NIL SMS CHAS.A. SIRIMGO. a ciowBov DETECTIVE \i4K>ltii0iia.aslK spoillwentyfao years in<1Iie Inner circle oF PIIfKERFOI& MAnONAL DETECTIVE ACIENCr INTRODUCTfON BY CHAR1.E9 D P^VV THE LIBRARY OF THE NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY B W Cornell University Library The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924002532475 A FACSIMILE REPRODUCTION i3 \t 6rnnii[Hiiiiiii[[[[»[[[[iiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii[iiiiiiiiiiiiii]iiiiHiiiii[[Hiiiiiiiiiii[iiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiM ^wo £vi7 Ssms !Pin/certonism and Jxnarchism 6y Charles J^. Oiringo h ^ \^ INTRODUCnON BY CHARLES D. PEAVY Steck'uauffhn Company PUBLISHERS • AUSTIN, TEXAS Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 67-31363 PRINTED AND BOUND DJ THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A Facsimile Reproduction of the First Edition New Material Copyright, 1967 STECK-VAUGHN COMPANY, PUBLISHERS AUSTIN, TEXAS u Sniroduction BY CHARLES D. PEAVY Two Evil Isms marks the high point in the long quarrel between Charles A. Siringo and Pinkerton's National De- tective Agency. It is the rarest of Siringo's works, for most of the original issue disappeared or was destroyed after it was seized by the Pinkertons. This facsimile edition has been prepared from the copyright volume in the Library of Congress. Because this reissue is a facsimile reproduc- tion, it contains all of the typographical errors and mis- spellings of the original text. The advantage of this fac- simile, however, is that it retains all the flavor and quaint- ness of the original. The present edition diflFers from the original only in that it is bound in cloth; the front and back cover designs are the same as used on the first, paper covered edition. Siringo's reputation rests primarily upon the fact that he wrote the first authentic cowboy autobiography, A Texas Cowboy, or. Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony (1885). Far more interesting, how- ever, is his second autobiography, A Cowboy Detective: A True Story of Twenty-Two Years with a World-Famous Detective Agency (1912). The pubHcation of this book marks the beginning of Siringo's feud with the Pinkertons. A Cowboy Detective continues the autobiographical narration of Siringo's life from the period which closed A Texas Cowboy. Although Siringo was less than thirty years old when he wrote A Texas Cowboy, he described himself on its title page as "an old stove up cow puncher who has spent nearly a lifetime on the great western ranges." Siringo's eventful life was hardly over, however, for within a year he joined the Pinkerton National De- tective Agency in order "to study the world" and record his "experience in book form." For the next two decades he lived an amazingly adventurous life, amassing enough experiences and acquaintances with imderworld charac- ters to fill the pages of many volumes. Siringo had completed A Cowboy Detective by 1910, but Pinkerton's National Detective Agency prevented his publishing it for two years. He had orginally entitled the book Pinkerton's Cowboy Detective but was forced to change the title to A Cowboy Detective and to substitute names (Pinkerton, for example, becomes Dickenson in the text) and delete much material before he was al- lowed to publish the book. The Superior Court of Cook County decreed that Siringo was "perpetually enjoined and restrained from disclosing, revealing, divulging and publishing any information . . . concerning any business matter or operation" of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Siringo was also forbidden to publish "Pinker- ton's Cowboy Detective, a True Story of Twenty-two Years with Pinkerton's National Detective Agency"; to use the words "Pinkerton's" or "Pinkerton's National Detective Agency"; or to advertise that any book or ar- ticle "contains information, business transactions, secrets, names of clients, or any information, knowledge, trade secrets or other matter" pertaining to the Agency. Ostensibly, Siringo accepted the Pinkerton protests as "undoubtedly rightful," for in the preface he wrote: These protests were undoubtedly rightful, but it was considered in the beginning that no harm could come therefrom, for the reason that the identity of persons involved was not disclosed except in refer- ence to past facts, matters that were done and over with. Now this diflBculty has been overcome and the IV objections removed by the use of fictitious names in many places. Future developments, however, indicate that Siringo bit- terly resented the interference of his former employer. Raymond W. Thorp says that because people were afraid to publish the book Siringo was forced to publish it him- self and, as a result, was ruined financially {True West, January-February, 1965). The fact is, however, that Siringo did not bear the cost of publishing A Cowboy Detective alone. A. B. Renehan, Siringo's friend and attorney in Santa Fe, New Mexico, indicates in a letter to John A. Brown, the Pinkerton's Chicago attorney, that he had invested capital in A Cowboy Detective: I have your letter . . . concerning some alleged proposed book of Siringo's called "The Two Evil Isms" [sic]. I have no interest whatsoever in the alleged book. I was interested in "The Cowboy Detective" and am still to the extent of some thou- sands of dollars that I would like to get. Probably the litigation involving A Cowboy Detective cost Siringo more than the actual publication of the book; not only had the Pinkertons kept Siringo tied up in the Superior Court of Chicago for two years, but the court decreed that Siringo should pay the costs and expenses of the entire proceeding. Defeated in his first battle wdth the powerful agency, Siringo renewed his attack almost immediately. In Octo- ber, 1914, the general manager of Pinkerton's National Detective Agency in New York received a Wells-Fargo Express package from Santa Fe, New Mexico. The pack- age contained a seventy-eight page typescript of Two Evil Isms, a penciled illustration for the front cover de- sign for the pamphlet, and the following letter from Siringo: Santa Fe, N. M. Oct. 17th, 1914. General Manager, Pinkerton N. D. A., New York, N. Y. Dear Sir:— I am sending you herewith a type-written manu- script, and the front cover illustration of a new book, "Two Evil Isms" which I expect to have published this fall. As your agency caused me a cash loss of $2,000.00, by tying up my other book, "A Cowboy Detective," after it was ready for the press, I am anxious to get your lawful objections to this one, "Two Evil Isms" before it is set in type. If you will point out any objectionable features, which are not lawful, and for the public good, I will gladly cut them out, as it is my wish to stay within the law. So please act promptly, as I am wanted, as a wit- ness, in a big case in Canada, wherein yoiu: agency will be the Star Actor, and it is my wish to have this booklet on sale there, at 25^ a copy; also at the San Diego and San Francisco Expositions. On account of that good man, diuring his life-time, Robt. A. Pinker- ton, and his descendants, I dislike to act as a wit- ness against your agency, but I need the money. Please return this manuscript at your earliest con- venience, as I may need it, in case my other copy goes astray enroute to the printer. I shall leave here, to be gone a couple of months, the last part of next week, but you can address me here, P. O. Box 322, until further orders. Very truly yours, Chas. A. Siringo vi All of this material was forwarded to John A. Brown, the Pinkerton's attorney in Chicago. Brown immediately notified Siringo; Renehan, who had in part financed A Cowboy Detective; and W. B. Conkey and Co., who had printed it, that the publication of Two Evil Isms would be the grounds not only for civil but criminal prosecu- tion. In the letters to Renehan and to the W. B. Conkey Company, Brown contends that flie typescript of Two Evil Isms contains much matter that had been suppressed in the "Cowboy Detective" case; that the entire work was "false, malicious, scandalous, and libelous"; and that Siringo's letter "'savors strongly of blackmail and an at- tempt on Siringo's part to have Pinkerton's National Detective Agency purchase his manuscript from him." Neither Renehan nor the W. B. Conkey Company had anything to do with the publication of Two Evil Isms; Siringo, however, persisted in his plans and he even went so far as to have the book published in Chicago. Two Evil Isms: Pinkertonism, and Anarchism is a scathing denunciation of Pinkerton's National Detective Agency. Actually, very little is said about anarchism; from its preface to its final page the little paperbacked pam- phlet is an angry diatribe against the Pinkertons. In his preface Siringo alludes to the agency's methods of "black- mail, bribery, and intimidation," methods which "endan- ger the reputation of and security of individuals and the pubUc welfare, and ignore all rules of law and morality in the mad rush for money." In the book itself Siringo claims that the Pinkertons fix elections, bribe jiuries, kid- nap witnesses, corrupt poHce ofiBcers and officials, and cause the execution of innocent men (a more serious charge is that at one time the agency hired killers for their clients). Although Siringo states that working for the Pinkertons was a "great strain" on his conscience, it should be re- membered that Siringo withstood the strain for more than vu twenty years. He anticipates criticism on this score, how- ever, when he claims that he would have been powerless to combat such a powerful machine as the Pinkertons (p. 4). He also expresses a fear that the Pinkertons would suppress Two Evil Isms. His fears were justified; by March, 1915, Two Evil Isms was available on the pub- lic newsstands in Chicago, where it was bought by Pinker- ton detectives for use in court. The agency moved swift- ly. Pinkerton operatives were not only able to locate where Two Evil Ism^ was printed but also where the plates and unsold copies of the pamphlet were stored. Siringo had stored the plates and books under a fictitious name (Will F. Reed of Kingman, Arizona) in an attempt to prevent the agents of his former employer from locat- ing them. On March 30, 1915, the Superior Court of Cook County ordered that the property stored by "WiU F. Reed" be held in custody at the Garfield Park Storage Company until further order by the court. The books and plates were still being held in custody when, on July 3, 1915, Siringo wrote a warning letter to John A. Brown: Santa Fe, New Mex., July 3rd, 1915 Mr. John Brown, Atty. at Law, Chicago, Ills. My Dear Sir: You and your clients may think that you have got me frightened, on account of me keeping so quiet lately, since you worked that big bluff on me. Knowing that I have got truth and justice on my side, even though your clients are over-supplied viu with money, influence and power, I shall keep push- ing ahead until the grave swallows me up. A little thing like a year in jail wouldn't give me cold feet.' It would only store up energy and give me a rest. For the past two months I have been busy writ- ing a new book for an eastern publisher, who wrote me to try and get out one that will suit them. I have only got two more chapters to write, then I shall put my mind on "Two Evil Isms," and mail out the 2000 postal