Journal Notes

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The Principles of Posse Management:

Lessons from the Old West for Today’s Leaders.

One of the grizzliest battles between outlaws and lawmen took place on September 3, 1893, twelve miles east of Stillwater, Oklahoma, at the town of Ingalls. More than ten people who were situated on the eastern edge of Payne County only a few miles from the rocky retreats and nearly inaccessible wooded areas of Creek County were killed. For some time it had been the spot where a gang of bandits, murderers, train robbers, and horse thieves known as the Doolin-Dalton Gang had made their headquarters.

The two-hundred-fifty people that resided in Ingalls had decided it was better business and safer to accept the outlaws who had overtaken the town than to fight them. In return for not robbing local merchants, outlaws could get drunk in an Ingalls’ saloon without having to shoot their way out, and they could rent a bed in Mary Pierce’s hotel (with or without a girl in it) and not have to worry about waking up with a sheriff’s gun in their chests.

The Doolin-Dalton Gang was the last great bandits of the old West. Bill Doolin and William Dalton worked to together at the HX-Bar Ranch in Oklahoma Territory. In 1891, they decided life as ranch hands was too sedate and traded in their legitimate jobs to rob trains and banks. Federal marshals began pursuing the gang in October 1892, after the daring outlaws attempted a double band holdup in Coffeyville, Kansas. The gang was comprised of more than eight men. In addition to the Dalton boys and Bill Doolin, there were also George Newcomb, alias Bitter Creek, Tom Jones, also known as Roy Daugherty, William “Texas Jack” Blake, and Dan Clifton, alias Dynamite Dick.

To learn more about the great posses of the frontier read

The Principles of Posse Management:

Lessons from Old West for Today’s Leaders.

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The Principles of Posse Management:

Lessons from the Old West for Today’s Leaders.

“Chris Enss’s engaging new book, The Principles of Posse Management, takes you back in time to the Old West, where with incredible detail and fun anecdotes, she reveals many universal leadership tools that were surprisingly effective in keeping order at such a lawless time.  Subsequently, many of these same tools are needed today within our own corporate climate.  Read this fascinating books and reconnect with these powerful principles from the past.”

Sean Covey, executive vice president, Global Solutions and Partnerships, Franklin Covey.

“Posses were created very strategically to catch the outlaws that sure had a ‘never give up’ way of life.  I was fascinated by the stories of bravery that built our Western lifestyle.”

Lisa Bollin, CEO and director of design, Cowgirl Tuff Company

So many of us are quick to anger and quick to speak, or these days, quick to email and text. Our hair-trigger society has a fuse shorter than the attention span of Bo Radley. People are furious and instead of getting to the heart of what they’re most angry about they lash out in areas that have nothing to do with the reason for their fury. I’m guilty of that myself. For years the Federal Bureau of Prisons stood by and watched as my brother was beaten and raped and suffered with Parkinson’s disease. The more I tried to stop the madness the worse his treatment grew. I wanted to give back to the prison officials all they did to my brother, but it wasn’t possible or logical. Instead, on one particular occasion, I took my frustrations out on the woman paying in pennies at, of all places, Penneys. My response was over the top and I still feel horrible about making the comments I did. Quick to anger, quick with the snide one-liners. Years of dealing with hecklers in the audience while doing standup comedy helped sharpen the tongue.

Anger and intolerance leads people to do strange things: go to war, burn books, riot at soccer games, and eschew lactose, and there’s never any logical reason for any of these actions. Most arguments made by intolerant or angry people who can’t rightly channel their rage have all the consistency of space-shuttle Thanksgiving gravy. Why can’t anyone just shut up and listen anymore? Whatever happened to the genteel art of sitting back and letting someone go on and on thinking he’s right while you while you bask in the knowledge that he is completely full of crap?

Tolerance doesn’t mean you agree with everything other people say, or that you subordinate your best instincts to the tyranny of mass opinion. It simply means you pretend not to know that everyone on the planet but you is a total moron. The most unforgivable thing about intolerance is that, by its inherent assumption that one group, belief, profession, or lifestyle is superior to another, it fails to take into account the ultimate truth that binds us all. The fact that, at the end of the day, we are all equal pains in the behind in the eyes of the Lord.

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The Principles of Posse Management:

Lessons from the Old West for Today’s Leaders.

A pair of tired, dust-covered detectives escorted outlaw Tom Bell to a noose dangling off a limb of a sycamore tree. No one spoke a word as the rope was slipped around his thick neck. More than fifteen lawmen from Sacramento, Marysville, and Nevada City, California, made up the posse that apprehended Bell at his hideout at Firebaugh’s Ferry near the San Joaquin River. The ruthless highwayman and his gang had eluded the law for more than a year. Bell’s reign of terror would end here – a mere four hours after he was captured on Saturday, October 4, 1856.

Bell held in his hand a pair of letters his executioners allowed him to write before they administered justice. Outside of the firm grip he had on his correspondence, he didn’t show the least bit of fear. Judge Joseph Belt, the self-appointed hangman and head of the posse, sauntered over to Bell and looked him in the eye. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” he asked.

