PREDATORY PINKERTON.

NZ Truth, Issue 123, 26 October 1907, Page 8

PREDATORY PINKERTON.

lEAEIJALiSM'S CARNIVOROUS CREATURE Dead and Buried at Last. srSdMe Account of Pinkerton's Egregious Exploits.-

LN^last' 'tEe notorious reMaer of Carnivorous capitalism, Allan Pinkerfton, has * 'shuffled off this mortal coil." Nobody appears to be any ithe Worse for this, and nobody, except perhaps a few capitalists, seem Ito regret Pinkerton's death. This man really, organised a private army ;Which was ever at the service of the classes for the purposes jpf keeping the "lower orders" m their places. The man Pinkerton was really ' doing m these latter years, m the •United States, what was done m Europe m the middle ages, .m the ilays of the feudal barons, when each ftaron had at his disposal a number :of armed retainers who could be used lor the purpose of keeping rebellious-r'ly-inclined serfs m order ; and also ■for the purpose of making ,war upon. ;other barons. : . -.. .•..-• 1 PINKERTON'S PRIVATE 'ARMY* iwas utilised for a number of purposes, but chiefly for the purpose of shooting down working men on strike, wKom it was thought desirable to initimidate by military methods. Of course, there were not strikes. : all the time, that Pinkerton could -earn big pay by suppressing ; therefore, he sometimes had to put m •Ms time hunting down criminals. ■'"Lloyd's Weekly ANewspaper" gives ,the following account of Pinkerton's •career :— ■ : •.;;.,.-... ■ ■.-, , One of the world's , greatest 'figures tfn' the continual battle against crime and criminals has passed away m. the person of Mr Robert • Allan Pinker!ton, the head of the famous American Detective" Agency, that bears his name Mr-Pinkerton's death took place on the 12th inst., as he (Was coming to England on board' the North German [Lloyd steamer Bremen, which arrivi;d at Plymouth on Saturday. Passengers say Mr Pinkerton was comang to Europe for the marriage of his daughter. » HE WAS TAKEN ILL 1 the flay after the vessel left New »York. The cause of death was certified to be fatty degeneration of tne 'heart. The body has beeif taken on to Germany, and will be shipped to New York on the Kaiser Wilhelm. Robert Allan Pinkerton was born at Dundee, Illinois, m 1849. He was employed m the secret service division of the United States army during the Civil \War. He served all itlirough the war, and at its close, joined his father m the management of •Pinkerton's Agency. On the death- of his father, 'Allan $?ir.kerton, m 1884, Robert entered mi-.-to partnership with his elder brother AVilliam and became the HEAD OF THE AGENCY, ,which he extended by his energy and ability to all parts of the world. The Pinkerton Detective Agency is /the most celebrated m the world. iWhether there is a divorce case to be iworked up, a blackmailer to be exposed, a swindler to be tracked down, ■sl strike to be broken, a great personage to be protected, Pinkerton's iwill send you one or a thousand' defectives, and their services Will only •be limited by the size of your purse. The founder of Pinkerton's Detective agency was Allan Pinkerton, who began life as a cooper at Dundee, a [town about 38 miles north-west of ; Chicago. He did a thriving . business m what was then > • THE REAL WILD WEST,, . Society was m its .early stages, but .while there was plenty of material ■comfort, money m the shape of a cir- | culating medium "Was scarce. In order to remedy this inconvenience* a .bank at Milwaukee began to issue notes. It did a very large business, and its notes' circulated freely right .throughout the Outer West. With the increased circulation, came counterfeiters, and. soon the State .was filled iwith forged notes. „ ■• . - By an accident &llan- Pinkerton came into contact with, the forgers of these notes. He organised a posse of citizens, and many but not all of fthe men engaged m passing the notes .were caught. Bogus notes still continued to trouble the traders of Illinois, and the citizens of Dundee begged Allan Pinkerton to try his hand iigain. Pinkerton waited and watchrA. A resident m Dundee— ("Old Man ••■jQrane' '—was suspected,, bjj him ., . One day - !A STRANGER) CAME "* jjiding into Dundee and stopped 1 aU am m order to get some repairs idone to his saddle. Pinkerton was m H;he shop, and when , the ' stranger casually asked where "bid Man Crane" .fltved the future detective pricked up 'jflns ears. He got into conversation with the man and talked m such a

