Allan Pinkerton  "Famous Detective"  August 25, 1819 - July 1, 1884

Allan Pinkerton, the son of a Glasgow, Scotland, police sergeant, learned the trade of barrel making in his native country before emigrating to the United States at the age of 23. He settled in Illinois and set up his own cooperage in the town of Dundee near Chicago. One day, while cutting wood on a deserted river island, Pinkerton discovered the hideout of a gang of counterfeiters. He organized a group of citizens to lead back to the island and captured the counterfeiters, gaining a reputation that led to his being named a deputy sheriff in 1846. He next took a job with Chicago's Cook County sheriff's department before becoming the Chicago police department's first detective.

In 1850, at the urging of railroad presidents, Pinkerton opened a private detective agency specializing in railroad security. He brought many innovations to the field of law enforcement and had a flourishing business. One of his railroad clients, the Illinois Central, also employed Abraham Lincoln for legal services and George B. McClellan as chief engineer. As the war approached, another of his clients, The Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, became concerned that secessionists in Maryland would cut tracks in order to isolate the nation's capitol from the North. The railroad sent Pinkerton to Baltimore to protect its property. Pinkerton found Baltimore a hotbed of Southern sentiment and had some of its operatives infiltrate the secessionist groups in the city.

The agents learned of much more than Pinkerton had expected, including a plot to assassinate Lincoln when he passed through Baltimore on his way to Washington and his inauguration. Pinkerton and the railroad president, Samuel Felton, met with Lincoln, who had already begun the trip to Washington, in his hotel room in Philadelphia. At 10:30 the next night, Lincoln, his volunteer bodyguard and friend Ward Hill Lamon, and Allan Pinkerton quietly slipped aboard the last car of the train to Baltimore, where they would change trains in the middle of the night for the final leg to Washington.

Fascinating Fact:  The proslavery, secessionist gangs in Baltimore were composed of tough young men known as Blood Tubs.


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