The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 625 - The Pinkerton Agency - Part 2 of 2
Episode Date: March 19, 2024Comedians Gareth Reynolds and Dave Anthony examine the Pinkerton Detective Agency Tour Dates Redbubble Merch Sources Rocket Money Hydrow - Code Dollop...
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Blast off.
You're listening to the dollop on the All Things Comedy Network.
This is an American History podcast where each week I, Dave Anthony, read a story from
American history to person.
Gareth Reynolds, who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. And by the by, ending sentences and prepositions super in now.
So legal in, and it was never an issue.
And you're right to say it was never an issue.
And to those of you who said it was an issue, you know.
Josh Olson.
Yeah.
Josh, shut up.
Yeah, shut up. Yeah, shut up.
It's never been illegal.
It's always been okay to do.
Is that the preposition?
Did I just end up, shut up?
It is.
It is now.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
You know where we're coming from.
Yeah.
So Gareth, we are going to be on tour in Australia starting on May 12th.
We're going to go to Perth. We're going to go to Adelaide, we're going to go to Sydney,
we're going to go to Melbourne, we're going to go to Brisbane, we're going to go to Canberra
and we're going to blow it out.
And we might even have fun surprises.
Who knows?
There might be surprises.
Go to dollarpodcast.com and click on the tour page and I'll help you go.
Bye, bye, bye.
Also, if you like a lot of extra content, go to our Patreon because good lord, it's
assaultive what we're doing over there.
It's sexy, crazy cool.
So Gareth, where we last left off, we were in Pinkerton land.
And the Pinkertons, but they're at the high point of their public image.
It looks like they're fighting the bad guys, right?
They've taken on the mollies and they are, and people are like, oh, they're taking on
the violent terrorist type people. And people have turned against unions a little bit because
of the actions of people like the Pinkertons and saying that, basically setting up people
to make it look like they're
more violent than they are.
Yes.
It's all theater.
They're fighting violence while secretly having people hanged, basically.
That's correct.
So they have found a new way at this point where we left off to make money, which is to infiltrate secret societies,
right?
These, the people against big business.
And in the summer of 1880, I'll do this, 1884, I did that.
You okay?
Your voice a little...
It hurts.
Your voice cracks, but you got to remember, you're the elder.
I'm the little, I'm the one who's... My voice cracks too, more than yours.
I still have the pimple.
In this...
Stop with the pimple.
Stop it.
Skateboarding.
That was last episode.
In the summer of 1884, Alan Pinkerton was on his daily morning walk when he stumbled
and he fell pretty hard good
he bit his tongue and
Developed gangrene. Holy shit. I
Gotta say something the mouth is sort of a self-cleaning thing
Usually like the mouth is pretty good at self-cleaning itself as I understand. So what was this guy doing? I mean, he really bit down
He must have really bit his tongue, but gang
green? Yeah, but then you would think that someone would have a look-see at it and be like, oh yeah,
that's horrible. Yeah, yeah. That is painful. This is a very weird... Well, you know if you partially
remove a Scotsman's tongue, he sounds regular. nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice,
nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice,
nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice,
nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice,
nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, before he tongue died. This guy tongue died. He tongue died. Wow. Yeah.
His pink tongue. Hmm.
Huh?
Pinker tongue.
Pinker tongue.
Go ahead.
Or, there's another story that he got malarial fever
on a visit to the South.
Oh.
That's in a lot of obits.
Or that he got stomach cancer.
Now I like the tongue fall.
I think it was the tongue.
Yeah.
So his sons, Billy and Bob, William and Robert,
who I will call Billy and Bob.
What's up with Pussy lately?
Pussy is off just enjoying herself
and getting petted and stuff.
Got it.
They take over the agency.
They immediately get rid of the policy of hiring women because
... How did you manage to have worse sons than you, one of the worst people ever?
I think that happens.
I think that is just... I mean, it is interesting because it's like he had few bright spots.
The slavery and hiring women, that's it.
But I think that does happen.
The rich-
Their spawn?
If you didn't grow up rich, you probably have a couple bright spots, but when you grow up
that rich, you're just insulated, bubbled out.
I always think whenever I look at the Jones family for the Cowboys-
Which Jones family?
Jerry Jones' kids.
You're just like these kids are just-
Are they worse?
I don't have evidence, but yes.
You feel it in your bones?
I know it.
I feel it in my bones, Jones.
And then you see the grandkids and you're like, these will be the worst people on earth.
Yeah, perfect.
So he's dead. He's out. His sons take over. They get rid of the
hire the policy of hiring women. They now will only hire women as typewriters or clerks.
Because Garrett, they're women. Could a woman do? What year is it again? 1884? 1884. I mean,
that really is like they were so ahead of their time. Hire women. Only to jump right back into the time.
100%.
So Bob quote, those who want to go into detective business
are sort of unreliable and you cannot depend on them.
You cannot bet on them.
They're women.
They don't know.
What are you gonna?
Oh, that's what he's saying about women.
They're unreliable, unlike the men who are going in
and just completely fabricating evidence.
I mean, honestly.
And one of them was like, didn't one of them blackmail?
Yeah, blackmailed Alan.
Him before, so yeah.
But you know how women are.
They're very emotional.
So they split the agency into an East Division,
which the offices in New York run by Bob,
and then a West Division, which is in Chicago run by Bill.
And they expanded West in 1905.
There were Pinkerton offices in 20 cities.
And with the new generation, the war against labor finally comes front and center.
So these guys are going to take it up a notch against labor.
Good.
Finally. Finally. Someone's it up a notch against labor. Good. Finally.
Finally.
Someone's speaking up for the big guy.
Pinkerton detectives joined anarchist groups.
The vast majority of their work is forever hidden in secret files.
Former Pinkerton detective Charlie Siringo wrote about the agents who were assigned to
spy on anarchist Albert Parsons.
When they could not get him to make threats, they just fabricated their reports.
So why have Plan A?
Yeah, why do it at all?
Just make a bunch of shit up.
You're going to make shit up?
Make it up?
Just lie.
Yeah, do it.
Do that.
It's just then they submitted large expense bills
to their clients.
So it's all about making money at the end of the day.
It's just fabricate, do whatever, to make cash.
At the end of the day, it's about making money.
Yep.
In 1884, the McCormick Reaper Works cut worker pay.
Now you know that's where they make Reapers.
Yep, that's right.
Working on behalf of the afterlife.
That's correct. Yep.
Yep.
Workers wanted an eight hour work day.
Well, right there, they're being a little,
what do you like? Disgusting, lazy.
What about? Disgusting, lazy.
I guess you're not putting in a hard day's work anymore?
Is that it? Is that what we're doing?
Yeah. You're gonna lazy about it?
That's just so lazy.
It's so typical too.
I really think that a lot of times people misunderstand the basic premise of existence.
It's not for you to have any pleasure.
No, it's to work.
It is for you to be a serf and work for the overlords who you serve.
Don't picture yourself as the main character in a movie
No, you're just in the fucking you're a background. You're a bug
Yeah, you are a bug. Yeah. Yeah
So they wanted a workday and they strike on May 1st on May 3rd workers fight with scabs and
The police came and two strikers were killed
It's a way to celebrate May Day without question. Thank you. A rally was held at Haymarket Square against police brutality,
where someone threw a dynamite bomb at police.
