Charles Siringo

Sadly, his wife died in 1890, and his daughter went to live with his wife's aunt.

​

He was immediately assigned several cases, which took him as far north as Alaska, for the Treadwell mine, and as far south as Mexico City. He began operating undercover, a relatively new technique at the time, and infiltrated gangs of robbers and rustlers, making more than 100 arrests.

​

In the early 1890s he worked with noted Pinkerton agent, gunman and later assassin Tom Horn.

​

Siringo purchased 265 acres near Santa Fe, New Mexico, and established his Sunny Slope Ranch. Located north of Arroyo Chamiso, Sirongo built a two room adobe home, with a view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.[

​

Siringo married Lillie Thomas in 1893, and their son William Lee Roy was born in 1896. However, they soon divorced, when she wanted to live in Los Angeles, California.

For 4 years starting in 1899, posing under the aliases, Siringo infiltrated outlaw Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch.

​

In 1907, Siringo married Grace, after resigning from the Pinkertons. That marriage also ended in divorce in 1909. Siringo did accept some assignments from William J. Burns' [[William J. Burns International Detective Agency|Detective Agency.]

​

Siringo wrote another book, Pinkerton's Cowboy Detective. The Pinkerton Detective Agency held up publication for two years, feeling it violated their confidentiality agreement that Siringo had signed when he was hired. Siringo gave in, and deleted their name from the book title, and everywhere else in the book. So Pinkerton's Cowboy Detective became A Cowboy Detective, and the names of other characters were fictionalized.

​

In 1913, Siring was briefly married to Ellen Partain. This was Siringo's last attempt at marriage.

​

Angry with the agency after it sabotaged the publication of his cowboy memoirs, Siringo published Two Evil Isms: Pinkertonism and Anarchism, a revealing chronicle of Pinkerton methods and deception. Siringo wrote that he had been instructed to commit voter fraud in the re-election campaign of Colorado Governor James Peabody. 

The Pinkerton Agency once again succeeded in suppressing the book, charging Siringo with criminal libel, and calling for his arrest and extradition to Chicago. However, New Mexico governor McDonald denied the extradition request. Yet, Pinkerton was successful in getting a court order impounding the book's plates and remaining copies

​

In 1916, his health began to fail, and his ranch was failing owing to his having been away for some time. He moved to Los Angeles, where he became somewhat of a celebrity due to his well-publicized exploits. He renewed his relationship with Wyatt Earp during this period.

​

In 1920 Siringo published the History of "Billy the Kid". By 1922, however, Siringo's financial difficulties had meant relinquishing his Santa Fe ranch, and moving to Los Angeles. In 1924, Siringo played the part of an old cowboy in the movie Nine Scars Make a Man. Then, in 1925, Siringo served as a consultant for William S. Hart's Tumbleweeds.

​

In 1927 he released another book, Riata and Spurs, a composite of Lone Star Cowboy and A Cowboy Detective. The Pinkerton Agency again halted publication, resulting in a whittled down and revised copy, with many fictional accounts rather than the true accounts that Siringo had envisioned.

​

Siringo died in Altadena, California, on October 18, 1928. He was buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.

Credit Wikipedia