A member of the famous Pinkerton agency, Kate Warne (1833 – 1868) was the first female private detective. She was instrumental in thwarting Baltimore's possible plot against President Lincoln.
The Pinkerton Agency
We know very little about the existence of Kate Warne, before she became a private detective. She was born in 1833 in Erin, New York, USA. At barely 23, the death of her husband left her a young widow, alone and destitute. A few years earlier, in 1850, ex-policeman Allan Pinkerton founded the Pinkerton National Detective Agency , a private detective and security agency. Kate discovers an advertisement in a local newspaper and, without further ado, pushes the door of the agency to ask Allan Pinkerton for a job.
When the private detective understands that Kate is not looking for a job as a secretary - unlike the other women he employs - he does not hide his surprise. "We don't usually hire female detectives" , he replies. Kate argues. As a woman, she says, she can befriend the wives of criminals and obtain their confidences; excellent observer, she has an eye for detail. Kate is so convincing that Allan Pinkerton ends up offering her the job. Kate Warne becomes the first female private investigator in the United States.
First case
In his book The Spy of the Rebellion , Allan Pinkerton describes Kate Warne in these terms:
“[a] commanding person, with clear cut, expressive features … a slender, brown-haired woman, graceful in her movements and self-possessed. Her features, although not what could be called handsome, were decidedly of an intellectual cast … her face was honest, which would cause one in distress instinctly to select her as a confidante”.
(A bossy person, with expressive features...a slender, dark-haired woman, graceful in movement and poised. Her features, while not one that one would call beautiful, were decidedly intelligent...her face was honest, able to push a person in distress to confide in her. »
Kate quickly proves herself. In 1858, the Adams Express Company uses Allan Pinkerton's agency in an embezzlement case. Put on the case, Kate befriends the wife of the main suspect, an employee named Maroney. She gets so much information from it that she manages not only to prove the couple's guilt, but also to find 40,000 of the 50,000 dollars embezzled by the Maroneys.
Two years later, convinced of the skills of his recruit, Allan Pinkerton creates a female branch in his agency. It is to Kate that he entrusts the responsibility.
The Baltimore Conspiracy
At the time, and particularly since the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States in November 1860, the subject of the abolition of slavery was on everyone's lips. Threats of attacks on railroads from secessionist groups in Maryland push Samuel H. Felton, chairman of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad , to hire the Pinkerton agency to investigate.
Allan Pinkerton places some agents. From the information they report, he quickly concludes that the threat is more serious than it seems but goes all the way back to President Abraham Lincoln. He obtains permission to deepen his investigation, and to focus on a possible assassination attempt. Kate Warne was one of five agents sent to Baltimore in February 1861 to investigate secessionist circles. Under the false identities of Mrs. Cherry and Mrs. Barley, she poses as a wealthy Southern sympathizer. She befriends secessionists, and reports detailed information leading to the belief that an assassination plot is being prepared against the president.
Another source confirms a possible assassination attempt in Baltimore, and the president is taking the threat seriously. He refuses to change his schedule in the city of Harrisburg, but then entrusts Pinkerton with the security of his return to Washington, a route that requires him to pass through Baltimore. Allan has the telegraph lines cut off to prevent word of changes in the President's schedule from getting out. Disguised as an invalid, while Kate plays the role of her sister, Lincoln takes a first train for Philadelphia, a second for Baltimore and then a third for Washington. Kate does not sleep a blind eye the whole trip to watch over the president; his devotion would be the origin of the motto of the Pinkertons:“we never sleep” (we never sleep). Lincoln arrives in Washington safely.
Subsequently, however, opponents will question the real existence of a plot to assassinate the president. Lincoln will be the prey of many criticisms for his attitude; he will be accused in particular of having, by fleeing in disguise in the middle of the night, sacrificing his honor for his personal safety.
The Civil War and its aftermath
During the Civil War, which broke out in 1861 and lasted until 1865, the Pinkerton agency was hired by the Union army to set up a military intelligence service. Resuming her role as a wealthy woman from the south, Kate Warne plays the role of an intelligence agent, and infiltrates social gatherings within breakaway states to collect as much information as possible. Undercover, she sometimes plays the role of the wife of Allan Pinkerton, of which she is possibly the lover. Unlike her colleague Timothy Webster, who would be unmasked and executed in Richmond, Kate survived the war.
After the war, she resumed her activities as a private detective. In particular, she elucidates the murder of a bank employee, George Gordon, again by gaining the confidence of the suspect's wife, Alexander P. Drysdale. For another case, she poses as a fortune teller in an effort to gain information on a possible assassination attempt. At the same time, she continues to manage the women's branch of the Pinkerton agency.
Suffering from pneumonia, Kate Warne died prematurely in January 1868, at the age of 34 or 35. Allan Pinkerton said of her that she was one of the five best detectives he had. Women will not be admitted into the American police before 1891.