That's how you celebrate. It's a good way to celebrate.
That's Devon celebration. Yeah.
That's how you celebrate. That's a good way to celebrate.
That's Devin's celebration.
Yeah.
Seven cops were killed, 60 injured.
At least four citizens were killed.
And so the media immediately goes after immigrant radicals, right?
It's the immigrant radicals.
A law journal called the protesters, quote, long-haired, wild-eyed, bad-smelling, atheistic,
reckless foreign wretches.
Yeah. I mean, yeah.
You know they're adding and yeah.
At least that language has gone away.
First of all, yes, for sure.
And also the smelly, wild-eyed, come on.
It's bad.
May I have a smell of you?
I work for the New York Times.
This one smells German.
Washington Post, may I have a sniff at your ass?
Ass?
May I have a sniff at your ass?
Can you just smell my armpit or something?
It's very gamey.
Don't ever say that again.
You're gamey down here.
Do you know how many people...
I'm gonna take this story and run with it.
You know, when I started to sniff your crotch, you really, your eyes got a bit wild. Going to have to put that in the ol' factoid file too.
So many people have turned off the podcast.
May I have a toe to sniff and suck? Off tasting.
So martial laws declared in Chicago after the bombing and hundreds of people are rounded
up and witnesses said the bomb was thrown by Rudolf Schnubert.
The red?
Schnabelt.
Oh, sorry.
The red, the red what?
Schnabelt?
Schnabelt.
Go ahead.
German.
He was arrested but released almost immediately and then he just disappeared.
We don't know if Schnumult was a Pinkerton. Many
workers thought he was a Pinkerton.
I can I still I know we were talking about last episode. It
is so it's really upsetting.
It's not like it's out of the blue. We have now been through
a whole episode where the Pinkertons have been doing
terrible, terrible shit. It's effective. Yeah, of course you would think
Immediately will the Pinkertons did this if you're a worker, of course you would because that's this is their MO
Yes, this is just a the highest, you know degree of like horror that they've done. Yeah
so the eight anarchists go on trial and Pinkerton Charlie Seringo watched the jury to ensure
that the defense did no quote monkey work in the way of bribery.
Okay.
He's watching the defense to make sure the defense isn't bribing anybody.
Well, he's definitely being like, they might be up to something and that's our job.
That's right.
That's exactly right.
Yeah.
So Charlie was assured that the prosecution side was already fixed.
So he's watching, the Pickertons are watching, just as you said, they are watching the defense
to make sure they don't bribe anybody because they have already bribed people and fixed
it.
That's our job. Siringo believes the Picketons fixed the result to collect part of the $1 million reward.
All eight men were found guilty.
Wow.
So the entire American labor movement suffers because of the hay market bombing.
The public turns against the labor movement. Imm movement immigrants and unionists are now vilified
we just need to bomb the public thank you they're always the problem in this yes
some unions just died off some unions just everybody just left them and now that's it
they were gone others just lost tons of members. The Knights of Labor lost 500,000 members in three years.
Holy shit. It's a hemorrhage.
In 1893, the governor pardoned the surviving defendants. He considered the, quote, widespread
and uncontrolled use of Pinkerton operatives by Chicago employers and the city's failure
to bring the murderers to justice to be the
cause underlying the bombing. Chicago always just been corrupt. That's just
kind of the... Yeah, but all cities are... all American cities are completely
corrupt. I mean, Chicago's had a great history, but Jesus, they're all
pretty bad. I mean, LA right now is like bananas corrupt.
So basically, they had the trial, they convicted them, and then this is for a bombing.
They killed seven cops and some other people.
And the governor's like, yeah, these guys didn't do it.
Well, at least you had the governor step in.
Yeah.
I mean, at least they got freed, right?
So Bill and Bob Perrington sent a secret ad to businesses
offering to provide detectives to pose as coworkers
to gather information on employees.
God, it's so fucking weird to just,
you know what I mean?
To just be like, hey boys,
those shelves sure look pretty stocked.
Way to go.
I think that was pretty good.
Good to meet everybody. Hey,
what are your gripes? Don't you guys hate some stuff about here? I mean, I know I've
only been here a few days, but I definitely have some bugs up my ass. What do you hate,
Joe? Anything that you're not into?
Yeah, I don't...
Yeah, I know. It's so crazy.
I love it here. Yeah, I don't... Yeah, I know. It's so crazy.
I love it here.
I mean, I'll be honest, old man Witherspoon, he seems kind of like a jerk.
You know what I think?
I mean, have you guys ever thought about unionizing?
I know it's kind of like...
I mean, do you guys ever have that inclination?
Hey, can I ask you a question?
Sure, guy. Why do you have a big tattoo
on your forearm that says Pinker? Because that's why I don't go to the beach, because I want to
stay Pinker. And the other arm says ton. Yeah, there's a ton of information to remember out there,
so get into it. Just keep it, you know what I mean? hey, would it be better if we were like a co-op?
Do you guys ever have paperwork filed in that direction?
Just talk to me like one of y'all.
Yeah, we're gonna kill you.
This is so classic us.
My friends.
Squirrel the nest, squirrel the nest.
So once the inevitable strike began at these places they infiltrated,
they sent the Pinkerton private preventative patrol to deal with the strikers.
The private preventative patrol.
So those are the members who said there's two different versions of Pinkerton.
So these guys are the covert uniformed guys.
Right. The headcrackers, right? They're going to go in and beat the shit of people. of Pinkerton, so these guys are the covert uniformed guys.
Right. The headcrackers, right?
They're gonna go in and beat the shit out of people.
The Pinkerton said their operatives were thoroughly vetted.
Of course, they were not at all.
And not at all a woman.
At all.
All penised.
Yeah.
A steppe undercover, not in uniform, fully cocked.
But 28-year-old Edward Parker was approached on a Chicago street, quote, a man came up
to me and wanted to know if I wanted a job.
I said yes.
He took me down there and asked me my name and asked me over and over again.
And he said, all right, you be here between 10.30 and half past 11 o'clock at night with
your clothes.
Don't bring any trunk.
Sorry.
I have a question, but let me... Hold on.
But wait, can I just point out how great it is to tell someone to bring clothes?
Make sure you're not nude.
Okay.
But what exactly is going on?
They're just literally walking up to people on the street,
asking them if they want a job,
then taking them down to wherever area
to interrogate them in a way,
repeatedly asking them their name
to make sure they're not using an alias.
But who is this guy? This guy, who is he? their name to make sure they're not using an alias.
But who is this guy? This guy, who is he? It's a Pickerton recruiter. Okay. Right. Yeah. Right. Right. So just random people on the street.
And he's just, it's just off a look. Like he's just like recruiting, like the way you would like
a fashion model. I think they would do this to anybody. Right. Anybody. They need bodies.
It shows they have really good standard. And you're not a woman, right?
Not anymore.
Great.
Welcome aboard.
Thank you.
Great.
Do you want to see?
No.
What's going on?
Nope.
You need proof.
No, we're good.
We're okay.
Here we go.
Okay.
All right.
There we go.
Welcome aboard. Here we go. Okay. All right. There we go.
