Allan Pinkerton

The Mollie Maguires and the Detectives Allan Pinkerton

An important resource in American history, told by one of the participants, who was a key figure in the labor disputes and violence of the Pennsylvania coal mines. Allan Pinkerton (1819-1884) was the world's first private detective. Emigrating to Chicago from Glasgow, Scotland, he discovered a gang of counterfeiters and assisted in their capture. He became deputy sheriff of Kane County, then Cook County, resigning from the police to form the Pinkerton Detective Agency in 1852. The Pinkerton logo, the All-Seeing Eye, inspired the phrase "Private Eye".