Matthew W. Pinkerton

Matthew W. Pinkerton
Born	March 30, 1852 Mt. Eaton, Wayne County, Ohio
Died	January 5, 1916 Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Spouse(s)	Ann Emma (Black) Pinkerton
Children	Ralph R. Pinkerton
Parents	Matthew Wright Pinkerton (1817 - 1889) and Elizabeth (Harrold) Pinkerton (1819 - 1876)

Spelling Variations

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Biographical Sketches

Matthew W. Pinkerton used his distinctive last name to give himself an advantage in the detective business by associating himself with the famous Pinkerton's National Detective Agency although he was in no way related to the Detective Agency's founders William A. Pinkerton and Allan Pinkerton. He blatantly used the Pinkerton name to give the impression that his company was in some way associated with Pinkerton's National Detective Agency and utilized names for his business like, Pinkerton & Co., Pinkerton Detective Agency, and United States Detective Agency. This caused much strife between the two competing Pinkerton detective agencies and William and Allan Pinkerton brought lawsuits against Matthew Pinkerton to try to get him to stop using the Pinkerton name in his business title. However, the Pinkerton vs. Pinkerton case languished in the court system for almost 10 years before it was finally given up when Matthew Pinkerton went out of business during WW1.

PINKERTON & Co.'s United States Detective Agency was established in July, 1883, by Matt. W. Pinkerton, under the firm name of Pinkerton & Coe, but Mr. Coe retiring from the firm on April 15, 1884, the present title was adopted. The principal is still Matt. W. Pinkerton, and the company embraces W. H. (son Worth H. Pinkerton), R. R. (son Ralph R. Pinkerton) and A. E. Pinkerton (wife Ann E. Pinkerton). Matt. W. Pinkerton was born on March 30, 1852, the son of Matthew W. and Elizabeth (Herald) Pinkerton. He attended the common schools of Wooster, Ohio, graduating from the high school in that city at the age of twenty. Soon after leaving school he apprenticed himself as a machinist, and was made superintendent of the old Wooster foundry and machine shops. For three years he was employed in this capacity, when, for three years following, he superintended the Killbuck Valley straw-board mills.

This vocation not being in harmony with his desires, he purchased, for the purpose of speculation, a fruit farm near South Haven, Mich., and after owning this property for one year, sold it and came to Chicago, in September, 1877. Soon after arriving in this city he was employed by Allan Pinkerton. In December, 1882, he resigned, to establish a business for himself. While with Allan Pinkerton, he was the author of several brilliant captures, and evinced such a remarkable tact for detective work, that the most difficult operations of that agency were placed in his hands, and successfully conducted.

Since his establishment in business he has handled a number of important cases,—- the Zora Burns murder, the Crooks murder, at Shelby, Ill., the Mahone murder, at Mt. Carmel Ill., and his successful capture of Albert Sykes, who, after stealing several hundred dollars in Chicago, fled to Portsmouth, Va., where he shot his father a few minutes after their meeting. He was brought back on a requisition, tried in Chicago, convicted, and sent to Joliet for three years for larceny; he having been acquitted of the charge of attempted parricide through public sympathy—his father himself being a desperate character.

Although no relation to Allan Pinkerton, whose reputation while living was world-wide, Matt. W. Pinkerton seems inherently to possess those attributes which are necessary to a successful detective. He is upright in all his transactions, and is thoroughly acquainted with the means and ends employed by unprincipled men. Such gifts are rare, but he has proved, during a short career, that in choosing the profession of a detective he has comprehended his own abilities and found the sphere wherein he is thoroughly efficient. Possessing the name of Pinkerton, he embodies all the import of a name which is a cause of terror to evildoers everywhere. He was married, on May 22, 1873, to Miss Emma Black, of Wooster, Ohio. They have one son,——Worth H.

Newspaper articles

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  Something About the Pinkerton Detectives. Wayne County Democrat, July 13, 1892 p.3.

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  Local News. Wayne County Democrat, July 13, 1892 p.3.

M. W. PINKERTON IS DEAD.

Matthew W. Pinkerton, head of the Pinkerton United States Detective agency, died at his home, 4480 Ellis avenue, on Wednesday. He was born at Mount Eaton, O. in 1853 and came of Chicago in 1870 and has been in the secret service business since then. For thirty-four years he was head of the agency that bears his name.

He was the author of the criminological work called "Murder in All Ages," and the first volume of his "History of Crime" has been published. The second and third volumes were ready for the press at the time of his death. He also was a lecturer on criminological topics. Mr. Pinkerton was a member of St. James' Methodist Episcopal church for sixteen years and at the time of his death was a trustee of the Wabash Avenue Methodist Episcopal church. He also was a member of several lodge.

He is survived by his widow and his son, Ralph a student at Ohio college.

—Author Unknown, The Chicago Tribune, M. W. PINKERTON IS DEAD, 1916-JAN-07

Everybody Shares In It – NOTES In the October term of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, William A. Pinkerton and Allan Pinkerton, doing business as "Pinkerton's National Detective Agency," have asked for the intervention of the court to prevent Matt W. Pinkerton and associates from using the names "Pinkerton Detective Agency," "Pinkerton United States Detective Agency" and "Pinkerton & Company, United States Detective Agency," or any combination of these words on the ground that the public is led to confusion with reference to the long established Pinkerton's National Detective Agency.

—Author Unknown, Credit & Financial Management, Volume 12, p.853, published 1912

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• Proprietor of the old Wooster Foundry and Machinery Manufacturing Manufacturing.

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