Welcome aboard.
I'm just going to leave it out if you want to keep checking it out.
No, it's just this whole thing has gone a little...
I don't need a uniform, by the way.
I don't know.
All right.
Pink or ton.
Yeah. So don't bring a trunk, right?
So the guy goes up that he goes, he goes that night and Edward about 50 other men are then
put on a train and they have no idea where they're going.
They're not told at all.
What you get on this train.
You need what I don't know.
Yeah, but still I feel like, nah, I don't love it some of the recruits were quote tramps and bums and
As a result, we all got vermin on us
What the fuck I would not get on this train. I'm not even trying to like this is like shitty squid game
She's good. Get the train doors were locked from the outside
Hey, are you guys locking those?
That seems like a pretty crazy escalation on this whole,
are my, isn't this about a job?
Train stops in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where they have dinner.
It seems like a long time without food.
It's just all real weird.
Yeah, well, it's also like, they would open the door
and be like, where are we?
We're in Wyoming, time for supper.
You guys, who planned this?
Feels like you're riffing.
So yeah, they get off in China.
I mean, a crowd, a crowd quote,
yelled all kinds of talk to us, to lynch us,
to shoot us, everything else.
So they've been taken off a train to get food
and it is just a town full of people who want to kill them.
Yeah, probably shouldn't have stopped here.
Edward said, some of the men were injured
and then they were put back on the train
and given Winchester rifles and revolvers.
Some had absolutely no idea how to use a gun.
What? Wow, that's America. Well, I mean, I would definitely be like, I'm going to say
Cheyenne. They then put them in formation to guard the train. They're taken to Laramie City,
where they are sworn in as US Marshals. Jesus Christ.
born in as US Marshals.
Jesus Christ. I mean, can you imagine pining for our vetting process of today?
It's so insane.
What?
Hey, this guy's drunk and injured and doesn't know how to use a gun.
That's a Marshal drunk and injured and doesn't know how to use a gun to use, sir.
Oh, God, it's so crazy.
So they joined 250 Pinkertons who are already there.
Boy, I'm glad we got on this train.
250 Pinkertons already guarding a roundhouse for two weeks because strikers were keeping
the train from moving.
Okay.
So they're lined up and told not to allow anyone to come near the tracks.
Right.
And they said, call the people if they're going near the tracks and if they don't respond on the third call, just shoot them.
Two days ago, this guy was just walking down the Chicago street.
Yeah, this guy was just a fella.
I was like, if you say three times, you beetle juice him.
And then because they had more guards there, they were able to start moving the train cars.
There were rumors that 16 men were killed by strikers in Montana and then just buried and the agency
Never acknowledged it because they didn't want people to know
Wait were killed by strikers. Yes
The Pinkerton is bringing in all these people with guns and the room was that a bunch of these guys they just brought in
randomly got killed
right But the Pickerton's are, yeah, but that's why we got a bunch of weirdos because nobody
cares.
That's right.
Nobody cares and no one's going to report it.
And it's just a guy who is missing off the street.
Strike in New Jersey, some boys started jeering and throwing snowballs at Pinkertons.
Oh, he's got to die.
So the strikers there started egging the boys on
and the Pinkertons ordered the boys to stop,
but they don't, so the Pinkertons shoot at them.
Whoosh.
Thomas Hogan, who was either between 12 and 16, was shot in the head and killed.
Holy shit.
Gareth, he wasn't even part of the boys who were jeering.
He was just off to the side.
Boy, oh boy, that is some crazy shit, even for this country.
You know things are crazy when it comes to gun violence if you're still like, what? Yes, absolutely.
Four Pinkertons are arrested.
They had to be moved from the nearby prison
for their safety because so many people wanted to kill them.
You're not gonna believe this, Gareth.
At trial, they were all found not guilty.
Nice, that's awesome. Jesus, that's crazy. I found not guilty.
Nice. That's awesome. Jesus, that's crazy.
It's just so fucked.
It's just so fucked.
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So here's where we were. You figured it's kill the boy, got away with it. Then in 1888.
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In 1888 at a railroad strike,
the Pinkertons were out in force.
Brotherhood of the locomotive engineers, Grand Secretary Eugene Debs was encouraging the
strikers.
Of the Pinkertons, he said, quote, they are distorted, deformed, hideous mentally and
morally.
Their trade is treason, their breath pollution, and yet the officials of
the CB&Q formed a conspiracy with these professional liars, perjurers, cutthroats, and murderers
to overcome a strike, the result of a policy of flagrant injustice.
I always admired his ambivalence. We knew how to walk the line between everything, you know what I mean?
Yeah, he's like saying how he feels. If you really sift through it, you can actually pick
up on his opinions, but he's not in your face about it.
It's all really between the words that you can figure it out.
No, you've really got... There is a lot of like distinguishing what he meant.
Yes. So the Pickerton set up a business using a fake business name to hire scabs for the railroad.
They brought in guys who had been fired for striking on other railroads who had no idea
they were being recruited by the Pinkertons.
So like the story we just heard about Edward, he was walking on the street, but these guys
were like, hey, man, we got a new job for you.
It's a union gig.
And then they get there and there's gaps.
Oh, shit.
Or they're just muscle against strikers.
Like, you know, right.
But even then, that's crazy.
The strike went on and the public backed the strikers.
So the pickers did what they do.
They sabotaged and framed workers. Chicago Daily
Tribune quote, what is believed to be as murderous a dynamite plot as ever was hatched has been
unearthed by detectives and three men having dynamite in their possession have been arrested
in a conspiracy to destroy the property of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy
Railroad.
They said the men were going to blow up a bunch of stuff in the mainstream.
In this era of American history, I picture 90% of people having dynamite on them most
of the time.
I feel like that was just like a given.
It was like having a phone, like today. Yeah, right, yeah.
So because of this report, the mainstream papers
turned against the strikers.
Exactly as intended, three strikers, Thomas Broderick,
J.A. Bowles, and John Wilson were arrested on a train
by two Pinkertons, and the agents
found four dynamite cartridges in the hat rack above them.
Well, even I am seeing this coming now earlier.
Come on.
Come on.
You were near dynamite. So another striker was arrested and then three more were arrested and then four more arrestees.
They're just rounding dudes up.
So the Brotherhood are trying to figure out which man is an undercover Pinkerton because they know they've got a problem.
Then one arrested striker decided to turn state's evidence.
Okay.
And on the stand, he was asked if he was a Pinkerton.
Oh, God.
And he said, quote, I don't know what would be considered the duties of a detective and therefore can't answer.
Oh, my God, bro.
I guess that depends on what your definition is.
You know what we need is the good Pinkertons to get the Pinkertons.
Yeah, sick, fine, good Pinkertons.
There are no good Pinkertons.
No, but I mean like come up with a Pink that dead set on undoing the Pinkerton's.
We still need to un-Pinkerton America.
That hasn't ended.
So then the guy was asked if he did anything else besides work for the Brotherhood and
Kelly said yes, but quote, it is a personal matter.
I will not say.
So he's a fucking Pinkerton. He's just dancing around. it is a personal matter. I will not say.
So he's a fucking Pinkerton. He's just dancing around.
He's a Pinkerton.
Isn't this where the judge is supposed to be like,
you gotta answer some of this stuff.
