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- Dec 24, 2010
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So I'm setting a story in the Wild West-ish area in the mid 1850s, a little while after the Pinkerton Detective Agency was set up. I want to have a Pinkerton Detective involved, and am doing some research to help portray the Pinkertons well.
But I want some general info and maybe a few specifics.
Info related to the Pinkertons in convenient bullet-points.
What I know (in general) already:
-The Pinkertons were a private detective, bodyguard, and essentially spy agency. They also broke up labor unions and so forth, but that's years after I want to portray them.
-Allan Pinkerton, their founder, essentially codified and created many common aspects of spy operations during (and I presume before) the Civil War.
-They were known for being doggedly persistent and ruthless in their goals.
-Still, they were very competent, at least compared to any competitors in the Confederacy (for the Civil War spy bit)
What I want to know:
-How far reaching were they? Specifically, how far into the West would their agents go?
-In their early years, did they work with individual state-level officials?
-I have a scenario in my story, that of a Mormon character (the MC) killing a respected and rich man (who is actually a supernatural monstrosity). Would the Federal government around the 1850s be suspicious enough of the Mormons as to send a Pinkerton agent to investigate the killing and bring the killer to justice?
-Were the Pinkertons nepotistic? Example: would they have high-level agents related to the founder that partially gained their rank due to family ties?
-I know they popularized the later "gumshoe" and private detective sort of investigations, but how exactly did they operate? Did they have any particular "themes" in how they worked?
Finally, any more interesting info on the Pinkertons would be much appreciated, thank you.
But I want some general info and maybe a few specifics.
Info related to the Pinkertons in convenient bullet-points.
What I know (in general) already:
-The Pinkertons were a private detective, bodyguard, and essentially spy agency. They also broke up labor unions and so forth, but that's years after I want to portray them.
-Allan Pinkerton, their founder, essentially codified and created many common aspects of spy operations during (and I presume before) the Civil War.
-They were known for being doggedly persistent and ruthless in their goals.
-Still, they were very competent, at least compared to any competitors in the Confederacy (for the Civil War spy bit)
What I want to know:
-How far reaching were they? Specifically, how far into the West would their agents go?
-In their early years, did they work with individual state-level officials?
-I have a scenario in my story, that of a Mormon character (the MC) killing a respected and rich man (who is actually a supernatural monstrosity). Would the Federal government around the 1850s be suspicious enough of the Mormons as to send a Pinkerton agent to investigate the killing and bring the killer to justice?
-Were the Pinkertons nepotistic? Example: would they have high-level agents related to the founder that partially gained their rank due to family ties?
-I know they popularized the later "gumshoe" and private detective sort of investigations, but how exactly did they operate? Did they have any particular "themes" in how they worked?
Finally, any more interesting info on the Pinkertons would be much appreciated, thank you.