cards like the one enclosed, which I have on hand. And by that time if you have not released my plates in Chicago, I shall get out a new set. The cover colored-plates I have here with me. In case I have to make new plates an extra chapter will be added to the book. I [sic] former high oflScial in your clients' agency, who has read "Two Evil Isms," writes me that he can furnish me some truths that will surprise the public in case I decide to get out new plates. From what my lawyer, Mr. Jacobs, in Chicago wrote me, I feel confident that your cHents intend to try and hold up these plates and books in an under- handed persistent manner. That's why I am writing you this as a warning. Will state here that, before leaving Chicago the officials of the National Socialist party on the corner of West Madison and Halsted Streets, read "Two Evil Isms," and oflFered to get out 100,000 copies, as a starter if I would cut out what I say against Geo. A. Pettibone and the Western Federation of Miners, and also change the name on the outside cover from Anarchism to Capitalism. I couldn't conscientiously do this, but I may be driven to it. Now, Mr. Brown, I hope you will come out in the IX open and fight square,— either release the plates or have the court order them destroyed. Very truly yours, Charles A. Siringo. Siringo was destined to lose the fight, however, for on July 16 the coiurt ordered the storage company to siu-- render to the Pinkertons "all boxes, packages, books, and plates for printing copies" stored in the name of Will F. Reed (alias Charles A. Siringo). There remained one more episode in the Siringo-Pinker- ton feud. In 1927 the old and reputable firm of Houghton Mifflin published Siringo's final autobiography, Riata and Spurs: The Story of a Lifetime Spent in the Saddle as Cowboy and Detective. Immediately the Pinkertons moved in on their old antagonist, bringing pressure to bear upon Houghton Mifflin in the process. Eleven of the twenty chapters in Riata and Spurs are revisions of chapters that had appeared in A Cowboy Detective, but actual names replace the fictitious ones used in the earher text, and the name of Pinkerton's Na- tional Detective Agency is also used. Apparently the agency somehow succeeded in intimidating Houghton Mifflin into deleting from the second and subsequent printings of Riata and Spurs approximately 150 pages con- cerned with Siringo's experiences as a detective. In these later printings, pages 120-268 of the original text are omitted, and other material substituted. It is very curious that no notice is given that more than half of the book is made up of material which did not appear in the first edition. It is even more curious that a search in the files of the Houghton Mifflin Company failed to turn up any information pertaining to the textual changes. I was also told by the people in charge of the Pinkerton archives at the home office in New York that they, too, had no in- formation. Apparently whatever pressures were brought to bear on Houghton Mifflin shall remain a mystery; within a year of the suppression of the original text Charley Siringo was dead. The Pinkerton agency, of coiurse, survived the battle unscathed; they continue to operate a national organization today. Chabues D. Peavy University of Houston XI CONVICTED HAYMARKET ANARCHISTS I— fTairy Orchnrd. who murdered GovDrnor Sleunenbtrg. und li¥i?nly-(our oilii djrnunite. Now Mrvina a IiTb wntence in (he Boise, Idaho, penlWnlinn'- coiivici Pinkertiin delMllvc who" made rnlw rrporls apiiiw IT". in dtiteclive hung in Chrvi^nnc, VVy.imlni;, fm- iimrderiii(t nii MeG)ur« ai B-Thr —The author u McPTirlnndx bodj-Koord JuriiiE I McParland. Ihc Pinkcrton dctpctivt- sent ibout thirly to Ihe penitentiary. tlti- IlHywood Inal In Boiw, ' whoKO testiroooy hung iwc -,.a2>U A FACSIMILE REPRODUCTION TWO EVIL ISMS PINKERTONISM and ANARCHISM BY A COWBOY DETECTIVE WHO KNOWS, AS HE SPENT TWENTY-TWO YEARS IN THE INNER CIRCLE OF PINKERTON'S NATIONAL DETECTIVE AGENCY h CHARLES A. SIRINGO Author of "A Texas Cowboy" and "A Cowboy Dbtbctivb" PRICE 25 CENTS CHARLES A. SIRINGO, Publisher p. O. BOX 396 CHICAGO, ILL. Ci>mlglit,UlEliraiaa.A. SMoco- AUitahtinuind STECK-VAUGHN COMPANY, PUBLISHERS AUSTIN, TEXAS CONTENTS CHAPTER I The Great Anarchist Haymarket Riot Case in Chicago. ... 1 CHAPTER II An Anarchist Uprising in Archuleta County, Colorado. ... 8 CHAPTER III In Wyoming as a Cowboy Outlaw 13 CHAPTER IV On a Cowboy Operation — Election Frauds 20 CHAPTER V Playing Broncho Buster — A Big Dynamiting Case 26 CHAPTER VI I Join the New Mexico White Caps — Tascott Murder Case 31 CHAPTER VII The Bloody Coeur D'Alene Uprising of 1892 36 CHAPTER VIII In Jail With a Murderer — Hanging of Tom Horn 43 CHAPTER IX Trailing Bad Men In Arizona — We Recover Stolen Gold In Alaska 53 CHAPTER X Playing Outlaw — Chasing a Royal Son Through Mexico — Running Down a Mine-Salter In British Columbia 58 CHAPTER XI Two Mine-Salting Cases — A Bullion Stealing Operation... 68 CHAPTER XII Working In With the "Wild Bunch," and Playing Outlaw 72 CHAPTER XIII A Case in Arizona — Among the Moonshiners of Kentucky. . 82 CHAPTER XIV Cowboy Operation in Oregon — Working on United States Senator Smoot 88 CHAPTER XV The Great Haywood Trial in Boise, Idaho 94 CHAPTER XVI My Twenty-two Years in the Inner Circle of the Pinker- ton National Detective Agency Ends 98 PREFACE In using the phrases, "Pinkertonism," I am not con- demning every man and every institution happening to have that name. While I have never had any business w^ith Pinker- ton & Company, United States Detective Agency, with principal offices in the Boyce Building in the city of Chicago, I do know that Matt. W. Pinkerton, the head of that agency, is a man above reproach for honesty, morality and sobriety. Had he not been "on the square," Pinkerton's National Detective Agency would have had him in the scrap heap long since, for they have been fighting him for the past thirty years in a persistent and underhanded manner. The ungrounded attacks made upon him by the Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, have had no effect upon a business which has grown to pro- portions requiring the occupancy of the entire seventh floor of the Boyce Building and the employ- ment of a large number of busy stenographers and a staff of competent superintendents and operatives, at the main office of Pinkerton & Co., United States Detective Agency. Matt W. Pinkerton is not related by blood or marriage to the Pinkertons who are at the head of the Pinkerton's National Detective Agency. The methods which endanger the reputation and security of individuals and the public welfare, and ignore all PREFACE rules of law and morality in the mad rush for money, have no part in the system of Pinkerton & Co., United States Detective Agency. Lecturer, author and acknowledged expert in his special line of professional activity, Matt W. Pink- erton has won a name and prestige known to-day to advanced criminologists and the reading public all over the civilized world. I consider this explanation a duty I owe to the public, discriminating as it does between methods of blackmail, bribery and intimidation, and the intel- ligent and useful service which is a reliable safe- guard to the individual client and to the community at large. THE AUTHOR. CHAPTER I THE GREAT ANARCHIST HAYMARKET RIOT CASE IN CHICAGO The writer was born and brought up in the midst of long-horn cattle, and wild mustangs, in Matagorda County, in the southwestern part of Texas. He started out as a full-fledged cowboy when only eleven years of age, in the year 1867. During the seventies I made several trips up the great Chisholm cattle trail to Kansas, with long- horn steers. My eyes were opened to a new world; I wanted to see more of this new world, and learn the ins and outs of the people who lived in it. The oppor- tunity came in the spring of 1886, which found me in Chicago, with nothing to do but study the hordes of people from all lands. On May 2d a riot took place at the McCormick Reaper Works; several laboring men were killed and wounded. This caused much excitement in the city, and a mass meeting was called by the laborers to meet in Haymarket square — on the night of May 4th to make a protest. For fear of a riot. Mayor Harrison congregated three hundred police officers under the command of Bonfield, at the Desplaines police station nearby. While the meeting was in progress, and the speakers were making their speeches from an empty wagon, standing in the open square. Mayor Carter H. Harrison elbowed his way towards the wagon from whence he could hear all that was said. No 2 TWO EVIL ISMS one had recognized the mayor until the last speaker was closing his speech, advising the people to go peacefully to their homes, when Mayor Harrison lit a match to a cigar, then Albert Parson, standing on the wagon, recognized and spoke to him in a friendly manner. Now the mayor started home, going by way of the Desplaines police station, where, it was said, he told Bonfield that the meeting was ready to break up and there was no danger of a riot — hence he could disband his squad of police officers. After the mayor left, Bonfield marched his squad over to the wagon and ordered the crowd to dis- perse; he hadn't more than given the order when a bomb was thrown from the mouth of an alley into the midst of the policemen; the result being that seven were killed and about sixty wounded. Seeing some of these wounded officers hauled to the hos- pital early next morning, chilled my blood, and I wanted to help stamp out this great Anarchist curse. I concluded the best way to help in the righteous cause, was to join that (to my ignorant mind) model institution, Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, but little did I dream that I was entering a school for the making of anarchists, and a disgrace to an enlightened age. I secured a position as a secret detective from William A. Pinkerton, the head of this big, well- organized agency. My first work was on the Hay- market riot case, hence I had an opportunity to study anarchists at close range. The detectives' quarters was a large room, sepa- rated from the main offices with secret ways of TWO EVIL ISMS 3 entrance and exit. At times the room occupied by the detectives, or operatives (as the secret men were called), contained dozens of men of all ages, colors and nationalities. Even Africa was represented in the person of a negro familiarly known as "Black Jim." In this room I had a chance to study human na- ture. There were many good, conscientious men, and others devoid of moral principle or character, and by talking with them I found that each class did dif- ferent lines of work. The false reports written about anarchists as told to me by the writers themselves, would make a decent man's blood boil. To illustrate, I will cite one case: The two "Docs," one being an ex-convict, were sent to the lake front one Sunday morning to report any anarchistic speeches made during the day. The lake front park (now Grant park) was crowded with people, but nothing going on of a disorderly nature. In the afternoon the two "Docs" spied the noted anarchist leader, Albert Parsons, who was afterwards hung, sitting on a bench read- ing a newspaper. Taking a seat by his side the two "Docs" began praising anarchy and abusing capital- ists. This caused Parsons to quit reading and join in the conversation, but his talk was mild, and he could not be induced to make threats. The next morning the two "Docs," according to the story told to me by "Doc" Williams, sent in blood-curdling reports of the things the anar- chists were going to do to society and the moneyed class, as told by Albert Parsons. I asked Williams why they wished to shove their fellow man further into the mire, by putting falsehoods into his mouth. 