Yeah, it's just, yeah.
So in court, Wilson reveals that he is a Pinkerton.
So now one of the three guys who got arrested
for the dynamite is a Pinkerton.
Railroad officials admit that one of the other ones, Bulls,
is also a Pinkerton.
So now two of the guys who were arrested for having
the dynamite above them on the train, they're Pinkertons.
Right.
A couple of the guys were convicted and served
a little time, but most cases were
dropped because so many of the men who were arrested were Pinkertons.
So the Pinkertons over Pinkerton.
They were like, sorry.
We're pretty sure that this is now just a Pinkerton crime.
But it's just to get the headlines.
And the headline, they got the headline they wanted, which was that there was dynamite
on the train.
That's all they wanted.
Sheriff's didn't always want to be a part of this.
Like sometimes they were on the side of the strikers. And in 1889, during a strike at Coke Plants in Pennsylvania,
the company was paying $700 a day for 140
Pinkertons to be on duty 24-7. Just that's $700 a day. I would be very curious what
the workers were asking for. Yeah. They always do that too. They always do that.
They always like find money to frivolously spend in the
direction of... That was happening a couple of years ago when John Deere was striking,
and the executives were going in to try to make up for the workflow. And then they didn't know
what they were doing. They were getting injured. And the cost that they were taking away from the company
was greater than what the workers were asking for.
But they still were, it's like,
their principle of it is just like,
we don't want you to have enjoyment.
We need to have it over you.
Yeah, so that in today's money is $23,466 a day.
They're paying a day to stop people from getting like an eight-hour workday or whatever the fuck it is. Right. Yes. Which again, who knows, but that is
a lot of money you could put in the direction of the cost you're trying to make up. Yeah.
The Pickertons wore blue uniforms with gray coats and blue caps and looked like a military
regiment.
Walk me through what they wore again.
Blue uniforms with gray coats and blue caps.
Okay.
All right.
Sorry.
I thought I heard a pink in there.
No, no.
And a pink hat.
Yeah.
If they wear those like the women's march hats. These are a bit incongruent
with the right. I mean, so they also had Winchester repeating rifles and revolvers. By the way,
you should just, if you're like, you're, if you're going on strike, your union should
just be comprised solely of women because you know that the Pankertons will not be hiring them.
Absolutely, 100%.
A local sheriff swore them in as deputies.
Pankertons also evicted people from company towns
during strikes.
So if you go on strike, they kick your family
out of the house they live in.
Right, cool.
During this strike, they forced a sick woman out of her bed
and threw her in the snow.
A guy then protested, so they arrested him for threatening peace officers.
And he got four years in prison.
Wow.
Fuck.
I mean, that model, it is.
I mean, the intimidation and the fear that you put into people for speaking up is just
that's how it works.
This guy speaks up, defends a sick woman getting thrown in the snow, and then he's in jail
for 40.
So the strike is defeated.
Then they only hire some of the men back.
During a strike on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad owned by Cornelius
Vanderbilt,
800 Pinkertons are brought in.
God damn.
Each train has two armed Pinkertons standing on top, armed.
So they're on top of the rifles.
And of course, they started shooting people.
When a boy threw a rocket one of them, the agent shot, but he missed the boy and
instead hit a guy who was just standing in his yard. Then other Pinkertons on the track
started shooting into the crowd. After the shootings, five Pinkertons ended up being
arrested. Mobs started attacking Pinkertons all over and 15 agents begged to be locked
up in the jail for their own safety.
Ugh.
That's like a dream.
This is like Q and me waking up in the, oh damn.
Would it be great to be able to go back in time and hunt Pinkertons?
Ugh, that'd be so great.
That'd be great.
I mean, that would be a great video game.
Yeah, it would.
It really would. But they sued Red, god damn, what's the name of it?
There's a video game.
It's like an old Western video game and they're a Piggerton.
So Piggerton sued the video game makers for using their name.
Like four years ago.
It was a Red, I can't remember.
I don't know video games.
So right, so there's basically people are just trying to kill him.
Two days later, more Pickertons on top of a train, they shoot again, and this time they
hit a 12 year old boy.
The next train that came through, the Pickertons just started blasting.
A woman sitting on her stoop is shot,
a boy was shot in the leg,
a cop jumps on the train to try to stop the Pinkertons
from shooting and arrest the one who had shot the boy,
and other Pinkertons then beat the shit out of him.
And there's still like no real hierarchy
when it comes to this sort of stuff? Like, what is the...
There's no...
The picket tensor...
It's up to the local whatever to do something.
Most are controlled by the company and so they get to do what they want.
It's no different than when Blackwater went to Iraq and they were literally just doing
target practice out of the back of their fucking Humvees at cars.
There's no-
I think you and I often disagree on Blackwater.
I think they're actually doing some really good stuff.
So I don't want to kind of take the argument in that direction, but I hear the point and
I would still like to preserve a little bit of the respect
that I have for a great organization.
Yeah, yeah, OK, that's fair.
Well, look, I say what I do, but they do create jobs.
I mean, what do you want?
They give people, yeah, great jobs.
Yeah, really good jobs.
Great jobs.
Yeah.
A few weeks later, a train crashes,
and the union immediately said it was the Pinkertons
that had done it and they would then blame the union.
So the railroad doubles the number of Pinkertons they had hired.
What the fuck?
Then a passenger train derailed and the next day Pinkertons started raiding homes and just
pulling people out of their
houses.
They were held and they were interrogated without being able to contact anyone.
Then the strikers morale was completely crushed.
And 11 days after the derailment, the strike ended and the union leaders said, quote, the
company wins.
I mean, you know, it's like, yeah, I mean, you know, I mean, again, it's like, as, as we watch our version of it today, you know,
there needs to be someone looking out for you when there isn't,
this is what happens. You're going to lose. Yes. Cause it's like,
you have your breaking point unless you're like, I'm going to die,
which people do. I mean, you know, many people do which people do, I mean, many people do, you
know, what are your options?
You have to have people looking out for you.
Look, we just had a railroad strike, almost a railroad strike here in America.
Congress said they couldn't go on strike.
And then everyone was like, yeah, but Biden negotiated behind the scenes and got them
a deal.
Well, he did, but he also didn't get them the deal they wanted.
It wasn't good enough.
Oh, and also the reason he negotiated with that railroad was because it left all of the
other railroad guys around the country who needed that strike to happen and needed those
benefits and days off to be won.
They're out in the cold.
They got nothing.
So it was devastating to railroad workers.
Yeah, it was.
And again, I think when people say, yeah, like you're saying, there was a deal that
was not...
They were going to strike.
They wanted to strike.
But the CEO of that company, he made like 73% more this year.
Not everybody...
There's some like, everybody's getting a, there's like a lot
of good stuff.
There's positive and negatives is what you're saying.
Yeah.
And it's mostly positive.
I mean, that guy's like, he got like 17 million or something.
Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah.
So that's cool.
As we covered in episode 346, Henry Clay Frick's decision led to a strike of steel workers
in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Ofick's decision led to a strike of steelworkers in
Homestead, Pennsylvania.
Of course, the Pinkertons became involved.
The agency brought three barges full of armed Pinkertons up the river to Homestead.
