While he was bein°; examined he'declared he had never robbed .the poor, which' he. appeared, to think .was a quite good enough excuse for. all he had done. So far as ,was ascertained, he had not sold anything, , but had . stored ..jewellery precious stones, statuary, pictures, and all kinds ■of things in the premises' he ha-d hired.". .'■ •' i: . THE STOLEN " DUCHESS." ; One of. ,the Pinkerfon triumphs was the recovery of Gainsborough's famous painting of the, Duchess of Devonshire; stolen from the gallery-of .Messrs. Agnew.in Bond street on 26th May, 1876. In 1877 a man named Elliott, ,who had watched . while the Gainsborough" was, stolen- by a notorious criminal named Adam Worth, was captured .by -the Pmkertons for. a big New York forgery. He was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. While -in gaol he sent for the late Mr. Robert Pinkerton, Mr. W A. Pinkerton's brother,- and tried to make terms for his release by offering to restore the stolen , " Duchess." Mr° Pinkerton djew from him the whole history of the robbery/ and resolved to act at once., Worth, however, who was in London, learned, of Elliott's confession, and at once' left England, taking a trip.tc. South Africa.'. The'Pinkertons kept on his wack until- h e was captured in Belgium for trying to rob the Liege liank bullion wagon and sentenced"' to seven years' imprisonment '•• ' ■ ■ '^«q? rth Came °vt> a broken man> m 1898, he was met in Brussels' by a friend of Mr. Pinker'ton's, Mr. Pat bheedy,_ an American sportsman of world-wide reputation.; Mr Sheedy broached the subject of the missing pititure,' and assured Worth that if he returned it the 'Pihkertjns. would see him safe.' Worth,- knowing the reputation of the great- detectives, did not hesitate but returned to America early in January 1899, and interviewed Mr.' Robert ■Pinkerton at his office-in Chicago Mr Pmkert6n put himself in communication with-Scotland Yard and Messrs, Lewis and Lewis. Difficulties, however, arose about the acceptance of' Worth's terms fv , "» fc rWas not- tal 28th March, 190 l' that Mr Marehead Agnew received the picture^ from Mr. Pinkerton's hands,1, having travelled to, Chicago on purpose Worth came to England,:lived quietly, and died in 1902.. His children were taken.m charge by the Pinkertons, according to a promise made to him, and given a home in America at their exLABOUR DISPUTES. Pinkerton's detectives played a great part m two celebrated Labour disputes i.i the, United States, In 1894 trouble area at the Pullman works, near Chic-' Pi*, «r SpUte spread until the whole ot the Western railways, were tied up Eugene Debs., the leader of.the Amert can^ railwaymen, succeeded in stopping ? U traffic. Governor Altgeld declined to interfere, and almost' every State in the Union bej;an to.be affected. Then Pinkertons aid was. evoked. An army of detectives came to the scene, armed and drilled with military precision. The struggle was sharp, but it was soon over. Winchester rifles and discipline triumph-'

ied over unarmed labour men, and Eugene Debs was defeated. In the same year the great strike at the Carnegie Steel Works at Homestead, near Pittsburg, took place. It was a fight to the death. A mixed army of strikers of all nationalities held up the works. Barbed wire entanglements fenced off the position, and .two maxims overawed the blacklegs. Then Pinkerton was summoned, and down his army came. 11 answered shot for shot, and discipline once more won the day. Homestead and Pullman were two instances of the'way m which they did things ,in the States. Pinkerton put what was, two armies in the, field, and waged successful war on-behalf of the employers. ■ Mr. Pinkerton, who had exceptional opportunities'of judging, , held a very high opinion of .the London police. . "J think," he said, " your police are the most thorough men in the world. TJiey /ire plodders. They don't jump at conclusions. When ■they bring ',a case into the Courts they've gat it prepared like a lawyer. When'-a case from Scotland lard goes before the judge it's ready. If there are any American ' crooks ' over here just now,'take it from me they won t get back again. Your men will get them. What we think they -are y^y adept in and more perfect than in the United States or anywhere else in Ue .world is finger-print - identification.' ;lhatsj a marvellous system at the ; lard. Something' the New World has to pick up yet. (This was in 1911.) Why, some'two years ago a chap was arrested in Chicago for '.lifting.' I had his finger-prints taken, and without any name or description -of the man I sent them -to: Scotland .Yard. ', Almost immediately I got a reply giving the chap s whole criminal history and record, with his photographs. Now, that's real smart. Out- in; America the police, ap adopting this system. It's used in the prison, .'and .all' the soldiers are identified by finger-prints." ■

i PERSONAL; SKETCH. , Mr. Pinkerton was. a .man of particularly fine physique, tall and commanding, with a keen clean-shaven face and kindly manners. An intimate' friend of his described- him as the most rriar--7,u , man ¥ had ever seeii in liis life. He knew thieves all over-the-world," he said,,','but they were all,well' disposed towards him because of'fiis.'peraonality. _ He had 4he most wonderful way in. dealing with ' criminals-.that. I have ever seen. He was a man of cosmopolitan, friendships, - and when he was returning to America, about a year ago, 1,; never saw such a varied crowd of iriends as those who assembled on the platform to bid . him' i farewell.- No other city in the 'world has such an organisation as, Pinkerton's, .as'they are official, and. yet not, official; they are private, and,yet not private. They arb, tne most honest people in the' worM ■ too -and will-., not allow «.iy of their' staff to accept rewards." -A warm tribute- was paid. by Ais' gentleman . toAir. Pinkerton's 'seryices to England dur-" .ing the. war, when he helped the British Government in every way he could through -his secret service. • A treas-' ured relic in his, possession -is a-picture tW- J inkerton'3 father, the founder •of:,the firm, on the battlefield of 'AnA 6 lal\r^ihI al\r^i h Pre? dent Lincoln and General M'Clernand. - ; ;

,Mr. Allan P,nkerton emigrated from Scot and with his wife just before the Oivil War and it was owing to the successful wo* he did in the Secret Service at that time that he was. induced to set «P a private detective business in Chicago when peace was restored. ' He was ™rf r wm?- ™ au 6 ' business by his two sons WiUiam Allan Pinkerton succeeding^ him at Chicago, arid "Robert PinYorß" X^fi? &c. business in New • rH- J?1 * ttar died while on a Voyage, to England some ten or fifteen years ago, and his, place has been taken by his. son Mr. Allan Pinkerton who gtslel U™S thB -™' Md -^.badty