Mystery Monday: Meet the Lady Pinkertons

Mystery Monday: Pinkerton’s Lady Detectives 

Kate Warne was Allan Pinkerton’s first female detective, but neither was she the last or only woman he hired. Here is a bit about three of his lady “private eyes.” 

Hattie Lewis Lawton: a widow, she was described by Allan as “delicate and driven.” She often went undercover assuming numerous identities. One of her most dangerous assignments occurred during the Civil War. Posing as the wife of fellow operative Timothy Webster, they traveled to Richmond, VA where they pretended to be Rebel sympathizers from Maryland. Prior to this Timothy infiltrated the underground Sons of Liberty organization. Over the course of several months, the pair collected and conveyed information to the home office about troop movements, battle plans, and other intelligence. 

Vinnie Ream: After the plan to assassinate President Lincoln in Baltimore was unearthed, Allan

Pinkerton was placed in charge of the president’s protection. Rumors of plans abounded, and he investigated every report. He felt that some of the threats originated from within Lincoln’s cabinet, so in an effort to get inside the closed circle without suspicion, he hired Vinnie to sculpt a bust of the president. During her time of creating the sculpture, senators and congressmen wandered in and out of her work area to watch her work, giving her the opportunity to overhear conversations that she passed along to Pinkerton. 

Elizabeth Baker: According to Pinkerton, a “genteel woman agent” who was “more than suitable” for her assignment. He had her contact two sets of friends she’d known from her days of living in Richmond and inform them of her intent to visit. She was invited to say with Captain Atwater of the Confederate Navy and his wife. There, Elizabeth met influential socialites, Confederate officers, and politically ambitious Southerners. During the many parties held at the Atwater’s home, she was able to collect vast amounts of information about the Confederate’s plans. Perhaps her most important opportunity was the time she was invited to watch a submarine demonstration. Afterward, she successfully made her way to Washington where she reported everything she’d seen and included a sketch of the sub. 

Although women were not admitted to any police force until 1891 or widely accepted as detectives until 1903, Kate Warne and her “Lady Pinkertons” paved the way for future female officers and investigators. 

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May 1942: Geneva Alexander flees Philadelphia and joins the USO to escape the engagement her parents have arranged for her, only to wind up as the number one suspect in her betrothed’s murder investigation. Diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease, she must find the real killer before she loses her sight…or is convicted for a crime she didn’t commit. 

 Set in the early days of America’s entry into WWII and featuring cameo appearances from Hollywood stars, Murder of Convenience is a tribute to individuals who served on the home front, especially those who did so in spite of personal difficulties, reminding us that service always comes as a result of sacrifice. Betrayal, blackmail, and a barrage of unanswered questions… Murder of Convenience is the first book in the exciting “Women of Courage” series.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/4Ax9aN

Mystery Monday: Pinkerton's Lady Detectives

Mystery Monday: Pinkerton’s Lady Detectives

Kate Warne was Allan Pinkerton’s first female detective, but neither was she the last or only woman he hired. Here is a bit about three of his lady “private eyes.”

Hattie Lewis Lawton: a widow, she was described by Allan as “delicate and driven.” She often went undercover assuming numerous identities. One of her most dangerous assignments occurred during the Civil War. Posing as the wife of fellow operative Timothy Webster, they traveled to Richmond, VA where they pretended to be Rebel sympathizers from Maryland. Prior to this Timothy infiltrated the underground Sons of Liberty organization. Over the course of several months, the pair collected and conveyed information to the home office about troop movements, battle plans, and other intelligence.

Vinnie Ream: After the plan to assassinate President Lincoln in Baltimore was unearthed, Allan Pinkerton was placed in charge of the president’s protection. Rumors of plans abounded, and he investigated every report. He felt that some of the threats originated from within Lincoln’s cabinet, so in an effort to get inside the closed circle without suspicion, he hired Vinnie to sculpt a bust of the president. During her time of creating the sculpture, senators and congressmen wandered in and out of her work area to watch her work, giving her the opportunity to overhear conversations that she passed along to Pinkerton.

Elizabeth Baker: According to Pinkerton, a “genteel woman agent” who was “more than suitable” for her assignment. He had her contact two sets of friends she’d known from her days of living in Richmond and inform them of her intent to visit. She was invited to say with Captain Atwater of the Confederate Navy and his wife. There, Elizabeth met influential socialites, Confederate officers, and politically ambitious Southerners. During the many parties held at the Atwater’s home, she was able to collect vast amounts of information about the Confederate’s plans. Perhaps her most important opportunity was the time she was invited to watch a submarine demonstration. Afterwards, she successfully made her way to Washington where she reported everything she’d seen and included a sketch of the sub.