This led to a battle when the barges tried to land and Pinkertons being killed.
The National Guard was sent in and Frick announced he would have nothing to do
with the Union after the battle.
Seven strike leaders were arrested,
as were 167 Union organizers.
35 were charged with treason.
Treason.
Treason.
But, treacherous. treason Treason Sure, okay, why not espionage
But the cases fell apart when it was disclosed that the Pickerton's had never been sworn in as deputies meaning
They violated state law
Okay, no charges were filed against the Pickertons.
But still, the Union collapsed because the leaders were in jail for a while, and the strike ended,
and Unionism in the steel industry was destroyed for 50 years.
So Congress holds hearings on
right government. I forgot about yes, we have government.
Well, at this point, people are livid about the Pinkerton's.
Nobody likes the Pinkerton's except the bosses and most
people are bosses. And they're like, why are they killing kids
and what what's going on?
So Congress holds hearings and in 1893 it passes passes the Anti-Pinkerton Act
which bans the federal government from hiring private contractors or mercenaries. Do you see the problem there Gareth? No., it's not the federal government that's hiring Pinkerton's.
It's private companies.
They still can.
But still, it's, yeah, but it feels like it's a step.
What it is, is a step in no valuable direction.
Yeah, there you go.
Congress said states would have to make their own laws against
private companies hired picket teams.
What was the whole point? Every time it comes to this, what is the point? Why do we have
the government? What is the point? If we just go, it's up to the states to decide. It's
like, well, why are we not Europe?
Yeah, it's really fucking crazy.
It just never makes any sense.
Frank Moran, quote, a flurry of anti-Pigerton bills appeared and became law.
West Virginia and North Carolina passed laws forbidding armed guards from entering their
states.
By 1899, 24 states and DC had laws preventing armed guards from entering their states. By 1899, 24 states and DC had laws preventing armed guards
from entering their jurisdiction.
So it did work a little bit, but it's not enough.
It's not enough, 24 states is not,
you know, the states where they are really controlled
by the railroads, they're not gonna get anything.
So the hiring of Pickertons to fight strikes slows down,
but plainclothes detectives did
not have as many laws passed against them.
So then the Pinkertons just go to plainclothes or?
Well the agency was already big on spying and they sometimes work for competing companies
like in a lawsuit between two Arizona mining companies, the agency worked
both sides of the lawsuit with operatives gathering evidence and bribing the jury, and
the company that paid the jury more ends up winning.
So, they're literally...
That is...
And in a nutshell, is that not America?
So after President McKinley is assassinated by an anarchist in which year, Gareth?
That was 1894.
Wrong.
1901.
Yeah.
Bob Pinkerton.
Well, that...
Do you want me to explain why I'm right?
Go ahead.
So because this is before, this was under the calendar that, well, basically it was
1901.
Back then you would do a five-year, each calendar.
Were we talking about the Gregorian calendar at this juncture?
Can I ask you a question?
Can I see a farmer's, may I see a farmer's almanac from back then before I kind of get
into this a little bit?
Was Benjamin Franklin a president of the United States?
By the way, I think I might've mentioned this before, by the time we're done with
this show, I'm going to have not only a leg to stand on, I'm going to have like 30% of
the population agreeing with me.
And I will say he was, and he was a great president.
And he was just sort of a silly little oatmeal looking guy. He's just kind of a funny
little rascal. He looked like a shaved grimace. Okay, so McKinley is assassinated in 1901 by an
anarchist. So Bob Pinkerton pushes for the government to suppress anarchism. Quote,
there ought to be a law passed to permit the deportation of every man and woman
who preaches the overthrow of government and the principles of anarchy instead of having any
squeamish- Yeah, that's gonna get them off of the anarchist stuff. That'll do it. What about this
do you not agree with? Instead of having any squeamish scruples, we should attack the evil in a rough-handed
common sense way.
And it's always these people who are preaching this, like what we should be doing to them
is what they're like, we got to do it.
You got to save it.
Otherwise, things could get violent.
What are they worried?
They're shooting kids for throwing snowballs and
they're like, listen, shit could get out of hand if you're not
careful.
Bob said he could have prevented the assassination of
McKinley if he had had an inside man tracking the
anarchists.
This is like Mark Wahlberg saying he could stop the 911
plan.
So, Bob writes an article that he publishes about his plan quote, I would advocate the
establishment of an anarchist colony.
Let the government set aside one of the islands of the Philippines, equip it thoroughly.
Then to this place, let us send everybody who wants anarchy, leave them severely alone
on their island, taking care only of that,
they remain there by establishing a system
of patrol boats around it.
Is it too late to take this deal?
I would do it.
Please, will you put me on an island
where everything I need is?
They're like, well, I don't know if you're gonna like it.
You're gonna be on a tropical island
in the Philippines without us.
I'd be like, great, awesome.
And we're not gonna take you back.
Yeah, I don't want to go back. And it's going to be people like you. Yeah. I know. That's
awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what that would be. I mean, give me, offer me that. Yeah.
So, Pickerton's Infiltrate Unions and AW Gradius was sent to spy during a 1903 American
smelting and refining company strike.
They just would give them numbers when they sent them in undercover like this.
So he was known as number 42.
And he becomes an influential union member and was directed to, uh, create
trouble between union leaders.
So he would spread lies and rumors and it worked. The union splits in half. Number 42 stays neutral
between the two groups, which led him to be elected union secretary. Because what he's like, whoopsies.
What he's like whoopsies
Why did too good and then number 42 was soon named chairman of the relief committee
Holy shit, so he's in charge of giving up money for the guys on strike
He then drained the Treasury by giving out too much relief to the men. And the men love it, so they elect number 42
to be union president of a Western Federation minor local.
Who loves him? When you say the bosses love him.
The union guys. Well the bosses love him too, yeah, because he's doing
the work, he's fucking over the union.
I would think if I got to that position, I would be like,
I, I mean, you should be like corrupted by the good power you have,
but it's like now I'm number 42.
He's there to destroy. Yeah. A local, uh,
president taking orders from a Pickerton office.
That's basically what you have.
When the WMF president objected to the relief bills
he was getting from his local, he's like,
this is crazy how much money you're spending.
Number 42 was then told by the Pickertons
to now massively cut back.
This caused striking men to starve.
They then blamed the president, but it didn't work because they were used to living in adverse
terrible situations.
They wanted an overthrow of the union and the union to blow up, but the men just made
them bear down and the strike goes on for two more years.
Another picket inspired to get the names of union members for companies who were then
fired.
So, they're just finding out who the secret union members are and then they blacklist
them.
Although, a lot of spies-
It's going to be so frustrating too to try to figure out who the fuck this person is.
Yeah.
Oh, fuck yeah.
Like who the rat is.
You got to be going crazy.
Totally crazy.
Though, I mean, I wouldn't make it sound like it was easy to do.
A lot of spies did not get into unions.
There were a lot of roadblocks put up, but some got through because they-
Still, they're throwing so many people at the problem.
Yeah, so many people.
They have unlimited funding from the companies, unlimited funding.
Some Pinkertons purposely, they would go in, they'd get into the strike situation and then
they'd avoid going to union meetings.
Because then other union guys would be like, hey, Bob, come to the fucking meeting, man.
