The agency with the first female detective who prevented Lincoln’s assassination and is the germ of today’s FBI turns 175: “We never sleep”
Pinkerton agent Kate Warne saved Abraham Lincoln’s life in the first known attempt on it and was hailed as “the greatest detective in America, and possibly the world.”
The year 2025 marks 175 years since the founding of the famous Pinkerton Agency. Today it is best known through the lens of Western movies, in which the appearance of a Pinkerton man, always with an air of superiority and dressed in black, ensured a chilling gunfight. But its real history is even more exciting.
It was founded by Allan Pinkerton, a Scottish emigrant who set up a barrel company near Chicago, and who became the first secret agent in history almost by accident. While collecting wood on the banks of a river he discovered bandits whom he spied on until he succeeded in apprehending them. His newfound talent spread by word of mouth and his neighbors began to ask for his help when they were victims of crime. Pinkerton never failed. In 1848, the county sheriff hired him on a part-time basis while he continued his trade as a cooper. Two years later, he decided to become independent and launch his own detective agency.
The Pinkerton Agency was born
He was soon hired by the major railroad companies and the Post Office to handle security for their businesses. And Pinkerton did the opposite of what was expected at the time. Instead of hiring thugs, he sought out a team of honest agents whom he trained in scientific investigative techniques, evidence analysis and the ability to anticipate, infiltrate and play roles without being caught. He even created criminal files that ended up being managed by the FBI. All of this, way ahead of its time.
In 1871, the newly formed US Department of Justice hired the Pinkerton Agency as its own internal investigative unit. However, the agency’s later involvement in suppressing labor strikes led to the termination of the agreement in 1893. This prompted the creation of the National Bureau of Criminal Identification in 1896, which evolved into the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by 1935.
The first woman detective in history
The Pinkerton Agency’s slogan is “We Never Sleep”. Interestingly, it came about through the work of the first woman detective, Kate Warne, a 23-year-old widow who in 1856 responded to an advertisement for employment with the agency. When she received it, Pinkerton thought she was looking for secretarial work. That she was a detective seemed unthinkable. To give an example, the New York Police Department did not have its first female investigator until 1903.
But Kate wanted to be a detective, and the argument she made to Pinkerton was compelling: “A woman detective can unravel secrets in ways that are impossible for a man.... A criminal can hide his trail from everyone but his wife or mistress. Testimony from these women can only be obtained in one way: a female detective meets her, gains her trust, and brings the wrongdoing to light.”
Allan told her to let him think about it and come back the next day. After sleeping on it, he made one of the best decisions of his life: to hire Kate Warne.
When Kate Warne saved Abe Lincoln
From day one, Kate proved to be one of the agency’s most valuable operatives. From 1860 she was in charge of a unit of female agents who were recruited and trained by her and who were based in Chicago. Her career was very short, because she died of pneumonia in 1868, but it was full of successes. Her ability to disguise and adopt different personalities was chameleon-like and she was widely regarded as the agency’s finest agent – and possibly the world’s.
In the early days of the U.S. Civil War, Pinkerton was hired as the Union’s chief intelligence officer and Kate was its top intelligence officer. His best known mission was to prevent the first assassination attempt on Abraham Lincoln and to thwart the so-called ‘Baltimore Plot’.
As Lincoln prepared to travel from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C., for his inauguration, Pinkerton received intelligence of a plan to kill him during a stop in Baltimore. Kate and her team infiltrated the conspiracy, disrupted telegraph lines, disguised Lincoln as an elderly invalid, and accompanied him – posing as his sister - through the dangerous leg of the journey. She did not sleep for the rest of the trip.
So remarkable was her vigilance that Pinkerton adopted it as the agency’s official slogan: “We Never Sleep.”
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