Simon Wood
05-30-2009, 06:42 PM
Hi All,
On 18th September 1888 a reporter from The Star caught up with one of the Pinkerton brothers just before he caught a train to Liverpool for his return journey to New York aboard the "City of Rome".
A stipulation of The Star interview [published 19th September] was that Pinkerton should not be named. The reporter complied, but dropped more than enough clues to remove all doubt about whom he was writing, saying that he was "a superintendent of what is, perhaps, the most successfully managed private detective agency in the world" and had come to the UK "for a change of air and a glimpse of the highland home of his ancestors." His father, Allan Pinkerton, was born in Muirhead Street, Glasgow.
"I have been in Scotland for a month," said Pinkerton, "knocking about the Highlands, and whenever I came to where I could get a newspaper I found it impossible to refrain from eagerly devouring all I could find about these Whitechapel murders."
Which Pinkerton was in the UK during August/September 1888? Robert, who ran the New York office, or William from Chicago?
It couldn't have been Robert, for on 28th August he was in New York talking to the New York Times and the Chicago Daily Inter Ocean about none other than his brother William.
On or about 18th August 1888 William travelled from Chicago to New York by train. During the 20-hour journey he contracted an eye infection from too much ventilation in the sleeping car, and soon after his arrival in New York booked himself into the New Amsterdam Eye and Ear Hospital which had opened at 212 W. 38th Street in May/June 1888.
On 9th September a Cincinnati Enquirer report [datelined 4th September] in the Chicago Daily Inter Ocean stated that within a few days William Pinkerton's sight would be sufficiently restored so as to enable him to return to work. "For three weeks they have kept him close to his room, and the skill of the specialists has brought him through, and the doctor said tonight that before the end of the week he would discharge his patient."
William Pinkerton's next public appearance was in Milwaukee, 17th October 1888, supporting William Beck's candidacy for chief of police. Pinkerton was reported to be wearing "smoked glass spectacles".
The Anchor Line steamship "City of Rome" left Liverpool on 19th September, arriving at New York on 28th September. Tim Riordan was generous enough to send me a list of the 346 Cabin passengers aboard, but William Pinkerton was not to be found amongst their number.
According to the first page of the passenger manifest there was a total of 1213 passengers. 797 were aliens and 416 were US citizens [of which 346 were Cabin passengers]. This means there were a further 70 US citizens aboard. Traditional Scottish thrift may possibly have played a part in Pinkerton's travel budgets, but personally I can't imagine him sharing a cabin with five other 2nd class passengers or, worse, suffering the indignities of steerage.
At first glance all this might suggest that he was not aboard the City of Rome and that the person interviewed by The Star could not have been William Pinkerton. But The Star reporter had prefaced his interview with an intriguing observation—
"Among the passengers by the City of Rome, from Liverpool to New York to-day, is a very quiet-looking man, whose name may appear on the ship's list as Smith, or possibly Brown . . ."
So, did William Pinkerton make a secret trip to England in August/September 1888 using the infected eye and hospital stay story as cover? For, despite strenuous denials, less than three months later Pinkerton's Detective Agency was heavily involved in Scotland Yard's attempts on behalf of The Times newspaper to gather evidence against Charles Stewart Parnell.
If true, the timing is interesting, for on 8th September Robert Anderson left London on health grounds for "Switzerland", not returning [via Paris] until 6th October. Anderson had a huge personal stake in the Special Commission hearings with his star turn Henri Le Caron [aka Thomas Miller Beach, aka Dr Howard], so he and William Pinkerton had much to talk about.
And we mustn't forget John George Littlechild, who during the WM was in the throes of a nervous breakdown. A bracing trip to "Switzerland" would have done him a power of good. So maybe he also met with William Pinkerton. After all, upon retirement from the Metropolitan Police in 1894 he did become the Pinkerton Agency's man in London.
Also, if Littlechild was hors de combat throughout the WM and not able to start recovering his strength until late 1889, on what basis was he able to say to George R Sims in 1913 that "amongst the suspects, and to my mind a very likely one, was a Dr. T. (which sounds much like D.) He was an American quack named Tumblety . . ."
