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Allan Pinkerton, founder of the worlds most famous detective agency, was born on August 8th 1819. Son of a Glasgow policeman,
Pinkerton served his apprenticeship as a cooper before emigrating to Chicago in 1842. His career was launched when he secured the conviction of a gang of counterfeiters and received a sheriffs star. In 1850 he set up
the National Detective Agency, which, before long, was not only providing security for railway companies and supplying personal bodyguards, but also hinting down such notorious Wild West outlaws as Jessie James, Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In 1861 the NDA saved President Lincoln from assassination and in 1866 apprehended a gang of criminals who made off with $700,000 in a raid. Kate Warne, the United States first woman
detective, worked for the agency from 1858. After Pinkerton's death the NDA continued in a family ownership until 1967. Today the firm has more than 50,000 employees and provides security services to such major
companies like General Motors and Hewlett Packard as well as the security guards for Oscar Awards ceremony in Hollywood.Allan Pinkerton 1819 - 1884 |
