Intro to Union, MO Bank Robbery

On Christmas Night 1902, two small town, small-time, holdup men blew open the safe of the Union, Missouri Bank.  After threatening a few citizens, they made off with over $15,000.

The men were relatively safe for a few months until the Pinkerton Detective Agency was called in.  The Pinkertons had a nationwide agency, which was the closest thing the United States had to a national police force.  Pinkerton private detectives investigated major crimes in every large American city.

The Pinkerton detective assigned to the bank robbery succeeded, where the local authorities had failed.  He identified the robbers.  Leading a raiding party to their rural Missouri property, the agent and local sheriff’s deputies were ambushed.  During the gun fight, the robbers killed the Pinkerton detective.

This murder activated the machine, which was the Pinkerton Detective Agency.  Over two cross-country pursuits, a jail escape, two trials and planned executions, the Pinkerton Agency doggedly pursued justice for its agent.

This book details the robbery and the aftermath, while trying to answer the following questions.  Was justice served in this case?  Were two desperate criminals killed to protect the community?  Or where two men, barely old enough to vote, killed to satisfy the desire for revenge from one of the most powerful detective agencies in United States history?  Here is the action packed story of the Union, Missouri Bank Robbery.

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