Pinkerton’s Great Detective

by Beau Riffenburgh

  40. Unger, The Greenback Era.

  41. RAP, letter to Louis N. Megargee, quoted in The Denver Sunday Times, July 30, 1899. In 1864 Pinkerton had purchased from the Illinois Central Railroad a 254-acre patch of prairie land located near Onarga, Illinois, ninety miles south of Chicago. In the ensuing years he turned it into an estate that, a visiting reporter wrote, had “no equal in the West, and no superior in the United States” (The Chicago Daily Tribune, Aug. 12, 1882). It was known as Larch Farm for the approximately one hundred thousand larch trees Pinkerton ordered imported from Scotland in 1871. The heart of the property was “The Villa,” the main house, which was surrounded by twelve acres of lawns, vast flowerbeds, and numerous outbuildings. Nearby was an artificial lake and the “Snuggery,” Pinkerton’s special retreat—connected by a secret tunnel to the main house—where he entertained old friends and met with his key agency supervisors or clients (Mackay, Allan Pinkerton, pp. 202–3; Morn, The Eye That Never Sleeps, p. 66). It would have been an exceptional honor for him to allow McParlan to stay there for a period of months.

  42. Mackay, Allan Pinkerton, pp. 202–3.

  43. RAP, letter to Louis N. Megargee, quoted in The Denver Sunday Times, July 30, 1899.

  44. For example, The Courier-Journal, Sept. 24, 1879; The Evening Post, Sept. 26, 1879; The Kingston Daily Freeman, Sept. 26, 1879.

  45. Mrs. Toner, 1979, quoted in Campbell, A Molly Maguire Story, p. 67.

  46. For example, Frank Taaffe, personal communication, Oct. 30, 2011.

  47. Will (and One Codicil) of Eneas M’Parland late of Drumachee County Armagh, Farmer who Died 12 July 1889, Will Calendar 1889, pp. 541–46. By that time the “d” had been added to the end of the family name.

  48. Frank Taaffe, personal communication, Oct. 30, 2011.

  49. JM, letter to FBG, Dec. 20, 1877, HML.

  50. Henry Pleasants, letter to BF, March 19, 1977, HML.

  51. Patrick Butler, testimony in ECD, pp. 271–73.

  52. Henry Pleasants, letter to E. Gregory, July 24, 1877, HML; FBG, letter to S. B. Whiting, Aug. 26, 1878, HML.

  53. Jimmy Kerrigan, letter to George Kaercher, Sept. 28, 1877, Kaercher MSS, file A19.

  54. BF, letter to George Kaercher, April 20, 1877, Kaercher MSS, file A16.

  55. Daniel McCarthy, letter to J. S. Snyder, Sept. 6, 1876, HML; Daniel McCarthy, letter to “Friend John,” Nov. 6, 1876, Kaercher MSS, file A21.

  56. JM, letter to GDB, Nov. 8, 1909, LoC, box 30.

  57. Daily Herald, May 28, 1877.

  Chapter 12: A New Life

  1. Among the many fine books detailing different aspects of the displacement of Native Americans at this time are Faulk, The Geronimo Campaign; Brown, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee; Utley, The Lance and the Shield. For background on the problems facing nineteenth-century Chinese immigrants, see McClain, In Search of Equality; Gyory, Closing the Gate. For the conflicts between the U.S. government and the Mormon Church, see David, “The Polygamous Prelude”; Driggs, “The Prosecutions Begin.”

  2. For background on Billy the Kid, see Gardner, To Hell on a Fast Horse; Utley, Billy the Kid. For the story of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, see Barra, Inventing Wyatt Earp; Tefertiller, Wyatt Earp. For the tale of Jesse James, including his killing by Bob Ford, see Stiles, Jesse James; Yeatman, Frank and Jesse James.

  3. Morn, The Eye That Never Sleeps, pp. 98–107.

  4. The Courier-Journal, Sept. 24, 1879; reprinted in numerous newspapers, including: The Evening Post, Sept. 26, 1879; The Kingston Daily Freeman, Sept. 26, 1879.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Marriage registration number 1868/8393, New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs.

  7. Marriage license number 41918, Aug. 26, 1879, Illinois Department of Public Heath Marriage Records, Cook County; The National Police Gazette, Sept. 20, 1879.

  8. Pinkerton had originally created his Preventive Police as a group of night watchmen, or what was known by W. S. Beaubien as merchant police. The first captain of the force was Paul H. Dennis; Fitzgerald was his successor.