way -as to malce 'the stranger beliere that he was a friend of Crane's and knew the nature of the business on which he had come to Dundee.. The stranger turned out to be one 'John Craig, who, 1 with his nephew Smith, had a regular factory for the turning out of forged notes at Elgin, a. town near Chicago. Pinkerton spread his toils carefully, but at the last moment Craig took alarm, and when he was arrested no notes were found upon him. He was released on bail, and forfeited his recognisances. But he left the profession of counterfeiting, and there were no more spurious notes m Illinois I for (years.. | HIS LIFE IN HIS HAND', I f After his. father's death Robert FinI lcertori by. hisenergy Soon gave the ; detective agency: international fame, iHe was as well-known m London as m America, and as hundreds of crir ininals had sworn vengeance upon him litterally carried his life m his hand. In London he once narrowly escaped assassination at the hands of a New York criminal, who had followed him across the Atlantic, intent upon revenge. This man had care- ; fully dogged Mr Pinkerton, and had so carefully concealed his presence that his intended victim was unaware that he was being followed. The detective entered a restaurant m Regent-street and ordered lunch. Outside, on the "footpath, another man , was .waiting, his hand upon the butt of a revolver which lay m the pocket of his lounge coat. Fortunately for Mr Pinkerton he had : befriended an ex-con^ict, who by some, means had learnt of his danger. This man managed to convey a warning to the threatened man ; Jie left by another door, and thus Dick O'Brien, the "Gold Brick" swindler, was cheated of his prey. This was but one of Mr ' Pinkerton's many escapes, for I HE BRAVED DEATH m all parts of the globe. In New York harbor he was- once pushed ovior the side of a ferry boat, but he swam to shore, and hurrying to his assailant's lodgings first thrashed and then arrested him. For this the man received 10 years' imprisonment. With his brother, William, Mr Pinkerton arrested two of the most notorious safe breakers m the United States. The pair waited for their men, night after night, on the premises of the St. Louis Grain Depository, and a terrible struggle ensued when the robbers made their ; appearance. Robert Pinkerton was twice shot through the body, but the arrests were effected. Pinkerton's detectives played a great part m two I CELEBRATED LABOR DISPUTES m the United States. In 1894, a dispute arose at the 'Pullman works, near Chicago. This dispute spread until the whole of the Western railways were tied up. Eugene Debs, the leader of the American railway men, succeeded m stopping all traffic. G overnor Altgeld declined to interfere, and almost every State m the Union began to be affected. Then PinJce'rton's aid was evoked. An army of detectives came on the scene, armed and drilled with military precision. The struggle was sharp, but it was soon over. Winchester rifles and discipline triumphed over unarmed labor 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. It answered shot for shot, and' discipline once more won the day. RECOVERED STOLEN "DUCHr ESS." One of • $he Pinkerton triumphs was the recovery of GainsUorough's famous painting of the Duchess of Devonshire, stolen from the gallery of Messrs 'Agnew id-. Bond-street, on May 26 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 Pinlcerton for a big New York forgery. He was sentenced to 7 years' imprisonment. While m gaol he sent for Mr Robert Pinkerton and tried to make terms for his release by offering to restore the stolen Duchess.. Mr Pinkerton drew from him the whole history of the robbery, and resolved to act at once..

