Pinkerton (detective agency) 1960s, even the word "detective" disappeared from the agency's letterhead. In 1999, the company was bought by Securitas AB, a Swedish security company, for $384 million, followed by the acquisition of longtime Pinkerton rival, the William J. Burns Detective Agency (founded in 1910), to create (as a division of the parent) Securitas Security Services USA. Pinkerton (detective agency) Pinkerton, founded as the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, is a private security guard and detective agency established in the United States by Scotsman Allan Pinkerton in 1850 and currently a subsidiary of Securitas AB. Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have
Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency but it is known that the company provided guards for railway and mine payrolls and accompanied coal trains into the coalfields. The company investigated train wrecks, robberies, and thefts. By the early 1900s, the agency had also undertaken detective work for both federal and state government agencies. The agency became known for crime-busting after it successfully tracked down members of the Allen family wanted in a shootout in 1912 at the Carroll County Courthouse in Hillsville, Virginia, which left the judge, the sheriff, the prosecutor, a juror, and a witness dead or dying. Though two of the Allens fled the