  9. AP, letter to GHB, March 30, 1877, LoC, box 47, AP letterpress copybook, vol. 2.

  10. For Pinkerton’s annoyance with Mrs. Franklin, see AP, letters to RAP, Feb. 29, March 8, 1876; AP, letter to GHB, Sept. 29, 1876, all LoC, box 47, AP letterpress copybook, vol. 2. For the issues with Franklin, see GHB, letter to AP, May 27, 1872, LoC, box 46, GHB letterpress copybook, vol. 2; AP, letter to RAP, March 8, 1876, LoC, box 47, AP letterpress copybook, vol. 2; also see Franklin materials in LoC, box 28, folder 16.

  11. The Evening Telegraph, Nov. 28, 1891; also see Linden’s biographical materials in LoC, box 30, folder 3.

  12. For Charles [Laughlin], see U.S. Bureau of the Census, First Ward, Conshohocken, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Tenth Census of the United States, 1880, microfilm roll T9_1159, p. 302C. For Edward [Laughren], see U.S.Bureau of the Census, Enumeration District 217, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Tenth Census of the United States, 1880, microfilm roll T9_1173, p. 253C.

  13. Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency, History of Detectives: James McParlan, Oct. 16, 1880, LoC, box 30.

  14. Physician’s Certificate of Death number 1760, March 6, 1880, Illinois Department of Public Health Deaths Index, Cook County.

  15. McParland et al. v Larkin, Supreme Court of Illinois, 155 Ill 84, 39 NE 609.

  16. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, Tenth Census of the United States, 1880: microfilm roll T9_197, p. 193A; Chicago Directory Company, The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago 1880.

  17. See Robertson’s biographical materials in LoC, box 32, folder 10. See also Chicago Directory Company, The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago 1884 and The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago 1885. Chief clerk was an administrative position in the Pinkerton’s hierarchy. It was the head of the clerical department in a regional office, so technically above a regular operative but below an assistant superintendent.

  18. See Robertson’s biographical materials in LoC, box 32, folder 10.

  19. Return of a Birth number 4597, April 17, 1881, Illinois Department of Public Health Births Index, Cook County; Physician’s Certificate of Death number 3416, April 17, 1881, Illinois Department of Public Health Deaths Index, Cook County.

  20. Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency, History of Detectives (Supplement by Sup’t), Oct. 28, 1880, LoC, box 30.

  21. Ibid.

  22. AP, letter to GHB, Sept. 2, 1875, LoC, box 47, AP letterpress copybook, vol. 2.

  23. See Chicago Directory Company, The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago 1882; City of Chicago Record and Index of Persons Registered and of Poll Lists of Voters, 1890, p. 150; The Daily Miners’ Journal, Sept. 22, 1893. In the following years, Charles lived near James in the several houses—including one built by the McParlands—on the contiguous properties. However, it is hard to differentiate the homes not only because most of the houses no longer exist, but because Chicago went through several confusing street renumberings, including in 1879–80 and 1909. The guide to the latter plan (Chicago Directory Company, Plan of Re-Numbering City of Chicago) stated: “Prior to the 1909 street renumbering Chicago street numbers were chaotic. There were several separate and distinct numbering systems. The baseline for street numbers varied from street to street.” As shown by the series The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, the numbering on Menominee Street actually did not change until late 1880 or early 1881, when the numbers for some houses—but not all—increased between six and twelve digits. At about the same time, the street name changed from Menominee to Menomonee, but many documents continued to show the older spelling for several years. This confusion means that although it would appear that at different times James, Charles, and their families occupied 146, 147, 148, and 154 Menomonee, it is uncertain how many of these were
the same house.

  24. Return of a Birth number 4381, April 5, 1882, Illinois Department of Public Health Births Index, Cook County.

  25. The details of the transfer of property and the following legal arguments and processes have been taken from McParland et al. v. Larkin, Supreme Court of Illinois, May 16, 1889; McParland et al. v. Larkin, Supreme Court of Illinois, 155 Ill 84, 39 NE 609; Throckmorton, Illustrative Cases on Contracts, pp. 212–18.

  26. Marriage License number 62788, June 12, 1882, Illinois Department of Public Health Marriage Records, Cook County; Chicago Directory Company, The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago 1883.

  27. McParland et al. v. Larkin, Supreme Court of Illinois, May 16, 1889.

  28. Ibid.

  29. Throckmorton, Illustrative Cases on Contracts, pp. 213–14.

  30. Ibid., p. 215.

  31. Ibid.

  32. McParland et al. v. Larkin, Supreme Court of Illinois, 155 Ill 84, 39 NE 609.

  33. The New-York Times, Sept. 15, 1883.

  34. Mackay, Allan Pinkerton, pp. 234–37; Physician’s Certificate of Death, July 1, 1884, Illinois Department of Public Health Deaths Index, Cook County.