Although women were not admitted to any police force until 1891 or widely accepted as detectives until 1903, Kate Warne and her “Lady Pinkertons” paved the way for future female officers and investigators.

_______________________________

May 1942: Geneva Alexander flees Philadelphia and joins the USO to escape the engagement her parents have arranged for her, only to wind up as the number one suspect in her betrothed’s murder investigation. Diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease, she must find the real killer before she loses her sight…or is convicted for a crime she didn’t commit.

Set in the early days of America’s entry into WWII and featuring cameo appearances from Hollywood stars, Murder of Convenience is a tribute to individuals who served on the home front, especially those who did so in spite of personal difficulties, reminding us that service always comes as a result of sacrifice. Betrayal, blackmail, and a barrage of unanswered questions… Murder of Convenience is the first the exciting new “Women of Courage” series.

 Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/2OZ8t7T

Mystery Monday: First Female Pinkerton Detective

Mystery Monday: First Female Pinkerton Detective

Finding employment as a widow in the mid-1800s could be challenging. Prospects for jobs included teacher, store clerk, office clerk (although senior secretarial positions for mostly held by men,) housekeeper, governess, and laundress. None of these positions held allure for Kate Hulbert Warne, a 23-year old widow from New York.

Instead, she answered an advertisement Allan Pinkerton placed in one of the Chicago newspapers. Stunned at Mrs. Warne’s interest at being hired as a detective, Pinkerton replied, “It is not the custom to employ women detectives. Indeed, I never heard of a female detective.”

But Kate was persuasive saying, “Women can be most useful in worming out secrets in many places which would be impossible for a male detective. A woman would be able to befriend the wives and girlfriends of suspected criminals and gain their confidence. Men become braggarts when they are around women who encourage them to boast. Women have an eye for detail and are excellent observers.”

Pinkerton asked for twenty-four hours to consider her request. When he hired her the following day she became the nation’s first female detective. It is reported that she is the one who thwarted an assassination attempt on President Lincoln. She often worked undercover, and her cases included discovering the whereabouts of $40,000 stolen from Adams Express Company, finding the killer of City Bank of Atkinson teller George Gordon, and solving the attempted murder of Captain J.N. Sumner.

Few photos exist of Kate, but Pinkerton described her as: “Her features, although not was could be called handsome, were decidedly of an intellectual cast. Her face was honest, which would cause one in distress instinctively to select her as a confidante.” In his memoirs that were published as her death, he commented that “she exceeded all his expectations.”

Highly successful, Kate passed away at the age of 37. Newspapers praised her work saying “She was quick to perceive and prompt to act; she proved that females are useful in a sphere to which the wants of society have long been loath to assign them. As she lived, so she died, a fearless, pure, and devoted woman.”

____________________________

May 1942: Geneva Alexander flees Philadelphia and joins the USO to escape the engagement her parents have arranged for her, only to wind up as the number one suspect in her betrothed’s murder investigation. Diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease, she must find the real killer before she loses her sight…or is convicted for a crime she didn’t commit.

Set in the early days of America’s entry into WWII and featuring cameo appearances from Hollywood stars, Murder of Convenience is a tribute to individuals who served on the home front, especially those who did so in spite of personal difficulties, reminding us that service always comes as a result of sacrifice. Betrayal, blackmail, and a barrage of unanswered questions… Murder of Convenience is the first the exciting new “Women of Courage” series.

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/2VHlJ27

Mystery Monday: The Pinkerton Agency Part II

Mystery Monday: The Pinkerton Agency Part II

With the death of Allan Pinkerton in 1884, the agency was taken over by his sons, Robert (in New York) and William (in Chicago). Shortly, thereafter a branch was opened in Denver, with James McParland and Charlie Siringo managed the Western Division. Many of the agency’s assignments were connected to the federal government, and operatives performed may of the same duties that are now handled by the Secret Service, FBI, and CIA. In addition, Pinkertons (as they began to be called) worked for the railroads and overland stage companies, chasing down outlaws, such as the Reno Brothers and Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch.

By this time, the company had become heavily involved in the anti-labor movement, often hired by large organizations to break strikes or prevent them from happening by using undercover agents to infiltrate the unions. However, the state of Ohio was not impressed with the agency, and in 1890 outlawed them saying that Pinkerton’s 2,000 active agents and 30,000 reserves were larger than the US army and could be hired out as a “private army” or militia.