“I have no revelations to make,” Bell replied. “I would be grateful, however,” he added, “to drink to the health of this party present and hope that no personal prejudice has induced them to execute me.” Judge Belt nodded to one of his men who stepped forward with a bottle of whiskey and offered it to Bell.

Bell lifted the bottle to the men and thanked them for their thoughtfulness. “I have no bitterness toward anyone of you,” he said. He took a drink and handed the bottle back to the lawman. “If you let me now…before I go. I’d like to read aloud the letter I wrote to my mother.” Judge Belt scanned the faces of his men; no one seemed to have any objections. “Go on,” Belt told the bandit. Tom unfolded one of the letters in his hand and began reading.

“Dear Mother, I am about to make my exit to another country. I take this opportunity to write you a few lines. Probably you may never hear from me again. If not, I hope we may meet where parting is no prodigal career in the country. I have always recollected your fond admonitions, and if I had lived up to them I would not have been in my present position; but dear mother, though my fate has been a cruel one, yet I have no one to blame but myself.

“Give my respects to all old and youthful friends. Tell them to beware of bad associations, and never to enter into any gambling saloons, for that has been my ruin. If my old grandmother is living, remember me to her. With these remarks, I bid you farewell forever. Your only boy, Tom.”

Bell refolded his letter and bowed his head in prayer. Two lawmen stepped forward, took the letters from him, and tied his hands behind his back. Tom lifted his head and nodded to Judge Belt. His horse was whipped from under him, and he swung into space. Judge Belt’s posse was one of three notable posses assembled between March 1856 and October 1856 to track down Tom Bell and his gang of highwaymen terrorizing settlers in the Gold Country.

To learn more about the great posses of the frontier read

The Principles of Posse Management:

Lessons from Old West for Today’s Leaders.

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The Principles of Posse Management:

Lessons from the Old West for Today’s Leaders.

In nearly every Western film prior to 1950, you’ll find a sheriff hastily assembling a group of men to track down an outlaw or two. Area ranchers, or whoever was in the saloon after a shooting in the middle of the street, were quickly deputized. The posse would then mount their horses and take off in search of the bad guys. No one asked if the posse members could shoot straight—if they had their own guns and ammunition, or if they’d had experience hunting fugitives. How long they could stay in the saddle. How long they could be away from their homes, farms, or businesses. It would appear all that was needed was a collection of outraged citizens. Exactly what went into forming an effective posse was much more refined than motion pictures presented.

The original term for posse was posse comitatus, taken from the Latin, meaning the “force of the country.” Any law officer could order anyone to help him “keep the peace” or to chase and arrest a felon. People who wouldn’t help do that were fined. The history of sheriffs forming posses began in Anglo-Saxon England. The word sheriff is a combination of the Anglo-Saxon words for “shire” (what today we call a “county”) and “reeve” (meaning “guardian”). Those who guarded English counties were responsible for organizing communal defense.

According to David Kopel, a law professor from Denver University, the office of sheriff in England was declining by the time the American colonies were being settled. The office had resurgence in popularity once the colonies were solidified. It was decided then that the law enforcement agent would be elected to the position by popular vote. “The Americans also strongly reaffirmed the traditional common law understanding of the sheriff ’s powers and authorities, especially the sheriff ’s autonomy and independence,” Professor Kopel noted in a Washington Post article from May 15, 2014. “During the latter nineteenth century, elections and other common law principles were often formally constitutional zed in the new states. Legally speaking, the Office of Sheriff in most states has changed little since the nineteenth century.”

To learn more about the great posses of the frontier read

The Principles of Posse Management:

Lessons from Old West for Today’s Leaders.

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The Principles of Posse Management:

Lessons from the Wild West

Pat Garrett and Wyatt Earp, management experts? Solid management skills were necessary to quickly organize a group of law enforcement officers in order to keep the peace and pursue and arrest felons.

The actual work of transforming the frontier into farms and cities was carried on by the stream of settlers, but working with, or sometimes ahead of them, were the business people who directed the conquest of the wilderness and law enforcement officials like Garret and Earp who helped protect their interests.

While businessmen laid out town sites and planned cities, started industries, and developed mines, often times their efforts were thwarted by criminal elements who kept the materials and funds from their appointed destination. Posses were formed, and, directed by lawmen made sure fleeing desperados were brought to justice. In the process, civility was brought to the lawless territory as well.

Using the examples set by those who helped bring order to the chaotic western frontier, The Principles of Posse Management offers pointers on how any to start up a focused team and run it smoothly and efficiently to completion of a task.

The Principles of Posse Management: Lessons from the Wild West

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The Pinks:

The First Women Detectives, Operatives, and Spies with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency

President-elect Abraham Lincoln showed no sign of being nervous or apprehensive about the late night ride Pinkerton operatives arranged for him to take on February 23, 1861. Kate Warne noted in her records of the events surrounding Mr. Lincoln leaving Pennsylvania that he was cooperative and congenial.