4 TWO EVIL ISMS The excuse was that these flashy reports suited the agency and pleased the clients who were having the work done, and also gave the detectives an excuse for rendering big expense bills for drinks and the like. The lessons of injustice learned during my first month in the big agency almost caused me to throw up my position in disgust. But I argued in my own mind that the corruption was a sore on the body politic, which no one man could cure — hence, I might as well remain and become educated into the ways of free America, where all men and women are con- sidered kings and queens, and the children kinglets and queenlets. The question might be asked why I did not show my manhood by resigning and exposing this crooked agency in the beginning. Exposing it to whom, pray? Not to the officers of the law, I hope. In my cowboy simplicity I might have been per- suaded to do so at that time. But I am glad I did not, for, with my twenty-two years behind the cur- tains, I can now see the outcome. It would have resulted in many "sleeps" in the city bull-pen, and a few doses of the "third degree" to try and wring a confession for blackmailing this notorious institution. Up to the time of the Homestead riot, and since the moral wave has been sweeping over the land, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency was above the law. A word from W. A. Pinkerton or one of his officers would send any "scrub" citizen to the scrap heap, or even to the penitentiary. This is no joke, for I have heard of many innocent men being "railroaded" to prisons, and my information came from inside the circle. TWO EVIL ISMS 5 A man without wealth and influence trying to expose the dastardly work of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency would be like a two-year old boy blowing his breath against a cyclone to stop its force. Nevertheless, the day is fast approaching when the American people will "take a tumble" and put this corrupt institution out of commission. Heaven speed the day! is my prayer. After the anarchist Haymarket riot case started in the north side court house, I was detailed to watch the jury, to see that lawyers for the defense did no "monkey work" in the way of bribery. My orders from Superintendent David Robinson were to pay no attention to the lawyers for the prosecution as on that side the jury was already "fixed." Thus, during the whole trial I watched the jury while at their meals and while sitting in the jury box. I heard every word of the evidence, and having heard oper- atives who worked on witnesses discuss matters, I felt sure some of it was perjured testimony. At the beginning. Spies, Engel, Schwab, Ling, Fielding, Fischer and Neebe sat in the prisioners' dock. Soon after court opened for the trial Albert Parsons, who had been in hiding, walked into the court room and took a seat with the other prisoners, relying upon a fair trial. Little did he dream that he was running his head into a noose manufactured by the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. After a trial lasting over a month, the jury brought in a verdict of "guilty" for the murder of Deegan, one of the seven policemen killed by the bomb explosion. A known anarchist by the name of Shnaubelt, it was claimed, was seen throwing a bomb from a dark 6 TWO EVIL ISMS alley, and every mother's son on trial was seen drink- ing beer with Shnaubelt, or associating with him before the riot. Soon after the riot Shnaubelt was arrested and thrown in jail. What became of him I never knew. It was said that he was liberated for the want of evidence to hold him, and had skipped for Germany. A Pinkerton operative who worked on the anar- chist case, and whom I associated with in Denver for about three years, while he was a member of the railway order of conductors, so as to get their secrets for the Pinkerton agency, told me that Shnaubelt was murdered while being put through the "third degree" to make him confess, and his body was put out of the way. He said he; got the story from men who ought to know. Parsons, Engel, Fischer and Spies were hung by the neck until dead. Ling blew his head off in jail with a bomb before the day of execution. Schwab and Fielding received life sentences in the penitentiary, while Neebe got a sentence of seventen years behind prison walls. The only evidence against Neebe was that he set the type in what was called the "revenge circu- lar" gotten out by a German newspaper, calling a meeting at Haymarket square to avenge the murder of their brothers at the McCormick factory. I am not certain whether he set the type, or merely dis- tributed some of the circulars — but I do know that he was guilty of "gobbling up" two-for-a-nickel schooners of beer with Shnaubelt. Thus ended the great and only anarchist Hay- market trial. No doubt some of these anarchists deserved hanging, but for the life of me, I could not TWO EVIL ISMS 7 see the justice of the conviction, in the face of the evidence as I understood it. It was to my mind a case of "money making the mare go" with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency using the whip. And, no doubt, they feathered their dirty nest with a good share of the money, said to be one million dollars, put up by the Citizens' League of Chicago, to "stamp out anar- chy." CHAPTER II AN ANARCHIST UPRISING IN ARCHULETA COUNTY, COLORADO After the anarchist case I worked for a European nation against an Irish organization. This work took me to Cincinnati, Ohio, and I learned some new les- sons in grafting, but, as I benefited by this graft, I had no kick coming. I had charged regular rates for hotel and drinking expenses, but on returning to Chi- cago Assistant Superintendent McGinn had me make new expense bills, as he said the client was wealthy and it was the custom of the agency to allow their operatives to overcharge, so as to make extra money, thereby swelling the regular weekly salary paid by the agency. In this way, they could keep good men in their employ without paying a high salary. I re- marked that it did not look right. He replied that if I remained in the business I would have to do it, as it would not be fair to other operatives who might be working on the same case for me to put in smaller bills than they did. I made out the new bills and doubled the hotel and the drinking expenses. Of course, this added extra greenback bills for the lining of my own pocket. This made plain to me what William A. Pink- erton meant when he told me what my weekly salary would be to start with and that the same would be raised as my work justified it, although there was more money in the business than the salary. I thought it best not to question him as to what he meant. My salary was raised several times during 8 TWO EVIL ISMS 9 my stay with the agency and my overcharges against clients footed up more than the salary. Thus the big agency teaches their men to steal from the start in order to make the clients pay part of the operatives' salary; their regular charges to the clients being eight dollars per diem and all ex- penses, even to laundry. Late in the fall Mr. Pinkerton transferred me to their new Denver, Colorado, office, which had just been established, as they expected a lot of cattle and ranch work, and therefore needed a cowboy detective. Superintendent Eams of the Denver office had been assistant superintendent in Chicago for years, and was a trusted fixture in the big agency. After arriving in Denver I made my home with Superintendent Eams and his family, and in this way I learned many new lessons in the crooked deals of the agency. One particular instance was the absconding of a wealthy eastern banker into Canada, this same banker now being a shining light in Den- ver society, and the owner of a leading bank there. After absconding with the bank's funds, this man had the foresight to employ the Pinkerton Agency to see that he was not kidnapped back into the United States to answer for his crime. Finally offi- cers planned a scheme to kidnap this banker, and they had him a prisoner in a buggy across the line of Canada into the United States, when Superin- tendent Eams and a gang of his men intercepted the officers and by force of numbers captured the banker and put him back into Canada. The identity of the Pinkerton sleuths was never disclosed, and no records made that would give the agency a black eye, as they pose as a lawful organization, and 10 TWO EVIL ISMS never openly sanction anything that will "retard justice !" Superintendent Earns had picked his own oper- atives from the "bunch" in Chicago, hence I was the only one not of his own choosing. In associating with these detectives I soon found out that Earns had made a good selection when it came to genuine thieving toughs. But the king-bees of the "bunch" were "Doc" Williams and Pat Barry, the latter several years later being made chief of police of Portland, Oregon. This "Doc" Williams was one of the "Docs" who made false reports against the anarchists in Chi- cago. He was a once noted safe blower and was sent to an eastern penitentiary for safe blowing and robbery. He delighted in telling of how Mr. W. A. Pinkerton secured his pardon from the penitentiary in order to make him a trusted detective in his agency. "Doc" Williams and Pat Barry kept their trunks in the operatives' room full of stolen clothes, jewelry, etc. They would rob merchants while doing work for them. Later one of Superintendent Eams' pet detectives, Mr. Springfield, got a five-year sentence in the peni- tentiary for a crime committed in Texas, while in the employ of the agency. Still one of the agency's favorite brags is that not since the establishment of the institution has one of their men been convicted of a crime. These men gloried in telling of their many steals and other crimes committed in Chicago while em- ployed by the agency. The fact of their being in the employ of this would-be lawful organization gave TWO EVIL ISMS 11 them opportunities which otherwise they would not have had. My first winter in Denver was spent in doing what is called city work. This included everything from working on, or shadowing, millionaires who did not have the foresight to become clients of the big agency, down to the breaking up of happy homes ; but the latter work most always fell to the lot of such men as "Doc" Williams and Pat Barry, who had no conscience. Of course the agency officials will claim that their rules and regulations forbid work on divorces, or anything that will interfere with the marriage relation. But that is mere moonshine. It would come nearer the truth if they would adver- tise that the agency uses the precaution to get noth- ing on record that would tend to give them away to the public, also in their wise selection of clients. Early in the spring I was sent out on my first cowboy operation. By the newspapers it was called an uprising of anarchists, but in truth it was anarchy