Regards,
Simon
On 18th September 1888 a reporter from The Star caught up with one of the Pinkerton brothers just before he caught a train to Liverpool for his return journey to New York aboard the "City of Rome".
A stipulation of The Star interview [published 19th September] was that Pinkerton should not be named. The reporter complied, but dropped more than enough clues to remove all doubt about whom he was writing, saying that he was "a superintendent of what is, perhaps, the most successfully managed private detective agency in the world" and had come to the UK "for a change of air and a glimpse of the highland home of his ancestors." His father, Allan Pinkerton, was born in Muirhead Street, Glasgow.
"I have been in Scotland for a month," said Pinkerton, "knocking about the Highlands, and whenever I came to where I could get a newspaper I found it impossible to refrain from eagerly devouring all I could find about these Whitechapel murders."
Which Pinkerton was in the UK during August/September 1888? Robert, who ran the New York office, or William from Chicago?
It couldn't have been Robert, for on 28th August he was in New York talking to the New York Times and the Chicago Daily Inter Ocean about none other than his brother William.
On or about 18th August 1888 William travelled from Chicago to New York by train. During the 20-hour journey he contracted an eye infection from too much ventilation in the sleeping car, and soon after his arrival in New York booked himself into the New Amsterdam Eye and Ear Hospital which had opened at 212 W. 38th Street in May/June 1888.
On 9th September a Cincinnati Enquirer report [datelined 4th September] in the Chicago Daily Inter Ocean stated that within a few days William Pinkerton's sight would be sufficiently restored so as to enable him to return to work. "For three weeks they have kept him close to his room, and the skill of the specialists has brought him through, and the doctor said tonight that before the end of the week he would discharge his patient."
William Pinkerton's next public appearance was in Milwaukee, 17th October 1888, supporting William Beck's candidacy for chief of police. Pinkerton was reported to be wearing "smoked glass spectacles".
The Anchor Line steamship "City of Rome" left Liverpool on 19th September, arriving at New York on 28th September. Tim Riordan was generous enough to send me a list of the 346 Cabin passengers aboard, but William Pinkerton was not to be found amongst their number.
According to the first page of the passenger manifest there was a total of 1213 passengers. 797 were aliens and 416 were US citizens [of which 346 were Cabin passengers]. This means there were a further 70 US citizens aboard. Traditional Scottish thrift may possibly have played a part in Pinkerton's travel budgets, but personally I can't imagine him sharing a cabin with five other 2nd class passengers or, worse, suffering the indignities of steerage.
At first glance all this might suggest that he was not aboard the City of Rome and that the person interviewed by The Star could not have been William Pinkerton. But The Star reporter had prefaced his interview with an intriguing observation—
"Among the passengers by the City of Rome, from Liverpool to New York to-day, is a very quiet-looking man, whose name may appear on the ship's list as Smith, or possibly Brown . . ."
So, did William Pinkerton make a secret trip to England in August/September 1888 using the infected eye and hospital stay story as cover? For, despite strenuous denials, less than three months later Pinkerton's Detective Agency was heavily involved in Scotland Yard's attempts on behalf of The Times newspaper to gather evidence against Charles Stewart Parnell.
If true, the timing is interesting, for on 8th September Robert Anderson left London on health grounds for "Switzerland", not returning [via Paris] until 6th October. Anderson had a huge personal stake in the Special Commission hearings with his star turn Henri Le Caron [aka Thomas Miller Beach, aka Dr Howard], so he and William Pinkerton had much to talk about.
And we mustn't forget John George Littlechild, who during the WM was in the throes of a nervous breakdown. A bracing trip to "Switzerland" would have done him a power of good. So maybe he also met with William Pinkerton. After all, upon retirement from the Metropolitan Police in 1894 he did become the Pinkerton Agency's man in London.
Also, if Littlechild was hors de combat throughout the WM and not able to start recovering his strength until late 1889, on what basis was he able to say to George R Sims in 1913 that "amongst the suspects, and to my mind a very likely one, was a Dr. T. (which sounds much like D.) He was an American quack named Tumblety . . ."
Regards,
Simon