ALLAN PINKERTON The Eye Who Never Slept

Hardback. Over 150yrs ago a young man came upon a fire-blackened patch in a clearing. To most people this would have gone unnoticed but the young Scot immediately sensed that something was wrong...Thus did Allan Pinkerton quite literally stumble across a gang of counterfeiters. Acute powers of observation combined with deductive reasoning, patience and dogged persistence brought a successful conclusion to what would only be the first of many cases, first as a deputy sheriff, then as a detective in the Chicago Police, and latterly as principal of the North West Detective Agency, now known simply as Pinkerton's. The young Scotsman, who had fled to the United States with a solitary silver dollar and the law hot on his heels, would create an enterprise without parallel anywhere in the world, a nationwide police system more than half a century before the FBI was thought of, and a global network of agents which anticipated Interpol by many years. He developed techniques of surveillance and infiltration which are still used; his logo was a wide-awake human eye with the motto 'We Never Sleep'. To the Chicago underworld he was known simply as 'The Eye', and from this comes the term Private Eye in use to this day. He took on bandits and bank robbers, kidnappers, counterfeiters and fraudsters, and broke many outlaw gangs. The author has unearthed a considerable amount of new material which throws light on all aspects of Pinkerton's career. His extraordinary life is set against the dramatic and turbulent history of the United States in the 4 decades which climaxed with the Civil War, when he and his network of spies worked behind Confederate lines and tackled espionage at the highest levels in Washington itself. An illuminating and engrossing read containing many of the detective's greatest cases. Illus., Notes, Select Bibliog. and Index. 256pp. lge. 8vo. h/back. With signs of b/plate removal to fpd o/w Vg+ in Vg. dw. which has small closed tear to tail of sp. A fairly heavy book which may require additional postage if shipped overseas.