Pinkerton National Detective Agency

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The Pinkerton National Detective Agency was started with the intention of finding counterfeiters and train robbers, then it evolved into an organization that investigated Lincoln’s assassination, stopped many criminal organizations such as the Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch, and spy work in the Civil War. In addition, the agency has shown the ability to be progressive for they were the first to enter criminals into a database, and were the first to hire a female detective in the U.S. With that, the entire agency has made a big impact, and is in over 100 countries today.
Allan Pinkerton was born on August 25, 1819 in Scotland. Pinkerton moved to Chicago in 1842, working as a barrel maker. A few years later, he joined the police squad in Chicago and in 1850 the first office for Pinkerton's company opened on 80 Washington Street. The Company created some ground rules that are very familiar to the FBI: accept no bribes, never negotiate with terrorists or criminals, become friends with the law, do not do cases that may cause scandals, do not accept reward money, never raise the price of the case without the knowing of the client, and let the client know what is happening with the case (www.Pinkerton.com). These rules were called the Pinkerton Code. By 1853 the company worked with law enforcement all around the country stopping suspected criminals all around the country. They specialized at first in stopping counterfeiters and protecting trains from robberies. Not only that, but Pinkerton was also asked to help in the Civil War and find intelligence on the confederates to find out their plans.
While gathering information, Pinkerton found intelligence that indicated an attempt on Presidents Lincoln’s life during his inauguration in1...

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...ncy was banned from Ohio, but this did not stop them.
The company today is now in one-hundred different countries today, and is a private detective agency. The entire agency was founded by Allan Pinkerton, who wanted to stop counterfeiters and protect trains from being robbed. They ended up doing so much more than that. They did spy work for the Union states, protect the President, and even start the first ever database for criminals. The agency has made an enormous impact on the entire world today.

Works Cited

• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/james-agency/
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/sfeature/mh_horror.html
• http://www.linecamp.com/museums/americanwest/define_the_west/train_robbers/train_robbers.html
• http://www.pinkerton.com/history
• American Law Enforcement Page 221
• http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/aug25.html

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