You should come to the meeting.
Nah, I'm not really into all that.
No, come.
And then they would not suspect them. It really is. I mean, it's so simple and evil, but it is actually like, it's effective. I
mean, they're playing it. Yeah.
Totally. In 1905, the IWW was formed. The first president was WFM leader William Big Bill Heywood.
So the industrial workers of the world.
And they plan to combine the working class worldwide into one big trade union and then
basically have a revolution through strikes, leading to a general strike.
So capitalists are fucking scared shitless.
This is a very terrifying idea of a gigantic union of all workers.
So, Haywood had a reputation for being very effective and unrelenting militant.
And business leaders and government officials are worried that the IWW is going to radicalize
labor all over the West.
And so, they start focusing on the Wobblies. In 1907
Bob Pinkerton dies. Tongue? Yeah he followed Tongue. Everybody in the family dies of
gangrene Tongue. I can't believe this. Yeah.
But it's tongue again.
His son, Alan Pinkerton, takes over as head of Western operations.
By early 1900s, the Pinkertons weren't sending out uniformed armies to strikes anymore because
corporations could just get the actual military at this point.
Boy, you know.
It's nice to finally be relating to this story so heavily. I thought you were hoping that sentence would end differently.
Oh, fuck, it's just, yeah, everything sucks.
And the Pickerton's now had a very bad reputation, right? Business owners didn't want to be tarred
with the stigma of hiring them at this point.
Well, I mean, they still hired the Pinkertons.
They just didn't want anyone to know.
Sure.
So.
That's a lot of stress.
In Idaho, someone uses dynamite to assassinate
an ex-governor.
In Idaho, someone uses dynamite to assassinate an ex-governor. A bad guy who has done a lot of crime gets arrested for it.
Then a Pickerton is brought in by the state to connect the bombing to the WFM and IWW.
He starts collaborating with the mine owners.
So it's the state working with the mine owners
to fuck over the unions.
The bomber is then coerced into pointing the finger
at three union leaders.
So they get this guy.
Yeah.
They live in Colorado, however, the union leaders
and one of them's a big bill, but
so they can't be extradited.
So the Pickertons kidnapped the union leaders and put them in an Idaho prison.
So they can't be extradited.
Dave, I guess what is extradition would be my question.
I'm not sure what that means.
Feels very close to this strategy.
So they can't be extradited, but they can be removed from
where they are and held, uh, but on trial. Oh,
so yes, and they go on trial and the WFM leaders said they had absolutely no connection to the
bomber. Then the brother of the Pinkerton who, who runs the Western office testifies against the Pinkertons.
Nice.
Because he had been rounded up at one point by Pinkertons.
Also an ex Pinkerton now whistleblower also testified.
So everyone's acquitted or had the charges dropped
and the Pinkertons looked like shit,
like they looked terrible.
Yeah.
Another strike occurs in Lawrence, Massachusetts in textile mills, and after some time, violence starts happening,
and the owners agree to meet the workers. They're like, okay, we will have talks.
On that exact same day, the police get a tip
that some men had dynamite.
So they go and search and they find it in three places
where a union leader just kept going.
Like it was main places he visited,
like a restaurant or whatever.
It's in his lunchbox.
We think this guy was having dynamite sandwiches.
They arrest some Syrian immigrants and now the union, sorry, the owners are like, well,
we're not going to meet with you.
I know we said we would, but you're bad.
Government calls in the militia because of course there's dynamite.
It's picked by numbers.
During a protest, a woman is killed by a cop.
So they arrested a couple of union leaders who they said incited the crowd, which led
to the shooting.
What about the...
No, no, no, no.
Okay.
IWW leader Bill Heywood and other officials come to Lawrence to help and they decide that
they're going to send a bunch of kids, like over 100 kids, to stay with families in New
York so they can be cared for because their parents can't take care of them during the
strike because they have no money and they need to strike.
And the Pinkertons will kill kids.
They'll kill children.
So the opposition fucking loses it.
They can't, they don't want this to happen.
They need the kids there starving.
So as kids are being taken to the train,
they're met by Pinkertons and cops.
So it's when it's moms. I'm just's moms. I'm gonna go stay with my aunt. Now
you're under arrest for wanting to be safe. So they are ripping the kids from their mother's
arms. Jesus Christ. Kids are screaming quote, they were screaming and there were most unearthly yells.
I saw one policeman strike a pregnant woman in the abdomen.
That's where that baby is.
Yeah, that's where the baby is.
So the kids and moms are taken to jail and locked up.
The kids they all say are being locked up because they're neglected by the parents.
Now, a lot of the kids are in rags
because they don't have any money.
Why don't they have any money?
Because they weren't being paid enough
and that's why they're on strike.
And now they're on strike so they have less money.
Anywho.
Some dads bring newborn babies down to the court
so the moms can breastfeed them while they're in court
for their arraignment.
But the cops then take away the newborns for neglect.
Wow, that is some dark,maid's tale shit. Now, you're not
gonna believe this, but the national news is not kind to the victims. It seems
like they may have overstepped. The whole ripping babies out of the arms of mothers. People are fucking livid.
People are livid.
So Congress holds hearings and the women testify at the hearings.
Margaret Sanger testified about how poor the working families were.
The kids are dressed in rags.
So the capitalists had all the goodwill they had gotten from the found bombs, like, oh
no, the union's bad, they have these bombs, it's gone, it's so fucking gone.
So they end up settling.
And the workers get raises.
So they completely overplayed their fucking hand with brutality.
Well, they're so cocky too. I mean, that's just like, that just shows you how,
you know, their power is so unchecked that they're like,
yeah, listen, just rip the kid off the tit, let's go.
We got this.
Yeah, they've never,
they're just not getting punished for anything.
So why would they?
No, yeah.
The dynamite was planted, it turns out,
as part of a conspiracy by mill owners and rich guys.
What?
One of the men in the conspiracy was described as
dog fancier Dennis Collins.
Every time he was listed in a paper or in the court records,
he was described as dog
fancier than dogs.
What are you talking about?
What are you even saying?
That's how they always described him.
What is he a kibble magnet?
He loved dogs.
What does that even mean?
He's dog fancier.
A dog?
Stop.
You saying it more is not clarifying anything.
Here's the deal.
He fancies dogs.
That's like literally something you just, what you just said could be a Joe Biden quote.
Here's the deal.
He fancies dogs.
Okay.
You have thrown me off the scent.
Okay. You have Thrown me off the scent. Okay, it turns out the dog fancier Doug Collins Dennis Collins is actually a Pinkerton agent
What?
I'm not a dog fancier at all
I know many of you believe because of how many times I was petting the belly of dogs and saying he must smell my dog
I love living with dogs boy a fancier man with dogs. You couldn't find but I actually have bored dogs
Pets in general. I'm a Pinkerton. Hey
Dennis we're gonna send you down to this strike. What is your cover?
Can you think of something that'll make you blend in? I should probably have a relatable job something that everyone
understands something that everyone understands and something that they all respect.
I just think something common, something everyone's gonna-
Respond to him and be like, I like this guy.
He's nice.
We'll just be like, oh, we trust him.
You know what?
I'll be a dog fancier.
Get that ready to go.
