🙂 Hello adventure lovers! The famous Nat Pinkerton had a real prototype named Alan Pinkerton. In 1850 he became the founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.
Parents often reproach children for spending a lot of time in front of a computer monitor or laptop. And exactly 100 years ago, parents chastised their youths for their interest in the tabloid press.
Nat Pirkenton
Students of the gymnasium often saved on breakfast in order to pay 5 kopecks for another brochure, which told about the adventures of detective Nat Pinkerton!
In the 1900s, this detective was the most popular hero of the detective genre. Naturally, the glory of Sherlock Holmes was difficult for him to overshadow. But the Englishman was an intellectual, forced his mind to work and practically did not participate in fights at all.
And now another hero has appeared, a detective from New York. Dozens of writers wrote about him under various pseudonyms.
Russian readers recognized Pinkerton after his popularity among German detective fans in 1907. One of the famous publishers, Heinrich Eichler, followed the American example and began publishing various stories in beautiful covers. The rights were also acquired by one of the publishing houses of St. Petersburg.
Most popular detective
The first Pinkerton pamphlet, The Criminals’ Conspiracy, sold out in a few days.
Small stories had a simple plot. The detective was informed about the commission of an atrocity: a major banker was killed or his only daughter was kidnapped, the body of an unknown man was found, etc.
He unraveled the case and caught intruders. During the fight against a gang of villains, he found himself in the most incredible situations. On his way to the truth, mysterious dungeons arose, the path was blocked by a fire in coal mines, ghosts met in long-abandoned buildings.
The intruders arranged clever traps for him, but the detective stubbornly unraveled the network woven by the criminals.
The brochures had interesting and intriguing titles. To earn some money, the famous Russian writer Alexander Kuprin also spoke about Pinkerton. The writer needed money.
In those days, there were many peddlers of mass press and various brochures on the streets. Books about the famous detective story could be purchased not only in St. Petersburg or Moscow, but also in the provinces. The weekly circulation of Pinkerton’s adventures reached 300 thousand copies.
In 1909, a survey was conducted in the gymnasium classes. Survey results showed that nine out of ten students read Nat Pinkerton’s adventures.
The teachers reacted negatively to such stories, as they considered them “dirty and immoral.” In their opinion, such “compositions” can attract only the illiterate ordinary people.
In subsequent years, the popularity of detective stories declined slightly as a result of the opening of city cinemas. The ticket price was also five kopecks. But these stories were still fond of not only young people, but also older people.
Real prototype
It is worth noting that Pinkerton had a prototype named Alan. In 1850 he became the founder of a private investigation agency. The detective agency had an all-seeing eye emblem “We Never Sleep”. In the 1870s, branches were opened in many major cities in the United States.
Agency employees have collected a large file of criminals, which described all their atrocities and an impressive collection of weapons. With the help of a card index, it became possible to arrest an attacker in any state as soon as possible.
In 1861, Alan Pinkerton obtained information about a planned assassination attempt on US President Abraham Lincoln. The attackers wanted to kill him on the way to the inauguration. The president’s life was saved. Lincoln drove through the road at night under guard.
Alan Pinkerton was appointed head of the President’s Secret Service and divided it into intelligence and counterintelligence. The famous detective quite often himself was on duty at night at the door of Abraham Lincoln. During the period of hostilities in the North and South, agents collected detailed data on the army of the southerners, which brought the victory of the northerners closer.
Pinkerton was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1819 to a policeman’s family. In 1842 he emigrated to America and became the sheriff of a small town, and in 1849 a detective in Chicago. The agency brought him great fame.
In 1872, the Spanish authorities invited a famous detective to put down a revolutionary uprising in Cuba. John Rockefeller was pleased with his services during the oil well strikes. Pinkerton left behind several entertaining works, for example: “Crime Memoirs”.
The eminent detective died in 1884. His sons continued his business. The agency that Pinkerton created is still operational in the United States!
Video
Here’s more info Alan Pinkerton: A Brief Biography
😉 Friends, if you liked the article “Alan Pinkerton”, share in the social. networks! Subscribe to the newsletter of articles to your email. mail. Fill out the form above: name and e-mail.