Pinkerton Agents - Looking for pics

[Gun Creek Phil]

Howdy,

I was talking this morning with a friend interested in Pinkertons.He'd like to shoot in a old west Pinkerton's agent costume.
I've already found general infos on Pinkerton's but not so much pics. Do you have any pics or links with Pinkerton's Agent's in full dress with weapons ?
Thanks.

[litl rooster]

This Link might help

http://www.pimall.com/nais/pivintage/smpinkerton.html



It was modern days that they started wearing uniforms. 

[Gun Creek Phil]

Very interesting thanks 

[St. George]

The bulk of photos of Pinkerton and other agency men that I've seen show men dressed for town business.

That doesn't mean that they didn't wear range clothes - but given the nature of their business, there was a greater liklihood that they'd work closer in town, where there were railroads, freighting companies and such - and town clothing would allow them to disappear into the background.

In the only ones I've seen that featured any weapons - the weapons were shotguns.

Town dress for a Pinkerton means pocket revolvers and shoulder holsters - not exposed cartridge belts and Mexican Loop holsters.

It also implies notebooks, magnifying glasses, brass knuckles, handcuffs/thumbcuffs, blackjacks and other interesting things favored by operatives of the era.

Putting together an accurate Impression will be interesting.

Good Luck.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Gun Creek Phil]

Nice info, thanks St George, this helps very much, I will tell you how my friend's "Pinkerton Project" is going.

[Will Ketchum]

One reason I picked a Pinkerton as the profession of my impression is that it is unlimited as to what you can wear.

If you read Charley Siringo's "A Cowboy Detective"  Hewore range closes when he was pursuing rustlers and dressed like a miner when he was working undercover to infiltrate the Molly McQuires the miners working to unionize.  He often carried a 4 3/4 bbl. SAA on a tether around his neck and under his shirt.  ( I wouldn't think that would be very comfortable but that is what he wrote  )

His book has several pictures and most often he is wearing a sack coat  and sometimes a western type hat and others more of a fedora.

I strongly recommend this book.  If you ask your question over at the NCOWS forum you will get some replies from Mike Tatum.  He has researched the topic pretty well and can recommend more books.

Will Ketchum

[Old Iron]

I came across this old post while searching for information on Pinkertons and found Charley Siringo's "A Cowboy Detective" available in electronic format in many forms for free at http://www.archive.org/details/cowboydetectivet00siririch
Happy reading. Bob

[WaddWatsonEllis]

I too an interested in an Pinkerton activity around Sacramento, CA during the 1870s-1890s. I am told that, contrary to the shoot-em-ups of the move genre, the shotgun guard position on any gold carrying stage or rairoad car was a Pinkerton ... just what I have heard and have nothing firm to back it up ... my knowledge of the Pinkerton activity shoots (literally) from the Civil War to Jesse James to the '20s- '40s Dashiell Hammett worked for them sporadically ...

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Google images "Pinkerton's agents";

http://www.google.ca/images?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1183&bih=763&q=Pinkerton%27s+agents&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

From this link I jumped to here;

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-charliesiringo.html

Pinkerton's wanted posters;  Note that Litl Rooster posted this site about 3 yrs ago.

http://www.pimall.com/nais/pivintage/pwantedposters.html

An old undated article from the NY Times'

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F10C13FF3B5E10738DDDA80B94DA415B8185F0D3