Heroes of the West? The Pinkertons

Heroes of the West?

The Pinkertons

Allan Pinkerton, the founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency started off as a barrel maker, or a cooper. He liked working for himself instead of for someone else. He had a knack for investigating and while looking for raw material for his business, helped the police bring a bunch of counterfeiters to justice. After the locals heard what he did, they came to him for other things as well. Thus, it started him on opening his own detective agency.

The civil war boosted his reputation even more when he headed the organization that spied on the confederacy. After that, he went back to his agency but he was now known far and wide and the reputation of the agency was well known by the end of the war.

 After becoming quite famous as an agency, a woman named Kate Warne wanted to work for the agency. Allan Pinkerton was hesitant, he didn't quite believe a woman would do as good of a job as a man. Except she convinced him to let her try. She told him that a woman would be able to 'worm' out secrets that a man could not do.

She proved herself many times over. She dressed up as a fortune teller and talked the suspect into revealing crucial information which helped their case. Once, she even got friendly with the wife of a thief and convinced the thief's wife to tell her the exact location where the money was hidden. Pinkerton actually made a statement that she was one of his best agents ever. 

As one of the authors in a multi-author series, the Pinkerton Matchmakers, stories and tales of women sleuths is the main ingredient in these stories. In my story An Agent for Cari, we find the heroine on her very first assignment. The premise of these books are a bit different than real life, with the women having to team up with a male partner and marrying them in name only while they are out in the field. This idea was for propriety sake to save the women's reputation. 

Here is my contribution to the stories of women who were not only brave but helped to carve a place for others to be independent and part of American history:

  

 A woman who breaks all the rules - A man who lives by them - Can opposites attract while bringing down a notorious swindler before he kills again?

Cari Kyllikki won't allow her disability to hinder her dream of becoming a Pinkerton Detective. She has become a master of hiding her daily struggles. What she didn't count on was the Pinkerton Agent who is determined to uncover her secrets. All of them!

Michael Durango works strictly by the book; there is no deviating even a little bit. When he finds out what his new wife is hiding, he has a decision to make -- tell the agency and risk her losing her job or keep her secret and complete the case. If only he could tear his thoughts away from her long enough to decide.

What does Michael do to protect his partner and solve the case? Will their suspect kill again, or turn his attention to the Pinkertons on his trail? Will Michael and Cari find love along the way, or will her secret tear apart everything they believe?

An Agent for Cari is available on Amazon

Researching Pinkerton Agents

When I started researching the Pinkerton National Detective Agency for the hero of a story, I had no idea what was a reasonable amount of time for an agent to spend on a case. Or if traveling from Rhode Island to Texas was believable. First, I consulted non-fiction titles that detailed Allan Pinkerton’s personal detective history that led into creating his agency. One book I read, Inventing the Pinkertons by S. Paul O’Hara was really slanted toward the economic and political conditions of the times. (rather dry) Then I read The Pinks by Chris Enss, which showcased the famous female detectives and the types of roles they performed for the company.

Allan Pinkerton circa 1861 credit Wikipedia

I dug deeper and, to my delight, discovered that Allan Pinkerton himself published reports of various cases. A first-hand account of events is always the most reliable and valuable source for research. The added bonus is that these reports read like fiction. Possibly he learned his writing skills because he released a couple dime novels based on cases. But he also wrote factual accounts of the timelines, events, agents involved, and the methods used. I was so surprised at how dedicated he was to fulfill the clients’ needs.

One story I read is titled The Spiritualists and The Detectives, and it related how two agents went undercover and worked for weeks to gain the confidence of the spiritualist who had a lawsuit against their client, hoping she’d admit the case was a fraud. The woman who read palms and gave séances claimed the rich client promised to divorce his wife and marry her. She sued him for breach of promise. When the spiritualist suspected someone was watching her, (which was happening because she’d rented rooms in her house to the two men who posed as salesmen) she jumped on a westbound train and ended up in Missouri, when another lawsuit was pending. The agents followed her on the train, but replacements took over surveillance once she settled in Missouri.


Something spooked her again and she set off, meandering through Illinois and Indiana. A sheriff attempted to serve her with a subpoena to appear in one state’s court and she successfully avoided touching the document until the riverboat reached mid-river and she was within another state’s jurisdiction. The replacement agents suspected she was headed back to Rochester New York where the original ones first met her and advised they return. In total, the surveillance lasted almost four months before the court date was close enough the agents could serve her with an order to appear and keep her in town. She lost.


If you’re interested in reading about real cases, I also found these titles by Allan Pinkerton: The Somnambulist and the Detective, the Murderer and the Fortune Teller; The Spy of the Rebellion: Being a True History of the Spy System of the United States; Bucholz and the Detectives. The best thing is the books are part of the project where out-of-print titles are scanned and made available free.

I used the research in writing my novella titled Taming A Scandal, book 14 of Lockets and Lace series. Socialite Mercia Saunders is traveling to her brother’s Texas ranch to let the gossip settle from a Philadelphia scandal. Pinkerton agent Dominic Prentice is pairing surveillance on the spoiled lady and hunting down stolen jewelry. Will the confinement of a cross-country train ride toss them together and ignite sparks?



Connect with Linda

Blog   http://blog.lindacarroll-bradd.com

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/linda.carrollbradd

Twitter  https://www.twitter.com/lcarrollbradd

Newsletter  http://eepurl.com/bjKueH