against anarchy, with the school of anarchy, my agency, as the third party. In Archuleta County, Colorado, an uprising had taken place and all the county officials with the exception of the county clerk and sheriff, who joined the insurgents, were run out of the county into New Mexico, and some of their property destroyed by fire, one of the* county commissioners, Mr. Scasce, having his residence and livery stable burnt up, and the county judge and five commissioners being warned never to put foot in the county again at the peril of their lives. I bought a horse and saddle in Durango, the southwestern corner of Colorado, and rode into 12 TWO EVIL ISMS Pagosa Springs, the county seat of Archuleta County. Here I posed as a wild and woolly outlaw cowboy from Texas. There were only about seventy-five insurgents in the county and when the deported officials returned at the head of sixty well-armed Mexicans from New Mexico, these insurgents all congregated in Fagosa Springs and then there was talk of war to a finish. We insurgents met the county officials at the bridge spanning the swift flowing San Juan river, and forced them and their sixty armed escorts to halt, and here on the opposite side of the river their camp was pitched. To recite how I prevented these county officials from being assassinated at 3:00 a. m., and again three days later, and how the rope was secured to hang me on suspicion, and of how I afterwards drew four dollars a day as a fighting insurgent, would re- quire too much space to tell. No blood was spilled, and a couple of months later I appeared in Durango before the grand jury and sixteen of the insurgent leaders were indicted. Then I hiked out for Old Mexico to run down an express robber who had stolen $10,000 at La Junta, Colorado. I located my man in the City of Mexico, and finally landed him in jail in Leavenworth, Kansas. About a month of my time was spent in the City of Mexico, and this was a treat well worth the' strain on my conscience, through belonging to the force of a heartless, to my mind, lawless organization. CHAPTER III IN WYOMING AS A COWBOY OUTLAW Soon after finishing the work which took me into Old Mexico, I was sent to Wyoming to play the part of a Texas cowboy outlaw. At the end of the Cheyenne Northern Railroad, I bought a horse and saddle and rode north to the Laramie river. After some ups and downs I landed into the cowboy outlaws' camp with a broken leg. A scheme was planned the first night to hang me on suspicion of being a detective. The plan was, so I was told later, to pull me up by the neck once, and then let me down, in order to get a confesion out of me, if I were a detective. But the chief and one of the gang protested that it would not be right to treat a wounded man so cruelly; that if I were a detective I would let something drop before many days that would give me away, and then I could be hung right, without any ceremony. Thus, I was allowed to sleep the sleep of the just that night. There were fourteen men in the gang, some of whom had escaped from the Texas penitentiary, their camp being in an out of the way district, forty miles from the nearest postoffice. Fort Laramie. The next morning a pair of crutches was made for me, and I soon became one of the gang. As the object of this volume is only to show up evils which have crept into our beloved, free and easy America, I shall refrain from giving the details of my work. 13 14 TWO EVIL ISMS After being with this gang for about two months, two weeks of this time being spent on crutches, the sheriff and a large posse from Cheyenne, the capital of the state, raided the camp and all were landed in the Cheyenne jail. This is known as the Bill McCoy case, McCoy, alias Bill Gatlin, a Texas cowboy, had been sen- tenced to hang for the murder of deputy sheriff Gunn, of Lusk, Wyoming. Before the day of exe- cution, the above gang, under the leadership of Tom Hall, a mankiller of Texas, effected his release by breaking the Cheyenne jail. After I had given my evidence to the grand jury, and the gang were indicted, I dropped out of sight and out of the game. During the balance of the winter, I put in my time in Denver, and learned some more lessons in graft and crookedness. Superintendent Eams had worked up a good busi- ness for the big agency, and we operatives were kept busy doing city work. From time to time other operatives were sent from Chicago, one of whom was a murderer, as told to me by himself, smuggled from the law's clutches, to be kept in hiding as an opera- tive in Denver. As the above said killing had been committed in the interest of the agency, while draw- ing pay from the agency, it was no more than justice to protect the man. I had won my way into the good graces of Super- intendent Eams until one unlucky day I allowed my conscience and manhood to take possession of me. A wealthy merchant had been caught in the act of breaking up a happy home by the enraged hus- band. The case was at once put into the hands of the TWO EVIL ISMS 15 big agency to prevent a scandal in high life. Super- intendent Earns and one of his pet operatives, T., had worked on the enraged husband, Mr. Williams, but nothing except an airing in court would suffice for the aches of his bleeding heart. The money offer did not seem sufficient. Something had to be done quickly, or a noble name would be trampled in the mire of immoral publicity. Superintendent Eams and operative T. got their heads together and decided on severe measures. Mr. Williams had previously been shadowed, and his movements and habits after dark were known. At the mouth of a certain dark alley which he was in the habit of passing, operative T., who was a power- ful young athlete, and who is at present writing a trusted police officer in an eastern city, was to spring forth with an iron gaspipe and slug the dastardly villain. Then his pockets were to be turned inside out, to leave the impression that robbery was the motive. It had been arranged that I assist operative T. by remaining in the background, ready to render assist- ance, if necessary, and to act as a perjured witness if matters should ever come to a showdown in court. Operative T. was to be masked. As I was out on other work and was not due to return to the agency until after closing hours at 6:00 P. M., I had not been consulted. On my return to the office at 7:00 P. M., I found operative T. wait- ing for me. He explained the night's work which Superintendent Eams had detailed me upon. Here I rebelled and told operator T. that it would not be right, as Williams had committed no wrong, and be- sides, the slugging with a gas pipe might cause the 16 TWO EVIL ISMS man's death. He replied that it would make no difference, as no one outside of ourselves would know who did it, and that the agency would be well paid for it. I refused positively to take a hand in the outrage. Then operative T. suggested that maybe he could secure the help of another operative who would soon return from the work he was on. I then read the riot act to operative T. and told him that if Williams was slugged I would give the secret away, and, if necessary, testify in court as to what he had just told me. He tried to reason with me by saying that Superintendent Eams would discharge me from the service. But this had no effect. It put a stop, though, to the murder of an innocent man, by a powerful, degraded, money-mad organization. And it also put a stop to me being detailed on murdering operations in the future. I was virtually put on the black list for the next twenty years. For fear I would give the secret away the murdel of Williams was squashed. But it was decided that a good slugging might frighten him, so that he would drop the case in court. A big husky slugger, not in the regular employ of the agency, was secured to do the slug act. An oper- ative, who at the present writing holds a prominent position in the City of Denver, was detailed by Super- intendent Eams to remain in the background and see that the paid slugger didn't get the worst of the fight. In passing a dark alley, late at night, the slugger bounced upon the unsuspecting victim. Williams was a fighter himself, and gave the slugger an unmerciful beating. The operative was across the street and looked on with glee, as he didn't approve of the work. He told me all about it TWO EVIL ISMS 17 soon after it occurred, and we talked it over in the city of Sante Fe, New Mexico, a few months ago. As Williams dropped his case in court, this at- tempted slugging may have caused him to see the light, and suspicion what might follow. Soon after this I won the bitter hatred of Super- intendent Earns and Operator Pat Barry and Doc Williams; then I was doomed to be discharged from the service in disgrace as soon as Mr. W. A. Pinker- ton in Chicago could be communicated with. But I learned afterwards through Jack Eraser, who at the present writing is the western manager for the big agency, with headquarters in San Franciso, that I was considered too good a cowboy detective to be discharged for insubordination. The eruption which had caused my downfall occurred in Superintendent Earns' private office. An innocent man had been arrested on the street by Operative Doc Williams and Pat Barry and brought before his highness, Superintendent Earns, to make him confess to a robbery which he had not committed. I happened to be in the operatives' room, when I heard the rumpus of the "third degree" being ad- ministered. A frosted glass door separated the superintendent's private office from the operatives' room. A small peephole had been made through the frosting on the glass so that on the sly we could see what was going on in this sanctum of law and order. Through this peephole I saw Pat Barry slug- ging the innocent man to make him confess, and every time Pat Barry landed on the poor fellow's face with his big Irish fist the blood would flow. I grabbed my "old Colts 45" cowboy pistol from the table and rushed into the fray. Throwing the cocked 18 TWO EVIL ISMS pistol into Pat Barry's face, I made him stand back. Then I read the riot act to Superintendent Earns and told him that with my own eyes I had seen Opera- tives Pat Barry and Doc Williams commit the rob- bery for which they were trying to make poor Mr. Joy confess. Here Mr. Joy was told to depart, and Superintendent Earns, after he had gone, told me that I would be discharged for interfering with matters which did not concern me. A few days later I met this man, who had a sick wife with a new-born babe at her breast, and he could not thank me enough for what I did for him. For the next few months I had to keep my hand on "old Colts 45," my best friend in those days, while in the operatives' room when Doc Williams or Pat Barry were present, as they had sworn to get even with me. At one time pistols were drawn, but I had the drop and made the future chief of police of Portland, Ore., Pat Barry, lay down his gun. It may be wondered at that I did not expose the agency and their methods. I would have been laughed at. The very idea of a lone individual bring- ing such a charge before a Denver court of justice would be rank folly. There was only one time it could have been done with hope of success, and that was during Governor ("Bloody-bridles") Wait's ad- ministration. How can a judge doubt the purity of this monster agency when shown an