Charlie Siringo

A Bounty Hunter

Charlie Siringo vivió en el Viejo Oeste, fue caza recompensas, detective, así como arriero y escritor. Fue compañero de Tom Horn en la Agencia de Detectives Pinkerton, amigo de Wyatt Earp, conoció a Butch Cassidy, y a la Wild Bunch, se cruzó con Bat Masterson y tuvo relación con Pat Garrett, por lo que bien pudo escribir sobre todos estos personajes. Su padre era inmigrante italiano, de allí su apellido, y fue testigo de hechos históricos como el Chicago Haymarket Affair y se infiltró en organizaciones como Las Gorras Blancas y Knights of Labor. Siringo fue parte de un siglo que se acababa, y con ello toda una historia, la del salvaje oeste, con linchamientos, persecuciones de bandidos y duelos. Para saber: The Santa Fe Ring y en vocabulario: rustlers, shoveler y shrewdest.

Pat Garret

Charles Angelo Siringo was an American lawman, detective, bounty hunter, and agent for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Siringo was born in Texas, to an Irish immigrant mother and an Italian immigrant father from Piedmont.

In July 1877, Siringo was in Dodge City, Kansas, where he survived an encounter with Bat Masterson.

Siringo was already working as a cattle drive cowboy, when he started working for the LX Ranch in 1877. This job entailed chasing after LX cattle stolen by Billy the Kid in 1880.

In 1886, Siringo witnessed the Chicago Haymarket Affair. This prompted him to join the Pinkerton Detective Agency, using gunman Pat Garrett's name as a reference to get the job, having met Garrett in 1880, when they were searching for Billy the Kid. Siringo was assigned to Denver, reporting to James McParland, and moved his family there.

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 found himself assigned to office work in the Denver office of the agency, work which he greatly despised. During that time, he worked with noted Pinkerton agent, gunman and later assassin Tom Horn. He greatly admired Horn's talents and skills in tracking down suspects, but reflected later that Horn had a dark side that could easily be accessed when need be.

In Feb. 1891, assuming the name of Charles T. Leon, Siringo undertook a 6-month investigation for New Mexico Governor L. Bradford Prince. Siringo was tasked with investigating the attempted assassination of Elias S. Stover, Thomas B. Catron, T.B. Mills and Joseph Anchete. Siringo was able to infiltrate the Las Gorras Blancas and Knights of Labor, while understanding their relationship with the Santa Fe Ring. The investigation was called off before Siringo could gather enough evidence to definitively state who was behind the shooting.

In 1892, Siringo was assigned to a case in the Idaho Panhandle Silver Valley, for the Mine Owners' Protective Association. He assumed the identity of Charles Leon Allison, working as a shoveler in the Gem Mine.

Charles Siringo, 1900

For 4 years starting in 1899, posing under the aliases "Charles L. Carter", an alleged Mexican outlaw on the run, Siringo infiltrated outlaw Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch. Siringo called Butch Cassidy, "the shrewdest and most daring out law of the present age".

On that case, Siringo often coordinated with Tom Horn, who was by that time working for large cattle companies as a stock detective but who also was retained by the Pinkerton Agency on contract to assist in the robbery investigation.

In 1907, during the trial of the Western Federation of Miners' Bill Haywood, Siringo was assigned as a bodyguard for Albert Horsley. After the acquittal, Siringo warned Idaho Governor Frank Gooding of plans to lynch Haywood, Pettibone, Charles Moyer, and Haywood's lawyer Clarence Darrow, which prevented the hanging.

In 1916, Siringo began working as a New Mexico Mounted Patrolman to assist in the capture of numerous rustlers in the area, holding that position until 1918. His health began to fail, and his ranch was failing owing to his absence. He moved to Los Angeles, where he became somewhat of a celebrity due to his exploits. He renewed his relationship with Wyatt Earp during this period.

In 1920 Siringo published the History of "Billy the Kid". By 1922, Siringo's financial difficulties required 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.

Siringo died in Altadena, California, on October 18, 1928.

Para saber

The Haymarket Affair was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour work day, the day after police killed one and injured several workers.

Las Gorras Blancas was a group active in the New Mexico Territory and American Southwest in the late 1880s and early 1890s, in response to Anglo-American squatters, who began taking lands from both Native Americans and Hispanos by different means.

Knights of Labor was an American labor federation active in the late 19th century. It promoted the social and cultural uplift of the working man, and demanded the eight-hour day.

The Santa Fe Ring was a group of powerful attorneys and land speculators in the United States during the late 19th century and into the early 20th century. It amassed a fortune through political corruption and fraudulent land deals.

Vocabulario

rustler: a person who rounds up and steals cattle, horses, or sheep.

"the cattle rustlers stole over 700 cattle"

shoveler: a worker who shovels; "a shoveler of coal"

shrewdest: the most astute or sharp in practical matters.

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