  35. Chicago Directory Company, The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago 1885.

  36. Physician’s Certificate of Death number 61452, Aug. 10, 1885, Illinois Department of Public Health Deaths Index, Cook County.

  37. The Columbus Courier, Aug. 13, 1885.

  38. Allison, History of Cherokee County, Kansas, p. 146.

  39. The Columbus Courier, Jan. 21, 1886.

  40. Ibid., Feb. 18, March 4, 1886.

  41. JM, in SIA, p. 871.

  42. The Evening Post (Cincinnati), June 24, 1886; The Columbus Courier, July 15, 1886.

  43. The Columbus Courier, July 8, 1886.

  44. Klein, The Life and Legend of Jay Gould; Renehan, Dark Genius of Wall Street.

  45. Case, The Great Southwest Railroad Strike and Free Labor, pp. 30–31.

  46. The details of the strike against the Southwest Railroad System are taken from Allen, The Great Southwest Strike; Case, The Great Southwest Railroad Strike and Free Labor; Missouri Bureau of Labor Statistics and Inspection, The Official History of the Great Strike of 1886 on the Southwestern Railway System; and accounts from The Daily Times (Dallas), Kansas City Daily Journal, The Kansas City Star, The Parsons Daily Sun, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Topeka Daily Capital.

  47. The Parsons Daily Sun, March 12, 1886.

  48. For the violent history of south Kansas, see Blackmar, Kansas; Case, History of Labette County; Miner, Kansas: The History of the Sunflower State, 1854–2000.

  49. Gard, The Shawnee Trail.

  50. The Parsons Daily Sun, Jan. 19, Feb. 27, April 29, May 18, June 19, 1886.

  51. Shoaf, “House of Horrors.” The quotes throughout the paragraph are from this article.

  52. For a history of Appeal to Reason, see Graham, “Yours for the Revolution.”

  53. For the campaign against McParland, see, for example, Eastwood, “A Few Incidents Taken from the Criminal Annals of James McPartland”; Hurt, “James McPartland: A Free Hand Drawing”; Shoaf, “Unwinding the Tangled Skein”; Shoaf, “McPartland, the Pariah”; Shoaf, “House of Horrors.”

  54. For details of the murder of Lena Hopfer by James McPartland, and his subsequent trial and placement in an insane asylum, see The New York Times, May 13, June 14, 1906, July 29, 1925.

  55. For example, Lukas, Big Trouble, pp. 189–90.

  56. The account of the Myers murder and McLaughlin trial is based on the reports from The Abilene Reflector, Columbus Courier, Dodge City Times, Labette County Democrat, The Parsons Daily Sun, and Parsons Eclipse, as well as Case, History of Labette County, pp. 71–72.

  57. The Parsons Daily Sun, April 15, 1886.

  58. Parsons Eclipse, April 15, 1886.

  59. The Parsons Daily Sun, April 25, 1886.

  60. Ibid., June 3, 1886.

  61. Judge Chandler, quoted in The Parsons Daily Sun, June 5, 1886.

  62. Case, History of Labette County, p. 72.

  63. Shoaf, “House of Horrors.”

  64. Eastwood, “A Few Incidents Taken from the Criminal Annals of James McPartland.”

  65. Parsons Eclipse, July 1, 1886.

  66. Shoaf, “Unwinding the Tangled Skein.”

  Chapter 13: A New Detective in Town

  1. WAP, letter to JM, Dec. 22, 1899, quoted in CAS, Two Evil Isms, p. 105.

  2. The biographical material about Siringo, his cowboy career, and his early history with Pinkerton’s has been drawn from numerous sources, including: Lamar, Charlie Siringo’s West; Peavy, Charles A. Siringo; Pingenot, Siringo; Sawey, Charles A. Siringo; CAS, A Texas Cow Boy, A Cowboy Detective, Two Evil Isms, and Riata and Spurs.

  3. Gard, The Chisholm Trail; Skaggs, The Cattle-Trailing Industry.

  4. Ibid.

  5. Gray, Chisholm Trail.

  6. Emmett, Shanghai Pierce.

  7. CAS, quoted in Thorp, “Old Colt’s Forty-Five,” p. 14.

  8. Metz, Pat Garrett, pp. 87–117; CAS, History of “Billy the Kid,” pp. 102–33, and Riata and Spurs, pp. 104–10.

  9. Dobie, Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest, p. 119.

  10. The details of the Haymarket affair are taken from multiple sources, including Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy; Green, Death in the Haymarket; Messer-Kruse, The Trial of the Haymarket Anarchists.