Get that paperwork done and then announce.
Maybe you want to announce me. Maybe I'll be carried in by, I don't know, what do you think?
A bunch of Huskies or something like that? I could ride on the back of some boxers. How
do we want to do it? I'll be announced here. Why don't we do a practice conversation just
so I know what it's like to talk to these blue collar types? Cause again, I do not like
them. Hey, how's it going over here? Get away from us.
Hey, how's it?
Hey, what's going on guys?
No, no.
You know, I just am a real big dog fancier.
Who else is with me?
What are you guys going to have for dinner?
A dog?
A caviar?
A dog.
You eat dogs?
It's kind of crazy.
This guy's saying, hey, you guys are, I think this guy might be a Pinkerton.
So what had turned out to have happened with the bomb planting was a school board member
had been paid $700 to plant the bombs.
He was found guilty.
Was dynamite being used more to blow things up or be planted at this time?
I think both.
It was used as a fear tool for sure.
So he was paid 700 to do it and then he was fined 500 for being found guilty.
Three other conspirators including dog fancier Collins were charged with a conspiracy, but
only the dog fancier was convicted.
What?
Yep. But what am I guilty of? Loving dogs too much? Yes. but only the dog fancier was convicted. What?
But I, what am I guilty of, loving dogs too much?
This whole system is out of order.
You are literally guilty of loving dogs too much.
I'd love them, they're my best friends.
Okay, so in 1923, William Pinkerton died.
Tongue?
Yeah, tongue, he bit his tongue when he ran into a tree.
That's genetic.
Yep.
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
That is crazy.
So Allen becomes head of the agency, and that was Bob's kid.
He incorporated it, and he becomes president, and they keep expanding.
They made the most from labor spying, but they publicized more exciting stuff like catching
bank robbers, using automobiles, stuff like that, right?
Remember when his grandfather was marching because of people locked up in prisons?
I do.
It's interesting.
We've got away from that quite a bit.
It's strange.
And now this guy, yeah, it feels like we're maybe a little bit of a ways away from that original man.
In 1930, Alan Pinkerton died suddenly.
So his 26-year-old.
Yes, he was in a car.
He got into an accident.
He bit his tongue.
This is an epidemic.
Yeah, yeah.
So his 26-year-old son, Robert, who's a stockbroker,
he's supposed to take over. he's supposed to take over.
He's reluctant to take over.
He had gone to Harvard, studied law, and he played polo.
He was enjoying life.
So Robert the second takes over, doesn't want to, but he begins investigating gambling syndicates
and IDing gangs of race fixers.
On several occasions he is targeted for murder by syndicates.
So he's not doing the labor stuff as much as,
in 1935 Congress created
the National Labor Relations Board,
made up of three members.
It enforced employee rights rather than mediating disputes.
It gave employees the right to form and join unions and obligated employers to bargain
collectively with unions.
By the mid-1930s, employing spies from detective agencies was the norm.
60 agencies now offered to strike breaking services.
It's estimated there are 200,000 labor spies working.
Fucking A.
And again, they probably could have used the bump and pay.
The irony.
Right, I mean that's the thing is like the amount of money
you're spending to stop the unions,
like arguably way more than just giving people
what they want. But also like if you're like an undercover business spy, you'd be like, you know, we
should be getting healthcare.
You know, we need.
Companies that used spies in this time.
Ready?
Goodyear, Chrysler, Warner Brothers, Quaker Oats, Walgreens, Kroger, Shell, Bell Telephone, Western Union,
McGraw-Hill, Magnavox, Pullman, Wars, Montgomery Ward, Lord & Taylor, BF Goodrich, United Fruit
Company, Greyhound, that's just a few.
That's crazy.
So it's just, I mean, it's essentially, if you're a business, it's a part of your
budget.
They're all terrified of unions.
Pinkertons are hired to spy, to steal union records, to act as union organizers.
The new automobile industry brought Pinkerton's tons of business. 60 plants GM paid detective agency agencies over one
million dollars over two years. GM put Pinkerton's in plants that supplied
their parts so these companies so they put so they just didn't just have them
in their plants they put Pinkerton spies in plants that supply their parts.
So the companies that make the parts pay spies to watch the Pinkertons that GM hired because
they don't want trade secrets getting out.
So GM hires more Pinkertons to spy on the spies who are spying on the Pinkertons.
Oh my God, it's like the Russian dolls of Pinkerton.
Oh, my God.
Oh, that is so
that is so unsettling.
Fucking nuts.
That like it is nuts.
I mean, to be so, wait, who are these guys?
These are the guys who spy on the Pinkertons who are spying on the Pinkertons?
No.
We're a little concerned about the guys who are spying on the Pinkertons who are spying
on the Pinkertons.
These are the ones who oversee the Pinkertons who are spying on the Pinkertons who are spying
on the Pinkertons who are spying on the Pinkertons.
We need this layer of protection.
It's so crazy.
It's so crazy.
It's really like that's just like a level of like someone should be like, what are we
doing?
Hey guys, let's have a meeting and just talk about where we are with all this stuff because
it's a
Well, someone should just be like, hey, if we take this four layer dip of Pinkerton's out
of our budget, we can actually pay the unions what they want.
It's just so nuts, the amount of money that they spend on this shit.
At some point, you think they just sit down.
Of course, one of the reasons they don't want to pay workers is because they want workers
suffering as much as they can.
But to not be able to stand back and just go, you know what, it's just easier to do it this
way.
It's easier.
Yeah, it's easier and morally.
I know you want to have workers underneath you suffering so that they live in abject
poverty so that they have to give you everything you want.
But there is a version, again, like we were sort of saying on the last episode, where
it's like, yeah, maybe you just don't need all the fucking money.
Isn't that possible?
That's right.
So in 1934, GM was using 14 detective agencies in Flint, Michigan alone.
Oh my god. Of the United Auto Workers Union board members, at least five were spies and two were Pinkertons.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
By 1936, spies had destroyed the Union so much that Union membership fell down to 122
members.
Wow. so much that union membership fell down to 122 members.
In 1937, a special US Senate committee investigated labor espionage and violations of civil liberties.
Allen's great-grandson, Robert Pinkerton, testified.
He denied breaking the Wagner Labor Relations Act
and union busting, and he refused to turn over
subpoenaed records
because his spies would be ID'd and subject to the risk
of quote, attack, injury, and even murder.
You fucking, that's, you fuck.
That's what you're doing.
You kid, you're literally trying to get the names
of union members.
It is different. Would you just listen to Reza of you members. It is different. It is different.
Would you just listen to reason for a second?
It's different.
When it happens to us, it is unacceptable.
It is far different killing a bunch of children
near a train or ripping babies away from their mothers
when they need the nourishment.
It is just disgusting.
What I'm talking about is saving Pinkerton.
Pink lives matter.
It's just so, it's just. You feel dejection on levels that is hard to put into words.
Robert did admit that it was necessary to give the names of union members to the corporations,
but he said most employers would not take advantage of the lists.
Which is again, this guy who, this is what I mean.
He was born into a bubble, so he is kind of unable to realize everything you're saying
is upsetting.
When the committee began their investigation, Pinkerton suddenly stopped keeping written
reports.
