Allan Pinkerton?

Question

Why did Allan Pinkerton go to the US?

Answer 1

I don't know about the speculation in the other answers, but the reason he gave was that he was angry by the failure of the Chartist movement to gain universal suffrage. He was a very active member back in Britain and after the lost momentum, he decided to try his luck in the US. Chicago's gain!

Answer 2

Alan Pinkerton was the son of a Glasgow policeman who had been crippled in a riot. Pinkerton trained as a cooper in Scotland making barrels but emigrated to the USA in 1842.

"It appears that he fled for fear of imminent arrest!"

Became deputy sheriff of first Dundee, Illinois and then Chicago. In 1852 he formed an elite group of detectives. Was responsible for solving railway robberies.

Chief of Union intelligence in the Civil War there. After the war his agency grew and opened other office throughout the US.

In the 1870s his agency played a critical role in destroying the 'Molly Maguires'. This group had begun as a secret organisation to help poor Irish immigrants but had become little more than a criminal gang.

Answer 3

I believe it was for job opportunities. That was the major reason people have come to the US throughout our history. It wasn't until he'd been here a while that he saw the need for a detective and discovered he had a talent for it.

One of Pinkerton's reasons for success is he didn't just hire men. He would accept information from women and even children if he thought them credible. Although men were generally hired to go into dangerous situations, he found women useful as informants and "stay in place" spies.