Pinkerton (detective agency) nationally publicized trial. Orchard received a death sentence, but it was commuted. In 1890, Indiana University hired the Pinkerton Agency to investigate the authorship of a student "bogus" that had been distributed throughout town. While boguses were not uncommon, this particular one attacked IU faculty and students with such graphic language that Bloomington residents complained. The detective arrived in Bloomington on April 26 and spent nearly two weeks conducting interviews and dispatching regular reports back to the home office. In the end, it was town talk that led to the student authors and not the work of the agent. The
William J. Burns International Detective Agency William J. Burns International Detective Agency The William J. Burns International Detective Agency was a private detective agency in the United States, which was operated by William J. Burns. It was headquartered in Briarcliff Manor, New York from 1969 to 1983. The Burns Agency was hired to track down Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) organizers in the aftermath of the Wheatland Hop Riot. Burns agents infiltrated the Industrial Workers of the World during an organizing drive in the copper mines of Arizona. Activities included issuing fake IWW membership cards, infiltrating the workforce, spying, and intercepting the mail of organizers.