Embezzlement in the Evening Star, 1880 & 1900

While many historians describe accounts of embezzlement in the legal system of arrests made by private detectives, such as the Pinkertons (Unterman, K. (2012). Boodle over the Border: Embezzlement and the Crisis of International Mobility, 1880–1890. The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 11(2), 176-185.), the Star reports more on the sentencing, prepping of, and actual trials for these alleged offenders. None can be more famous than in Leroy Channing Shear. See article below. This alleged embezzler was a repeat offender, and the article describing him spent more time discussing the post-arrest process of extraditing and then the arrangement of his trial. Many other alleged offenders also had a particular focus on their arrangement.

This is not to say that the Star did not have articles involving private or non-private detectives. It is hard to confirm the type law enforcement in the Star because they would usually say “detectives” without specifying private or government-based. To add to the confusion, most cases that do mention detectives could have either been done by a private or government-based detective by the story’s context.

The overall theme, however, is that the Star focused on post-arrest processes for embezzlers rather than the escapades of detectives especially those of the Pinkertons.