enlarged photograph of Allan Pinkerton and our beloved president, Abe Lincoln, standing side by side near the bloody field of battle? These photographs are hung in conspicuous places in all the agency offices as emblems of purity. TWO EVIL ISMS 19 One of the lawless acts of Pinkerton's National Detective Agency in which I took part occurred in the year 1887. Four of us sleuths, armed to the teeth, captured the great Bassick mine in Custer County, Colorado, in the dark of the night, by breaking in the windows and taking possession. We held the property for over a month in the face of the lawful custodian, ex-Sheriff Schofield and three hundred angry miners who tried to dispossess us of the property. The matter was finally settled in court. Here is what the Leadville, Colo., Herald-Demo- crat had to say on the matter: "NO NONSENSE FROM JUDGE HALLETT" "The armed force which recently went to take possession of the Bassick Mine may find out before it is through, that the Colorado of today is not the Colorado of twenty years ago, and that in these modern times disputes are settled by courtSj and not by force of arms. If the case ever comes within Judge Hallett's jurisdiction, such nonsense will soon vanish. Aggressive Leadville and Aspen people have dis- covered that the mandates of the court have more force than fifty killers armed with Winchester rifles." The Rocky Mountain News of Denver gave this account : "LAWLESSNESS AT SILVER CLIFF." Silver Clifif, Colo., June 21, 1887. "This community was convulsed with excitement last evening about 6 o'clock, on receipt of news that the Bassick mine had been captured by an armed force of men from abroad. Nothing definite could be gleamed until this morn- ing, when it was learned that four men armed with Win- chesters marched at once to the mine, broke in the doors of the old and new works and took possession. They are strangers and have ammunition and provisions for a long siege. It has been ascertained that they are under orders from President Brown of the Bassick Mining Company." CHAPTER IV ON A COWBOY OPERATION— ELECTION FRAUDS Finally I was sent out on another cowboy opera- tion, this time to White River, in the western part of Colorado, to find out if our client, a wealthy lady of Denver, was being robbed by her partner in the cattle business. Mounted on a broncho and dressed as a tramp cowboy, I landed at the cattle ranch below the town of Meeker, and, being an expert with the lasso, I soon won the friendship of the foreman and his cowboys. In the course of time I secured evidence that our client was being robbed. Then I drifted up to the head of White River among the thousands of elk and deer, to investigate a late Ute Indian war for an official of the United States Government. From ranchmen and trappers near the battleground where Indians had been shot by the sheriff and a posse, I learned that the Indians were blameless, and the bloodthirsty whites had forced the fight. I then hiked to the first railroad, at Glenwood Springs, about one hundred miles south, and boarded a train for Denver, arriving there in time to take part in a big cowboy tournament at Riverside Park, under the name of Dull Knife. In the wild horse-riding and steer-roping contests Dull Knife won a cash prize and received a free advertisement through the press. But no one could find out who Dull Knife was. This wound up my work under Superintendent Earns. He had been doing so much dirty work and grafting for the big agency that he could not keep 20 TWO EVIL ISMS 21 from doing a little on the side for himself, and this caused his downfall. In the line of grafting for the agency, Superin- tendent Earns had become a master artist, the clients being the victims. For instance, charges of eight dollars per diem and expenses — this being the regular charge for each operative — would be listed for work never done. Often one operative would be detailed on several operations at the same time, just to graft the clients out of money. I myself have worked on four cases at once, or at least pretended to, and other operatives have told me of doing the same. When Superintendent Eams got to holding out for himself some of those easy eight dollars per diems, and making no records on the agency's books, Mr. W. A. Pinkerton got upon his dignity and dis- charged Superintendent Eams and all his pets, even to the bookkeeper and lady stenographer, I being the only man in the Denver office not discharged. No doubt I was needed in the business as a cowboy detective. This did not put a stop to grafting wealthy clients by any means, but it put all the "tainted" money into the proper hands — ^the Pinkerton family. Mr. James McParland, the detective who had won fame for the hanging of twenyt-three Mollie McGuire's in Pennsylvania, was put in charge of me and the Denver office. Then a new set of detectives and ofl^ce employees were installed. To show how the Pinkerton National Detective Agency breeds anarchy, I will cite one out of many cases which came under my observation. A wealthy citizen of Colorado, Mr. Wolcott, de- sired a seat in the United States Senate, and, to elect 22 TWO EVIL ISMS members of the State Legislature favorable to his cause, he or his managers employed the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to help do the corrupt work. While I took no direct hand in the corruption of citizenship, I was guilty of drawing eight dollars per diem for assisting in the dirty work. I was started on the case soon after receiving the following letter, which is a true copy, from Superintendent James McParland. At this time I was working on a mine salting case for the Lord Mayor of London, England, and going under the assumed name of Charles T. Leon. Here is the letter: Denver, Aug. 8, 1888. Chas. T. Leon, Esq., Fairplay, Colorado. Dear Sir: — I want you to make careful inquiries and dis- cover the feelings of the Republicans in your vicinity, as tc whether they are friendly to send Wolcott delegates to the convention. You need not report anything about that for the present, but I want you to be prepared to make out .good re- ports if I should want to use you on the matter in connec- tion with the operation you are on. Of course, this is very confidential. Wolcott is a candidate for the United States Senate and there are several opposing candidates, and we want to know just what the feeling is around your neigh- borhood. This you can easily do without any expense up to such time as I am ready to have you start on the operation. You can start the talk this way, by saying, that you suppose that Senator Bowen and Ex-Senator Tabor and Wolcott will have a triangle fight to get the right deleg.ates to the conventions, as all three probably are candidates for the senate, or something else. Of course, you will have to talk to Republicans, as Democrats are of no use in the matter. Yours truly, (Signed) James McParland. J- McP. Supt. K. Notice what Mr. McParland says in this letter about being "prepared to make out good reports on this matter in connection with the operation you are TWO EVIL ISMS 23 now on." Also, "without any expense up to such time as I am ready to have you start on the opera- tion." Would not this indicate to a man up a tree that the Pinkerton National Detective Agency does injustice to the clients by working on more than one operation at the same time? Or would you consider that an operative can do a client justice by dividing his thoughts and time in the interest of two or more clients? As mentioned before, I have worked on as high as four operations at the same time, and I have heard, and believe it to be true, of other operatives doing the same. I will state here that I hold a Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company pass made out to me on "account Legislature." Wolcott, who was soon after elected to the United States Senate, and his brother, Edward, were largely interested in this railroad, Ed Wolcott being a high official in the company. From what I was told, and I have reasons to believe in my own mind that it is true, Wolcott, or his representatives, employed the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to work in his interest all over the state of Colorado. On the day of election Operative Oscar Seaton and I were detailed by Superintendent James McPar- land to take charge of the precinct of which the Brunswick Hotel on lower Sixteenth Street was the polling place, to see that Wolcott got the worth of his money. Oscar Seaton and I would take turns about doing the necessary sleuthing. One remained at the polling place while the other visited all the saloons in the precinct. In the rear of the saloons hacks and ex- press wagons would be loaded to the guards with 24 TWO EVIL ISMS free American citizens and driven to the polling place. Before being loaded into the vehicle a "Wolcott ticket" was placed in each man's right hand, and he was cautioned to keep his right hand away from his body so that in no way could he switch tickets. On reaching the Brunswick Hotel, these men were marched into the hotel lobby and deposited their votes. Then they were driven back to the rear of the saloon and given new two dollar bills. Now some of them would hurry to another precinct and earn another two dollar bill. This dirty work was going on in all parts of the city, according to what I heard the other operatives say, after we met in the operatives' room when the polling places were closed. These new two dollar bills were Republican money, hence the voters were Republicans. It was a strenuous day for Seaton and I, as there was a string of "repeaters" depositing votes from early morning until night. Of course, the chief of police would have to be "fixed," or such corruption could not be carried out in a city like Denver. Many may be curious to know if we operatives made truthful reports on this class of work. The truth of such matters was kept hidden in the breast of the operatives and superintendents and disclosed to the clients by word of mouth. Now, reader, if you are a Democrat, don't swell up and say, "Just like the corrupt Republican party," for a few years later I saw Democratic corruption as bad as the above. On election day I was instructed by my superin- tendent to wear old clothes and become a hobo. In the tough district of the city of Denver I joined the hobo gang and became one of them. I voted TWO EVIL ISMS 25 eight times, as per McParland's orders — three times before the same election judges. For each vote I received twenty-five cents — from the Democratic "money guy." Some of my hobo chums voted oftener than I did, as they needed this "easy" money. Of course, I had to turn over this tainted money to my agency. CHAPTER V PLAYING BRONCHO BUSTER— A BIG DYNAMIT- ING CASE From cowboy to miner was my next experience. I was sent to Aspen, Colorado, to try and break up the worst gang of ore thieves in the West. For about two months I worked as a common miner in one of the big mines of the camp. After being initiated into the inner circle of the thieving gang, with Paddy McNamara at its head, I quit mining and helped "Paddy Mack" deliver the stolen ore to the sampling works, where it was sold on the sly in the dark of the night. I would have the clients secrete themselves in empty box cars or in upstairs windows where they could see the ore worth ten dollars a pound delivered to the