Over
the years, thousands of men and women have served in the ranks of the Kane
County Sheriff's Department, but none has been more famous than Allan Pinkerton.
Allan
Pinkerton (1819-1884) was the world's first private detective. Emigrating
to Chicago from Glasgow, Scotland, he discovered a gang of counterfeiters
and assisted in their capture. He became deputy sheriff of Kane County, then
later Cook County. He resigned from the police to form the Pinkerton Detective
Agency in 1852. The Pinkerton logo, the All-Seeing Eye, inspired the phrase
"Private Eye".
Pinkerton uncovered a plot to assassinate President Lincoln. At Lincoln's request, Pinkerton began the U.S. Secret Service and served as its head. Through the use of a double agent, Pinkerton's secret service defeated a Confederate plot to free the 8000 prisoners of war at the South Side's Camp Douglas.