Pinkertons Hired The First Female Detective...!

When it came to the Old West, not many names struck fear into the bad guys more than the group known as the Pinkertons. They were the first detective agency of their kind and made many advancements in their field. Here is just one such advancement.

They hired the nation’s first female detective.

In 1856, 23-year-old widow Kate Warne walked into Pinkerton’s Chicago office and requested a job as a detective. Allan Pinkerton was hesitant to hire a female investigator, but he gave in after Warne convinced him that she could “worm out secrets in many places to which it was impossible for male detectives to gain access.” True to her word, Warne proved to be an expert at working undercover, once busting a thief by cozying up to his wife and convincing her to reveal the location of the loot. During another case, she got a suspect to feed her crucial information by disguising herself as a fortune-teller. Pinkerton would later list Warne as one of the best investigators he ever hired. Following her death in 1868, he even had her buried in his family plot.

Sounds to me as though the first female Pinkerton was well thought of and effective. Not bad for a woman of her time, that's for sure.

Coffee out on the patio again this morning.