foreman of the samplers. The result was that after a stay in the camp of about four months the gang was broken up, myself and many others being thrown into jail. Soon after poor old "Paddy Mack," who had won fame as an ore thief in the early days of Georgetown and Blackhawk, died of a broken heart at the thought of being trapped at last by a Pinkerton hell-hound. The owners of the two samplers being high up in the social swim, were let go free, under a promise that they sell out and leave the camp for good. They stuck to their promise and one of them is now a wealthy smelter owner of the Northwest. My next big operation was on a mine salting case in Park County, Colorado. This mine had been salted 26 TWO EVIL ISMS 27 and sold to an English nobleman for one hundred and ninety thousand dollars cash and other valuable consideration. The two experts who had examined the worthless mine had been caught napping by the notorious ex-convict pupil of "Chicken Bill," whom I will call Jacky. Jacky and his chum Andy had been three years salting the mine. After playing the part of a cowboy outlaw in the hurrah towns of Fairplay and Alma for about six months, I secured a full confession from Jacky. And after the case had been heard in the lower and higher United States courts, the high English lord got back one hundred and fifty thousand dollars of his money. After this I did many kinds of sleuthing stunts, from playing hobo and sleeping in a filthy jail to riding a wild broncho to win my case. This broncho stunt was done at the Frank Mar- shall ranch, a mile and a half from the town of Longmont, Colorado. It was suspected that a brother who had wounded a wealthy man of Montana was in hiding at the swell residence of Frank Mar- shall, who shortly after became noted by killing Prizefighter Clough. In order to win my point I had to ride an outlaw broncho in a barbed-wire enclosure in front of the Marshall residence. In my pocket I carried a photo of young Marshall, and while the vicious broncho which had thrown every rider who ever undertook to conquer him was bucking near the porch, where stood the ladies and gentlemen clapping their hands in delight, I saw the face of my man peeping through the partly closed door. By the time the broncho got 28 TWO EVIL ISMS around to the porch again my man was out in the clear by the side of the ladies. Then my work of locating this good-looking young individual was done, though my job of broncho-busting was not finished for quite a while after, when the horse had worn himself out. The Reverend Mr. Marshall, of a swell church in Denver, and his good-looking wife were witnesses to this free broncho-busting contest. I was playing the part of a tramp cowboy from Texas under the name of Charles LeRoy. If I suc- ceeded in sticking on this broncho until he was con- quered, I was to have a job as long as Mr. Frank Marshall had wild horses to break. I remained on the big iron-gray brute's back for two straight hours, until he was exhausted and as docile as a lamb. I had been instructed to help a cowboy round up a bunch of cattle before dismounting. Some may be curious to know what became of this handsome black-haired gentleman. When he was located, my work ceased and other sleuths took the field. You must remember the Pinkerton National De- tective Agency's ways of earning the almighty dollars are dark and mysterious. My instructions from the superintendent were that the man was not to be arrested unless his victim in Helena, Montana, died — ^thus preventing a scandal in high life and putting easy money in the pockets of those who paid our salaries. I had only a guess com- ing, and my suspicion was that the wealthy wife of the victim at the other end of the line did her share to keep the scandal out of the courts. TWO EVIL ISMS 29 My next big operation took me to the city of San Francisco, where I experienced a touch of high life for a week at the swell Palace Hotel — thence to Tuscarora, Nevada, where my real work began. Two prominent and wealthy mine owners of Tuscarora had been blown up with dynamite, but not killed. One of them went up through the roof of his house and landed in the street, still wrapped in his blankets. He had virtually come down on a feather bed, unscratched. But not so lucky was the other, as he was stunned and bruised. After this explosion three picked detectives from the Curtan Detective Agency in San Francisco had been sent to Tuscarora to unearth the perpetrators of the dastardly deed, but after a few months of sleuth- ing they had failed to get a clue, hence were called back to the Golden Gate City. Then your humble servant appeared upon the scene. A few months' work convinced me who the guilty men were. Then I chose the leader of the gang as a chum, and together we went on a prospecting trip for gold into the Wichita Mountains of the Indian Territory. In Wichita Falls, Texas, we bought saddles and a good saddle horse apiece and rode to the Wichita Mountains, in the western part of the Indian Terri- tory. For the next few months we led a strenuous life all alone, living on wild game and dodging Indian police and United States marshals, white men not being allowed in these mountains to hunt or prospect for gold. Our horses being swift and our camps being pitched in the highest and most inaccessible places, we succeeded in eluding our pursuers. The result 30 TWO EVIL ISMS was I secured a full confession from my chum as to how and why the wealthy mine owners were dyna- mited. My chum had lighted one of the fuses, both being cut the same length and touched off at the same time, in order that both gentlemen would sprout angel wings together. After securing the confession in detail, we both rode to Denver, Colorado, a distance of six hundred miles, on our horses. Then my chum and bed fellow was arrested, and in the presence of one of the dynamited mine owners made a sworn confession and I dropped out of the game. I had been on the oper- ation just nine months, it being in the year 1889. I had used the name of Charles T. Leon, the same name used in the Park County, Colorado, mine-salting case. CHAPTER VI I JOIN THE NEW MEXICO WHITE CAPS— TASCOTT MURDER CASE During the winter of 1889 and 1890 I did city work in Denver and I learned many new lessons in corruption and the greed for wealth. The tears and heartaches of women and children seem to have no effect on the big agency or the cor- rupt city officials who are out solely for the almighty dollar. Therefore, when spring came I was glad to shake the dust of city sleuthing from my feet and hike to the sunny land of New Mexico, to take up work for Governor L. Bradford Prince and the terri- tory. In the early part of February, 1890, I landed in the capital city of Santa Fe, and after meeting Gov- ernor Prince and the attorney-general, Ed. L. Part- lett, I started work. The territorial legislature was in session at Santa Fe, and a short time previous to my arrival armed assassins on horseback had fired into Mr. Thomas B. Catron's law office on the ground floor, where the executive committee of the Senate was holding a meeting. A charge of buckshot had lodged in Sen- ator Ancheta's neck, and another charge of shot imbedded itself in a pile of law books in front of Mr. Catron, while a rifle bullet barely missed ex- Governor Stover. By lantern light the assassins were tracked by the footprints of their horses in the snow and slush for several miles east towards the county of San Miguel. 31 32 TWO EVIL ISMS One of the horses had a crooked hind foot, only half the hoof making an impression in the snow. This was the only clue I had to work on. As the trail led towards San Miguel County where the lawless "White Cap" organization was making war on law and order, cutting fences and murdering and burning property, I was advised to proceed to Las Vegas, the county seat of San Miguel, and there join the White Caps, as it was thought that this order was the instigator of the crime. As a wild and woolly lawless cowboy, mounted on a Spanish broncho, I rode from Las Vegas to the town of Tecolote and joined the White Cap order. The large hall was crowded with Mexicans and Indians, and one lone ebony colored negro, who was a Mexican by marriage, I being the only "Gringo" member of the Tecolote Lodge. In the course of a couple of months I decided the White Caps had no hand in the Santa Fe crime. Therefore I worked on clues of my own and took up my abode in the little Mexican settlement of Ojo de La Baca (Cow Springs), in the southern part of Santa Fe County. Here I found the horse with a crooked hoof and learned that his owner, V. G., had ridden him into Santa Fe previous to the shooting, and later I got a partial confession from V. G. and another of the gang. I lived with F. G., a member of the gang. In course of time I learned enough to convince me that the crime had been committed over the pass- ing of a free public school bill for the territory of New Mexico. Ancheta was the leader in favor of this bill. TWO EVIL ISMS 33 The men who committed the crime were all mem- bers of a religious order and goqd Republicans, and thereby hangs a tale. It was feared that a conviction could not be got and that the rattling of old dry bones might cause an eruption in the Grand Old Party who were in power. Thus matters were dropped, though a little later men whom I feel satis- fied were mixed up in the shooting of Ancheta were hanged by the neck until dead in the city of Santa Fe for murder, four of the Borrago gang being hung by the Democrats, who had gained control of the terri- tory. In visiting Santa Fe with my Ojo de La Baca friends, we would hobnob with the Borrago boys, and later I learned that they were the instigators of the Ancheta shooting. After eight months of strenuous life in New Mex- ico, I landed back in Denver, Colorado, slightly dis- figured, but still in the ring. In Ojo de La Baca I had contracted smallpox, and for a whole month lay flat on my back with death staring me in the face, and on recovering I was badly pitted — in other words, slightly disfigured. About this time, I forget the exact date, I learned a new lesson in the way my agency upholds the law. Millionaire Snell of Chicago had been murdered in cold blood in his own home by one Tascott. A fifty thousand dollar reward had been offered through the public press for the arrest of Tascott. We Denver Pinkerton sleuths were not instructed to keep our eagle eyes open for this murderer, and some of the operatives had the gall to insinuate that there was more good hard cash in the agency's pocket to keep Tascott out of the way. 34 TWO EVIL ISMS On one of Mr. W. A. Pinkerton's frequent visits to Denver he showed me a letter which he had just received from a man on the Yukon River in Alaska. In this letter the writer said he was camped with the much-wanted Tascott and would turn him over to the Pinkerton National Detective Agency for part of the reward. I informed Mr. W. A. Pinkerton that I knew the writer of this letter and his peculiar handwriting, and that I knew him to be a man of his word, although he himself was a much-wanted mur- derer, his right name being W. C. Moore. He had murdered two men in the American Valley of New Mexico, and had made his getaway, landing in the wilds of Alaska. I had worked three years as one of Moore's cowboy foremen in Texas, hence was famil- iar with his