Operatives now only gave verbal reports to the superiors
so the committee could not get their records. GM removed all records regarding
labor espionage activities from their files just before the committee
subpoenaed them. A local UAW VP admitted that he was a Pinkerton and was making daily reports.
He'd been told to work against FDR's reelection.
Even though some said it was to stop radicalism,
the congressional committee concluded that labor, quote,
spying was simply to wreck unions.
So their excuse is always like,
we're trying to stop the commies.
But like, you know, it's like, no, you're always still it's still.
Yeah.
In 1937, GM dropped Pinkerton.
So the it's just too the PR is just too bad.
Right.
But they had a bunch of other detectives in his house detective agency.
That is the...
And you know that they just hired Pickerton's, right?
I mean, they just...
Yeah, yep.
Yes, yes, yes.
The Pickerton directors ended their 60-year-old business
of industrial espionage.
Robert told the New York Times, quote,
that is a phase of our business
that we are not particularly proud of
and we're delighted we're out of it.
However, there was nothing illegal about it.
That, by the way, that is your business model.
It's so, that's not a phase.
It's not like having pink hair.
You were literally, that was how you did it.
Pickard's 1938 earnings dropped to 1.2 million from over 2 million the year before.
Then they moved into industrial security services, which really took off with World War II and
the McCarthy era.
So in 1946, they were now making over 5 million a year, and in the 50s and 60s, they got big
contracts to provide security guards. In April 1967 the agency went public. They created a school
that the State Department picked as an international training program. Security officials were sent to the US from other countries for training.
The program, quote, was a primary mechanism by which the death squad apparatus used so
extensively against leftist and labor organizers in Latin America and other third world localities
was assembled and perfected. So I guess to be totally fair,
some good stuff did come out of it,
even though it was kind of like,
some of the practices were dark.
It only got better is what we're saying.
Which is cool.
Yeah, it's like without.
So at this point,
there's over 70 Pinkerton offices around the world.
By 1982, the private security, it's a $3.3 billion industry, and Pinkerton has the largest
share.
Companies had their own security guards changed to and started using private services like the Pinkertons.
In 1999, the company was bought by Securitas AB, a Swedish security company, for $384 million.
Today, Facebook and Google are deeply involved with Pinkertons.
They hire ex-Pinkertons.
They use Pinkerton security. Pinkerton sends narcs to coffee shops or restaurants near those companies' campuses to eavesdrop
on workers talking to each other at tables.
On Black Friday 2019, Pinkerton spied on an Amazon workers strike near Barcelona, Spain.
Pinkerton gave Amazon a report with photos of workers, unionists, and
journalists who were there. In Poland, Pinkerton spied on Amazon managers.
In October 10, 2020, Matthew Doloff, hired through Pinkerton, was working security for
Nine News in Denver when he shot and killed the right wing protester Lee Keltner, who
was wearing a shirt that read, BLM, you're fucking right, biker lives matter.
So I'm okay with this.
This is a let them fight moment.
And so that guy starts scuffling with a BLM guy and Keltner then sprays that guy with
bear mace and then he sprays the Pinkerton who then shoots him.
Pinkerton then says, look, Doloff is not an actual Pinkerton. He's just a contractor.
Doloff was charged with second degree murder, but the charges were dropped.
Self-defense. Denver did revoke Pinkerton's license, and Pinkerton sued and won.
Pinkerton sued and won. In 2022, as Starbucks workers began to unionize, Starbucks recruited Amanda Stanfill.
She has spent the previous year and a half as an intelligence analyst for Pinkerton.
Before that, she worked for the CIA.
That's why I auditioned.
So today the Pinkertons are working against Starbucks unionizing and Amazon.
The Pinkertons are what they've always been.
They work against environmentalists. They infiltrate those groups.
work against environmentalists. They infiltrate those groups. They're a big part of these things called information nodes that are being spread across the United States, which is
private organizations creating information gathering centers that they can then use to
have protesters and other people arrested by giving it to the police. So the police
work in hand with them, private organizations, private security doing this.
They're as bad as they ever were.
And if I were to say anything to anybody,
if anyone ever wanted to fuck with this kind of shit,
people need to start joining these organizations as leftists.
And you're out of college, you got a degree,
you wanna make a fucking difference?
Go join Raven, go join Pinkerton, go join Securitas and be on the inside.
Pinkerton, Pinkertons.
Pinkerton to Pinkerton.
It's like, that's the way you fight this.
Yeah.
You really, you also need to, because they are, they're almost like the masonry of law
enforcement, even though we have so many different versions of that now.
When you're anonymous, there's no consequence for the things you're doing. You are. You're like...
I mean, that's why when you're in the CIA, there's nobody really checking you.
If there's something that goes wrong, you do an internal investigation and you investigate
yourselves and nobody really knows.
It's also very simple.
The reason why it's so effective is because it's just easy to murky the waters and become
a little untraceable in all of this.
But you do need to create, I mean, just like anything that's going on with what we need,
is you need to create a way for people to be disincentivized from taking and doing this
work.
And the real way to do that is to make it so that they're not comfortable.
Democrats are all like, we're fighting fascism, right?
Okay, so you didn't get rid of ICE.
You didn't do anything about border patrol.
You hired more cops.
But where do you think these guys stand?
Where do you think the picker
didn't stand when fascism comes?
Yeah.
Oh God.
This has to be eliminated. This should have been eliminated immediately. We're gonna stop fascism.. Yeah. Oh God. This has to be eliminated.
This should have been eliminated immediately.
We're gonna stop fascism, vote out Trump.
Hey, how about getting rid of fucking private security
immediately, end it.
There is no, as you know, I mean,
they would never do that.
They would never get rid of the people who will defend them.
Why would they?
But these guys are fucking a problem.
When the shit goes down, these guys are a big fucking problem.
A big problem.
We feel kind of safe-ish.
It's very clear that law enforcement and our militarized police forces and private organizations and all that are, they don't
want to shoot people in public where it's very obvious, but that will happen.
The National Guard, when they would go in to stop protest, people get shot and killed.
When the shit is hitting the fan, that mean, that is going to be back,
you know, regularly.
Yeah, of course it will.
We just haven't, you know, hit the full tilt.
That's right.
We haven't.
And yeah, it's just such a fucking shit show.
It's just all you fucking think about.
It's just like, man, it's going to get so fucking bad.
Well, I mean, you're a bummer. What happened there?
Sources. Russell Haunt, Alan Pickerton, America's first private eye.
Joe Nickel, detective, uncovering the mysteries of a word.
Alan Pinkerton at the American Biography.
Should be lashed, how Pinkerton would punish professional burglars.
Clark Larson, a succession of attempts on President Abraham Lincoln's life.
That, not that.
The star of Pcagoula, Watertown Republican, a daily tribune, Pinkerton Pursuits in the
Wild West, America's Civil War, the weakest link, Otto Pe Herald, Indiana.edu, Legends of America.com, Pickerton.com,
True West Magazine.com, Cornell.edu, History.com.
Do, do, do, do, do, do.
Anyway, it's a home rower.
And basically, it's got all these programs and you can kind of
like pick your instructor.
You fall in love with instructors and it's a great full body workout.
86, 87% of your muscles.
All right then.
Hydro.
Godspeed.
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