Worth, however, who was m London, learned of Elliott's confession, and at once left England, talcing a trip to South Africa. The Pinkertbns kept -on his track until he "was captured m Belgium for trying to rob the Liege Bank bullion waggon, and sentenced ,to SEVEN YEARS' IMPRISONMENT. When Worth came out, a broken man, m 1898, he was met m Brussels by a friend of Mr Pinkerton, Mr Pat Sheedy, an 'American sportsman ol world-wide reputation. Mr Sheedy broached tlie r subject oi the missing picture, and assured Worth that if he returned- it the Pinkertons would see him safe. Worth, knowing the reputation of the , great detectives, did not hesitate, but returned to America early m January! 1899, and interviewed Mr Robert Pinkerton at his office m Chicago. Mi Pinkerton put himself m communication with Scotland Yard and Messrs Lewis and Lewis. Difference, however, arose about the acceptance of Worth's terms, and it was not till March, 1901, that Mr Moreland Agnew received the picture from Mr Pinkerton' s hands, having travelled to Chicago on purpose. Worth came to ' England, lived quietly,, and died m 1902, His children were taken m charge • BY THE PINKERTONS, according to the promise made to him and given a home m America at then expense. . ' Pdnkerton 'figure* largely > n therecent great murder trial against American labor leaders. It was James McParlan, one of the leading members of Pinkerton' s Agency, who got from Harry Orchard, a member of the Miners' Union of- Colorado, the dramatic confession which was one pi the sensations of the case. The method by which the confession was obtained is typical of the elasticity, oi Pinkerton methods. , While Orchard was languishing m the penitentiary of Boise, McParlan visited him m his cell. At first 'he did not succeed ir "drawing" him, but later, after Orchard ,had grown nervous througli sleeplessness, and when his healtl: was broken. McParlan broke m upon him with the exclamation, "I wonder what your old mother will think when she reads of the fix you are m! " This touched A TENDER CHORD IN ORCHARD, and he' asked, "What do you know about my mother ?" McParlan told a long story about his association with the prisoner's childhood home, and his former associates, and he did not take long to worm himself intc his confidence. The upshot was thai Orchard agreed, and actually die make a confession to McParlan thai took the detective three days to write down., It was this confessibr which formed the principal piece ol evidence against Win. Haywood, the secretary and treasurer of the West crn Confederation of Miners. * • * London "Justice" thus caustically comments upon the career of Pinker ton :— I THE GREAT THUG ORGANISATION. The death has occurred of the hear of that huge criminal corporation, the Pinkerton ' Detective Agency. It is to be deeply regretted that his organisation cannot perish with him Existing for the safeguarding of the property of the capitalist classes, this has been liberally interpreted and no method has been too dirty, no outrage on .law or libjerty too ultra to be outside the pale of a Pinkorton. ' In 1894, m defiance of the State authorities, the Pinkertons intervened m the Pullman strike at Chicago with armed forces, rifles and the rest of it, and defeated the railway men led by the valiant Debs. A similar thing took place over THE HOMESTEAD STRIKE at the works of that "democratic" free library donator— Carnegie, when a Pinkerton Army was introduced, and with rifles and machine guns shot down the men on strike. The latest exploit of this villainous thug bureau was the suborning of Orchard, tc swear away the life, if possible, ol Haywood, for whose success m tht coming Presidential contest ever? British Social Democrat will hope. Tt may be said that incidents faintly similar to some of these ■ doings occur m this country at times. It is true mcii are shot down—and womei —In. defence of capitalist. property, and the covering of law and authbrifrv over the fell deed is no comfort to th« dead of their bereaved. But, after'all. there is soine authority exercised here . by the community itself (or b$ those acting for it) over the takinp of human life, which authority will anon be increased. We' do not, noi does any ■ other civilised country, permit organisations of professional roughs, ARMED TO" THE TEETH, to be let loose without the State authority, or m defiance, of the State itself. Lynching is one mark of an uncivilised community, and the existence of a Pinkerton Agency is another. The United States should come into:" line with the lother civilised nations of the world by abolishing both.-, ■ .