handwriting. After Moore had committed the murder a former cowboy chum of mine met him in Alaska, going under the assumed name which was signed to the Pinkerton letter. This cowboy had never heard of Moore committing the murder in New Mexico, there- fore he wrote me on his return to San Diego, Cali- fornia, asking the reason for Moore going under this false name. He also wrote that Moore had cautioned him to keep still about meeting him in Alaska," but he would not tell why he did not want it known. Finally Mr. Pinkerton told me in confidence that they did not want Tascott arrested and brought back to Chicago, as it would create a scandal in high life, and that the fifty thousand dollars reward offered for his arrest was a fake to fool the public. Here the agency could have landed two cold- blooded murderers at one haul, had they been what they claim to be, an organization for the ferreting out TWO EVIL ISMS 35 and running down of crime and for the upbuilding of society. Of course if this should reach the eagle eye of Mr. W. A. Pinkerton he would indignantly deny it, and wonder how such a story could be believed in the face of his worthy sire's glory in having eaten and slept with Abraham Lincoln on a cold battlefield. With all of the agency's faults, I must confess that they do a lot of good work in running down crime for money. If they did not, they could not keep their heads above the dirty water in which they constantly flounder. CHAPTER VII THE BLOODY COEUR D'ALENE UPRISING OF 1892 Shortly after my return from the White Cap operation, I was called into Superintendent James McParland's private office and told to get ready for a long operation into the Coeur d'Alenes of northern Idaho. He explained that I would have to join the miners' union and disclose their secrets to the mine owners' association, that they were having trouble with their miners. I refused to work on such an operation, as my sympathy was with laboring men and against capitalists. Then he excused me by saying if such was the case I could not do justice to the clients. He selected another operative, who had been a miner, for the work, and I was sent to Utah and California on a railroad operation, there being six sleuths in the bunch. About a month later, while in Salt Lake City, Utah, I received a telegram to take the first train for Denver, and I did so. Calling me into his private office, Mr. McParland said: "Now, Charlie, you have got to go to the Coeur d'Alenes. You are the only man I have got who can do the work right. The other operative I sent there was suspected and had to skip out to save his life. I am going to make you a proposition: You go there and join the union. If you find the miners are in the right and the mine owners wrong, come home at once; otherwise stay to the finish." This seemed fair, so I agreed. 36 TWO EVIL ISMS 37 Reaching Wallace, Idaho, the central town of the Coeur d'Alenes, I met some of the officials of the mine owners' association, Mr. John Hays Hammond being at its head, and Mr. John A. Finch being the secretary. I was advised to make my headquarters in the hurrah mining camp of Gem, four miles up the canyon from Wallace, this being considered the toughest camp in the Coeur d'Alenes. I went to work in the Gem mine at the regular wage of three dollars and fifty cents a shift, and two weeks later I joined the Gem Miners' Union, it being a branch of the mother union of Butte, Montana. Of course, I had to take a Molly McGuire oath to bleed and die for my noble order, and if I ever turned traitor and gave the secrets of the union away death would be my reward. In the course of two months I was elected record- ing secretary of the Gem union. Then I quit work and became the running mate of that true blue anarchist, George A. Pettibone, who was the financial secretary of the Gem union and one of the executive officers of the Central Miner's Union of the Coeur d'Alenes, taking in the mining camps of Burk, Gem, Wardner and Mullen. From now on I had nothing to do but drink booze and study anarchy at close range. My sym- pathy for labor unions had taken a genuine flop and I concluded to stay and see the war out. My chum, George A. Pettibone, was also justice of the peace in Gem and dealt out scab justice with a vengeance. JDuring the coming_winter_I had. to _hel£ trample Ui£ constitutign.of--the- United.. States, iiLto. the mud by assisting the union in gathering up scabs and march- 38 TWO EVIL ISMS _uig them up the canyon above the town of Burk, and giving them a good start for jthe s tate of Montana , "Often there would be half a dozen scabs in a bunch. 'They were taken from their homes, sometimes with weeping wives and children begging for mercy. They were marched through the streets of Gem and spat upon amidst the beating of pans and ringing of cow- bells, this being a warning to others who might have the manhood to criticise this noble union, or refuse to pay dues and assessments. Above the town of Burk these poor half-clad citizens — some of whom had fought in the Union army — were told to hit the trail for Montana and never return, at the peril of their lives, and to give them a good running start shots would be fired over their heads. In this Bitter Root range of mountains the snow in winter is from four to twenty feet deep, so you can imagine what those scabs had to endure on their tramp without food or shelter to Thompson's Falls, the first habitation, a distance of about thirty miles. Then theL.jije3KS-pape, rs. of Anaconda and Butte^ Montoia&.„were furnished write-UBS. oiJ io3aLa.-Citizens' mass meeting in_G e m h ad branded thesemenas undesiraWk citizen^ja^janJiiern^ This kind of anarchy was kept up all winter and my Texas blood was kept at the boiling point, but I had to pretend that I liked it. Late in the spring a strike was declared through- out the Coeur d'Alenes. Soon after the mine owners' association began to ship in non-union miners by the trainload. Then the war of slugging scabs began, but real war did not start until after the fourth of July, 1892. TWO EVIL ISMS 39 All the miners of the _Coeur,.ji!Alenes .district met _in TJ'em'^rmed, lo' the teeth, with the intention of starting a revolution which they -hoped would spread throughout the West..._, My written reports kept the mine owners' association posted, so that previous to the uprising most of the mine owners pulled out for Spokane, Washington, on a special train from Wallace. On the morning of the uprising I had to endure the scene of seeing a brother Knight of Pythias, who was one of the Thiel guards, shot through the heart and killed. This virtually opened the war between the more than one thousand armed unionists and the three hundred armed guards and non-union miners at the Gem and Frisco mines on the edge of the town. A delegation of union warriors, under the leadership of Peter Breen and Dallas, the secretary of the mother union, had been sent from Butte, Montana, to take part in the revolution. To make a long story short, on this big day of bloodshed I was branded as a Pinkerton spy and doomed to be burnt at a stake as a lesson to other traitors. Black-jack Griffith, who had helped to blow up the two Tuscarora, Nevada, mine owners, had recognized me as Charles Leon of Pinkerton fame. After the Frisco mill had been blown up with dynamtie, many men being killed and wounded, and the whole force of over a hundred men captured, I was billed for the start act in being burnt at a stake. Not caring to take part in such a brutal affair, I hugged my Winchester rifle and old cowboy Colts 45 pistol closer to my bosom and rebelled single handed. In a two-story house in the town of Gem I sawed a hole through the floor in a rear room and got close 40 TfTO EVIL ISMS to mother earth. When the mob led by Dallas broke down the door and entered to get the fatted calf for the slaughter, I crawled up under the board sidewalk, under the mob's feet, and wormed my way for a distance of about a hundred feet to an opening, from whence I made a dash for liberty. One bullet singed my breath just as I sprang into a stream of foaming water flowing through a wooden flume under the high railroad grade. After forcing myself through this flume I ran for a distance of about seventy yards, where I joined Mr. John Monihan, the superintendent of the Gem mine, and his one hundred and thirty armed men. The war continued, but finally Mr. Monihan was forced to surrender with his little army. Then I and a young hero by the name of Frank Stark, who begged to stay with me, struck out for tall timber. In our only path to liberty stood four union guards. We made these men nearly break their necks rolling down the mountain side. After Mr. Monihan had surrendered his men and arms they were taken next day to the bank in Wal- lace to draw their money. Then they were taken to the Coeur d'Alenes Lake, where the steamer from Spokane, Washington, lands, and at dusk a gang of mounted union men, under the leadership of Bill Black, charged among t'hem, firing rifles and pistols. Mr. Monihan and Percy Summers sprang into the lake and swam to an island. The balance were robbed of their money in true desperado style. One man, John Abbot, who was shot through the body by the first volley, hid in the tall grass on the water edge, and he said he saw this noble band of union cut-throats rob the bodies of several murdered TWO EVIL ISMS 41 men and then slash open their stomachs, so they would sink, and throw them into the deep water. Monihan and his man Friday were picked up by the steamer next day. After a count was made there were fourteen non- union men missing, and the supposition is that they are the ones Abbot saw go to the bottom of the lake. For two days the excitement continued in Wal- lace. All men not in sympathy with the union were marched out of town, with shots fired over their heads to give them a running start. They were told to leave the state and never return. Stark and I hugged the tall timber in the moun- tains, south of Wallace, for three days and nights, until the one thousand United States troops and state militia under command of General Carlin arrived. Then we emerged from the wilderness and filled ourselves with good food from the Carter Hotel tables. I was appointed a United States deputy marshal, and with squads of soldiers to back me up, I started a general round-up. I had as a cowboy rounded up wild cattle, but never before did I boss a round-up of dynamiting anarchists. The mountains were scoured to the line of Mon- tana. General Carlin would not permit his soldiers to leave the state of Idaho, therefore many dynamiters escaped. My bosom companion. Judge George A. Pettibone, was found in the mountains with a shattered hand and other wounds, caused by the blowing up of the Frisco mill. It was he who touched off the fuse which sent men to an early grave. The force of the 42 TWO EVIL ISMS explosion had thrown the Honorable Pettibone up into a treetop. The round-up did not cease until the bull-pen in Wallace contained three hundred angry and unruly- men. I was the star witness in Judge Beatty's United States Court in Coeur d'Alene City and at Boise, Idaho. Eighteen of the union leaders were con- victed. My friend, George A. Pettibone, donned prison stripes in the Detroit, Michigan, penitentiary, and after his release he helped to organize all the miners' unions of the West