  11. The diametrically opposed viewpoints about the Haymarket affair are shown by two recent books on the subject: Green, Death in the Haymarket and Messer-Kruse, The Trial of the Haymarket Anarchists.

  12. CAS, Two Evil Isms, p. 2.

  13. CAS, A Cowboy Detective, pp. 13–16, and Riata and Spurs, pp. 121–22.

  14. CAS, A Cowboy Detective, p. 15.

  15. Ibid., pp. 16–17, and Riata and Spurs, pp. 123–24.

  16. CAS, Two Evil Isms, p. 5.

  17. CAS, A Cowboy Detective, pp. 21, 22.

  18. See, for example, St. Paul Daily Globe, June 1, 1892, Aug. 25, 1893; The Winona Daily Republican, June 1, 1892, Aug. 25, 1893; Hartman v. Warren et al., Circuit Court of Appeals; Midway Company v. Eaton, US 619, p. 183; Hart and Ziegler, Landscapes of Minnesota, p. 222.

  19. See St. Paul Daily Globe, Feb. 13, 14, 1892. McParland’s testimony related to the efforts of Emil Hartman and several colleagues to gain control of the land. He recounted numerous conversations in which they confessed to unscrupulous and fraudulent behavior, and although his word did not impact their legal position, it put Hartman, and particularly his crony, Judge S. F. White of Duluth, in an unfavorable light. When, on the second day of testimony, White was finally able to cross-examine the detective, the lively exchange showed that McParland was still ready to spar while on the stand. “Well, go on with your lying,” said White. “I always knew you were a liar.” McParland quickly retorted: “And you are the most consummate liar I ever saw, and I’ve seen lots of them.”

  20. Auburn Morning Dispatch, Aug. 20, 1886.

  21. W. H. Smyth (Pinkerton’s, New York), letter to R. Dudley, May 6, 1951, LoC, box 140, folder 8.

  22. Rockwell, Memoirs of a Lawman, p. 346.

  23. Ibid.

  24. Moffett, “The Overthrow of the Molly Maguires,” p. 97. This tale was repeated in newspapers throughout the country; for example, in the Newcastle News-Journal, Feb. 8, 1895.

  25. See Gantt, The Case of Alfred Packer; Kushner, Alferd G. Packer. In late 1873, the thirty-one-year-old Packer—he used both Alfred and Alferd at different times—was in a large party of prospectors that left Utah for the gold country in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Halted temporarily by winter weather, in February 1874 he and five others continued into the treacherous conditions of the high mountains. Two months later Packer appeared on his own, flu
sh with cash and telling wild and conflicting stories to those who questioned him about the other men. When strips of human flesh were found in an area Packer had passed through, it began to appear that he had killed the others, taken their money, and eaten them in order to survive. After being arrested on suspicion of murder, he escaped and was not heard of for nine years, during which time the bodies of his five victims were discovered lying in a row with their skulls split open by a hatchet. In March 1883, Packer was identified and arrested in the Wyoming Territory. He was taken back to Colorado, found guilty of murder, and sentenced to be hanged, but, on appeal, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that a person could not be tried for a murder committed in 1874 because at that time Colorado was a territory and not a state, and it did not have the appropriate murder statute. He therefore needed to be retried for voluntary manslaughter.

  While he awaited trial in Gunnison Packer had numerous interactions with Shores, who later noted, “He was slow-witted, cowardly, vicious, and a natural bully. From his crudely written letters and my conversations with him, I learned that he had committed other serious crimes for which he was never arrested or prosecuted” (Rockwell, Memoirs of a Lawman, p. 343). In his retrial in 1886, Packer was convicted on five counts of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to forty years in prison. He served fifteen years, and in 1901 was paroled. He died in 1907, but his legend continues—at times in grisly fashion, at times in a humorous manner. A cafeteria at the University of Colorado, for example, is named The Alferd Packer Restaurant & Grill, and to go along with a slogan of “Have a friend for lunch,” the menu for Mexican specialties is entitled “El Canibal.”

  26. Rockwell, Memoirs of a Lawman, p. 349.

  27. Ibid., pp. 349–52. Hurley is buried in block 6 of Gunnison Cemetery (Wommack, From the Grave, p. 365).

  28. CAS, A Cowboy Detective, p. 17.

  29. Mackay, Allan Pinkerton, p. 217.

  30. Farley joined Thiel’s agency in 1873, and within two years had become superintendent of the New York office. He opened Thiel’s office in St. Paul in 1878, before founding the Denver one in 1885. He served two spells as the chief of police for that city, from 1889 to 1893 and 1897 to 1901. See Kaufmann, “Historic Supplement of the Denver Police”; Representative Men of Colorado, p. 84; John F. Farley Papers, Georgetown University.