At the turn of the century, Pinkerton began to face competition from other security agencies that had popped up as well as from improved city police departments. As a result, the agency expanded its operations to conduct investigations for insurance claims and provide protection at racetracks and public events. In 1907 Allan Pinkerton II, grandson of the company founder, inherited the agency. By the 1920s, the firm also began investigations into the growing Mafia presence in New York and New Orleans.

In 1930 Robert Pinkerton II, the great-grandson of Allan Pinkerton became head of the agency. During the labor upsurges of the Depression years, strikebreakers and union-busters relied heavily on spies and espionage. With an emphasis placed on undercover work, Pinkerton became the most important supplier of industrial spies in the country. By 1940, however, the agency narrowed its focus to private investigative services and guarding of property. During WWII, operatives were hired to guard war supply plants.

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With most U.S. boys fighting for Uncle Sam in far off countries, Rochelle Addams has given up hope for a wedding in her future. Then she receives an intriguing offer from a distant relative to consider a marriage of convenience.

Conscientious objector Irwin Terrell is looking forward to his assignment at Shady Hills Mental hospital to minister to the less fortunate in lieu of bearing arms. At the arrival of the potential bride his father has selected for him, Irwin’s well-ordered life is turned upside down. And after being left at the altar two years ago, he has no interest in risking romance again.

Despite his best efforts to remain aloof to Rochelle, Irwin is drawn to the enigmatic and beautiful young woman, but will time run out before his wounded heart can find room for her?

Inspired by the biblical love story of Rebekkah and Isaac, Love’s Allegiance explores the struggles and sacrifices of those whose beliefs were at odds with a world at war.

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/2oWnlsJ

Mystery Monday: The Pinkerton Agency and its Early Years

Mystery Monday: 

The Pinkerton Agency and Its Early Years

I’ve always been intrigued by the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Founded in 1850, by Scotsman Allan Pinkerton, only eight years after he emigrated to the United States, the agency still exists as a subsidiary of the Swedish company Securitas AB. Leaving school at the age of ten after his father died, Pinkerton was primarily self-taught and by all reports a voracious reader. He was a cooper by trade, and his job is the reason he became a detective (albeit by accident).

While in the woods looking for trees appropriate for use as barrel staves, he came upon a gang of counterfeiters. As the story goes, he watched their movements for a long time then snuck away to inform the local sheriff who arrested the men. As a result Pinkerton was appointed the first police detective in Chicago. The following year he partnered with Edward Rucker to open the North-Western Policy Agency, later becoming Pinkerton & Co.

During the first two years of the Civil War, Pinkerton was head of the Union Intelligence Service. Part of his duties were to guard President Lincoln, and it was said that on one particular trip, Pinkerton thwarted an assassination attempt. He went undercover for the remainder of the war, often working in the deep south to determine Confederate plans. This counterintelligence work is comparable to the work done by today’s US Army Counterintelligence Special Agents in which Pinkerton’s agency is considered an early predecessor. After the war, the agency continued to track down train robbers, outlaws, and gangs as well as work heavily against the labor movement.

The agency’s logo of a large unblinking eye with the tagline “we never sleep,” gave rise to the nickname private eye for detectives. Pinkerton is also noted for hiring the first female detective, Kate Warne, a widow who convinced the Scotsman that she could “worm out secrets in many places to which it was impossible for male detectives to gain access.” Pinkerton would later declare her one of his best investigators.

At the time of his death in 1884, Pinkerton was working on a system to centralize all criminal identification records (such as mug shots, case histories, suspects’ distinguishing marks and scars, newspaper clipping, raps sheets, known associates and areas of expertise.

Stop by next Monday to learn more.

______________________________

With most U.S. boys fighting for Uncle Sam in far off countries, Rochelle Addams has given up hope for a wedding in her future. Then she receives an intriguing offer from a distant relative to consider a marriage of convenience.

Conscientious objector Irwin Terrell is looking forward to his assignment at Shady Hills Mental hospital to minister to the less fortunate in lieu of bearing arms. At the arrival of the potential bride his father has selected for him, Irwin’s well-ordered life is turned upside down. And after being left at the altar two years ago, he has no interest in risking romance again.

Despite his best efforts to remain aloof to Rochelle, Irwin is drawn to the enigmatic and beautiful young woman, but will time run out before his wounded heart can find room for her?

Inspired by the biblical love story of Rebekkah and Isaac, Love’s Allegiance explores the struggles and sacrifices of those whose beliefs were at odds with a world at war.

Purchase Link: Buy Love's Allegiance