into the Western Federation of Miners, an order which has since made bloody history. After an absence of one year and two months, I returned to Denver to try something else. CHAPTER VIII IN JAIL WITH A MURDERER— HANGING OF TOM HORN About this time I experienced another spell behind steel bars. The noted man catcher, Doc Shores, had charge of the work for a large railroad company. Two young men had started out to make some easy money. At Cucharo Junction they murdered one man and wounded another, but there was no evidence against them. They were arrested and placed in a steel cell in the Pueblo, Colorado, jail and soon after I was put into the same cell. In the course of two or three weeks I had secured a full confession from Dick Manley and young Anderson, but in telling of the bloody deed young Anderson would cry and declare that he would never commit another crime as long as he lived, while Manley gloried in his deed. The result was that at their trial in Walsenburg I explained these facts to the jury and they set young Anderson free, while Dick Manley was sentenced to seventeen years in the penitentiary, and I was repaid by receiving the blessings of young Anderson's gray- haired father and mother. A few years later Dick Manley's sister and brother-in-law induced me to use my influence with Governor Mclntire to secure Dick a pardon, as he had promised to reform. I did so, but Dick Manley was only out of the penitentiary a few months when he killed a man in Red River City, New Mexico, and 43 44 TWO EVIL ISMS from there went to Breckenridge, Colorado, and held up a bank in company with other toughs. In the battle which followed, Dick Manley was killed, but not until two brave officers met death. This taught me a lesson. This was my second jail experience for Doc Shores and the same railroad company. A few years previous the two Smith brothers and Rhodes held up a train near Price, Utah, and remained in hiding for a long time on an island in Green River. I went to Kansas and worked on the Smith broth- ers' parents and pretty sister. The result was that I was taken in irons with the Smith brothers and Rhodes and locked up in a steel cell in the Gunnison, Colorado, jail. After about two weeks of close confinement I secured a full confession and the three men were sentenced to seven years each in the penitentiary. I had been hired by the Pinkerton National De- tective Agency as a cowboy detective to do cattle work, but they learned that I would not do their dirty work, so about the year 1889 they hired the notorious Tom Horn of Arizona as a cowboy detect- ive, and from this time on the Pinkerton National Detective Agency got a lot of work from the cattle- men of Wyoming. Tom Horn was sent into Wyoming by the Pinker- ton National Detective Agency along with a gang of gunmen from the Indian Territory and helped to start the great Johnson County War. This war, from all accounts as told to me by Horn and others, was a murdering project of wealthy cattlemen to get rid of small ranchmen. Many cold- blooded murders were committed. TfFO EVIL ISMS 45 I cannot recall the murders which took place in this Johnson County war, but three were hung and seven killed. Nick Ray and Nate Champion werfe found murdered on Little Piney, and Tom Horn's half-brother, Frank Canton, who helped to recruit the gunmen for the Johnson County war, helped kill Jones and Tisdale on Powder River. But it is a long and bloody story, and the wotld will never know how many blood-stained dollars Pinkerton's National De- tective Agency received for their part in the disgrace- ful crime. Tom Horn was born near Memphis, Scotland County, Missouri, November 21, 1860. At the ten- der age of fourteen he ran away from home to be- come a cowboy and Indian scout in the wilds of New Mexico and Arizona. Once during his several years' connection with Pinkerton's National Detective Agency he got them in a bad hole. He was on a secret operation in Reno, Nevada. One night, single handed, he held up and robbed a large gambling hall. One of the faro dealers recognized Horn's face when his mask was slightly raised. Next day he was arrested and thrown into jail. Of course, poor Horn had to call on his protector, Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, as they could not afford to let him go to the penitentiary after his noble (?) work in murdering men in the Johnson County war. Mr. William A. Pinkerton sent his trusted assist- ant, now general manager of the western division of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, with head- quarters in San Francisco, California, to Reno, Nevada, to bring Horn home. 46 TWO EVIL ISMS Soon after Horn's return to Denver he told me all about the affair. Mr. Fraser told me of what a "bunch" of money it cost the agency. On one of his trips to Denver, William A. Pinkerton told me that Tom Horn was guilty of the crime, but that his people could not afford to let him go to the penitentiary while in their employ. There- after he continued to draw his weekly salary, and he told me that he was paid for his time while turning the trick and while laying in jail. Several years later, on the twentieth day of No- vember, 1903, at 11 a. m., poor Tom Horn, who stood six feet and two inches, and every inch a physical man, was hung by the neck until dead, dead, dead, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The particular crime for which he swung was the murder of Willie Nickell. Young Nickell was found dead on the plains with a rock under his head for a pillow. Old man Nickell was shot twice, but made his escape. Horn confessed to the killing of Willie Nickell and many other men to Deputy U. S. Marshal Joe Lefors and a stenographer, who took the confession down in shorthand. He told of how he had a con- tract with wealthy cattlemen of Wyoming to murder suspected cattle rustlers at six hundred dollars a head. It was understood that whenever a corpse was found with a stone under its head for a pillow, Horn was to be paid six hundred dollars and no questions asked. Horn claimed the stone under the corpse's head as his "private" brand. After one of these man-killing raids into Wyo- ming, Horn and I came out of the Pinkerton National TWO EVIL ISMS 47 Detective Agency in Denver and went into Nelson's Cafe and Saloon to have a feast together. During the early part of the night Horn told me of the two men murdered on this last raid, one of them being named Matt Rash. I cannot recall the other man's name. These cowboys were suspicioned by the cattlemen of Wyoming as being cattle rustlers, and their names were put on Tom Horn's list of men to be killed. Horn told of how he lay in the brush at daylight and shot one of these fellows as he was dipping up a pail of water from a spring. The other man he killed in his own cabin, where he was camped alone. Horn rode up after dark and was invited by the cowboy to stay all night. Horn said that after eating supper he started to shoot the cowboy, but he finally concluded to wait until he had washed the dishes. Then when the last dish was wiped and put away, he pulled his Gaits pistol and shot him dead, and slept in the cabin with the corpse all night. A few years previous to this, while sitting in the operatives' room in Denver, Horn told me a story which disgusted me more than this one. He told of how, while Indian scout in Arizona, some soldiers had a iight with a band of Indians, all of whom were supposed to have been killed. Three days later he and three soldiers were riding over the battleground. One of the soldiers noticed a live three-year-old baby upon its dead mother's breast trying to nurse. The soldier called his com- panions' attention to it. Then Horn said he remarked to the soldiers that he would fix the little brat. So 48 TWO EVIL ISMS he spurred his horse up to the baby, and leaning over, put a bullet into the urchin's brain. With all of Tom Horn's faults, he should have credit for dying game on the gallows and being true to his friends who had given him employment as a killer of men for many years. It would seem, from all the evidence at hand, that John C. Coble — a then wealthy cattleman of Wyo- ming — handled the Tom Horn matters. He, too, was as true as steel, as he stuck to Horn until the last breath left his body. Coble spent his own fortune and sacrificed his friends in defendiftg Horn. But the strain was too great and later he sent a bullet into his own brain. It is said that Horn killed seventeen men since first going to work for the Pinkerton agency. In New York City Mr. Robert A. Pinkerton told me that he could have saved the life of Tom Horn had it not been for the danger of the public learning that he had been one of their trusted detectives. Of course, Pinkerton's National Detective Agency would tell you to search their files in the Denver office to prove that they did nothing disgraceful in the Horn matters, but just carefully read the letter on another page written by George D. Bangs, head of the institution, to show how they transfer damaging evidence from one state to another. Furthermore, they guard against putting damag- ing evidence on record or in their files. To illustrate, I will cite two cases in which I took part, though in neither of these operations did I harm my fellow men. I must confess, however, that I helped to put a dirty stain on our social fabric. TWO EVIL ISMS 49 When leaving Denver for Prescott, Arizona, to work on the Clark-Duke mining suit, I was instructed by my superintendent to not put any damaging evi- dence, which might hurt the agency, into my regular reports, but to report by letter or word of mouth, direct to the clients' representatives, who would be on the ground. This I did in the jury bribings, which followed, as I was not ready to be fired for insubordination. The other case was against the United States Government in Rosewell, New" Mexico. I was in- structed by my superintendent to report direct to the clients, who would be on the ground, as Pinker- ton's National Detective Agency could not afford to have the public know they did crooked work against his Royal Nibs, Uncle Sam. Therefore, in the swift little city of Rosewell I would meet the two wealthy clients in a swell house of ill-fame, and between sips of champagne, make my reports by word of mouth. As an illustration of how this truthful (?) Pinker- ton National Detective Agency double-crossed clients and used underhanded methods to fool people, I herewith print a copy of one of the many scheming letters I have read: N. Y. Buf. Ph. Pitts. B. B. D. H. W. B. Executive Pittsburg-Journal No. 48 Pittsburg Operating Christy & Christy Lackawanna Steel Company New York, March 20, 1907. John Cornish, Esq., Mgr. Eas. Division, New York City, Dear Sir: Under our orders the above rs the correct title of the matter until an operative has been secured for the work. 50 TWO EVIL ISMS The operation is not on the Elyria Iron & Steel Company, but on the Lackawanna Steel Company. Mr. Goodwin will return this letter to New York, en- closing with it the journal memorandum and any other correspondence he has on the matter. PTe do not want anything on file at the Buffalo office in connection ivith this case. The Lackawanna Steel Company is a client of the Buffalo office and we want to have the Buffalo office in a position to say if ever the question comes up to them that they did not kno