When the politician arrived at the depot in Baltimore with his colleagues and confidants, Ward Hill Lamon and Allan Pinkerton he was focused and quiet. He was stooped over and leaning on Pinkerton’s arm. The posture helped disguise his height and when Kate greeted with a slight hug and called him “brother” no one outside the small group thought anything of the exchange. For all anyone knew Kate and Mr. Lincoln were siblings embarking on a trip together. Neither the porter nor the train’s brakeman noticed Mr. Lincoln as the President-elect. Kate made it clear to the limited railroad staff on board that her brother was not well and in need of solitude.

It took a mere two minutes from the time the distinguished orator reached the depot until he and his companions were comfortably on board the special train. The conductor was instructed to leave the station only after he was handed a package Pinkerton had told him to expect. The conductor was informed the package contained important government documents that needed to be kept secret and delivered to Washington with “great haste.” In truth the documents were a bundle of newspapers wrapped and sealed.

The bell on the engine clanged and the train lurched forward. The gas lamps in the sleeping berths in Mr. Lincoln’s car were not lit and the shades were pulled. Kate and Pinkerton agreed it would be best to prevent curious passengers waiting at various stops from seeing in and possibly recognizing the President-elect. No one spoke as the train slowly pulled away from the station. All hoped the journey would be uneventful and were hesitant to make a sound for fear any conversation might jeopardize what had been done to get Mr. Lincoln to this point. It was Mr. Lincoln who broke the silence with an amusing story he had shared with Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtain the previous evening.

“I used to know an old farmer out in Illinois,” Mr. Lincoln told the three around him. “He took it into his head to venture into raising hogs. So he sent out to Europe and imported the finest breed of hogs that he could buy. The prize hot was put in a pen and the farmer’s two mischievous boys, James and John, were told to be sure not to let it out. But James let the brute out the very next day. The hog went straight for the boys and drove John up a tree. Then it went for the seat of James’s trousers and the only way the boy could save himself was by holding onto the porker’s tail. The hog would not give up his hunt or the boy his hold. After they had made a good many circles around the tree, the boy’s courage began to give out and he shouted to his brother: “I say, John, come down quick and help me let go of this hog.”

Mr. Lincoln’s traveling companions smiled politely and stifled a chuckle. Had the circumstances been different perhaps they would have laughed aloud. Undaunted by the trio’s subdued response, the President-elect continued to regale them with amusing tales of the people he’d met and experiences they shared. The train gained speed and soon Philadelphia was disappearing behind them.

To learn more about Operative Barkley, the cases she worked,

and the other women Pinkerton agents read

The Pinks:

The First Women Detectives, Operatives, and Spies with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency

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The Pinks:

The First Women Detectives, Operatives, and Spies with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency

Several months before the start of the Civil War, Kate Warne was masquerading as a Southern sympathizer and keeping company with women of refinement and wealth from the South. When war did break out, those women were unafraid to express how much in favor they were of the Rebels. Some of them were secretly supplying the Confederate forces with information they had acquired using their feminine wiles. Kate was tasked with staying close to opponents of the government who were seeking to overthrow it and secure proof that secrets were being traded.

For weeks Kate had been monitoring the movements of Mrs. Rose Greenhow, a Southern woman believed to be engaged in corresponding with Rebel authorities and furnishing them with valuable intelligence. By late August 1861, Allan Pinkerton and a handful of his most trusted operatives, including Kate, had compiled enough evidence against Rose that a warrant for her arrest was granted. She was outraged when Pinkerton detective agents invaded her home and began gathering boxes of secret reports, letters, and official, classified documents. She called the agents “uncouth ruffians” and objected to her home being searched.

Pinkerton and his team left none of Rose’s possessions intact in their quest to extract all suspicious paperwork. The headboards and footboards of all the beds were taken apart, mirrors were separated from their backings, pictures removed from frames, and cabinets and linen closets were inspected. Coded letters were found in shoes and dress pockets. Among the items found in the kitchen stove were orders from the War Department giving the organizational plan to increase the size of the regular army, a diary containing notes about military operations, and numerous incriminating letters from Union officers willing to trade their allegiance to their country for a romantic interlude with Mrs. Greenhow.

According to Rose’s account of the inspection of her house and the seizure of many, sensitive letters, the “intrusion was insulting.” One of the investigators at the scene complimented her on the “scope and quality” of the material found. It was “the most extensive private correspondence that has ever fallen under my examination,” the operative confessed. “There is not a distinguished name in America that is not found here. There is nothing that can come under the charge of treason, but enough to make the government dread and hold Mrs. Greenhow as a most dangerous adversary.”

Pinkerton had hoped to keep the arrest quiet, but Rose’s eight-year-old daughter made that impossible. After witnessing the operatives foraging through her room and the room of her deceased sister, she raced out the back door of the house shouting, “Mama’s been arrested! Mama’s been arrested!” Agents chased after the little girl. Having climbed a tree nothing could be done until she decided to come down.

A female detective Rose referred to in her memoirs as “Ellen” searched the suspected spy for vital papers hidden in her dress folds, gloves, shoes, or hair. Nothing was found. Historians suspect the operative Rose referred to as Ellen was Kate Warne. Kate divided her time between guarding the prisoner and questioning leads that could help the detective agency track and apprehend all members of the Greenhow spy ring. Rose realized quickly that Kate was not someone to be trifled with, and she kept her distance.

To learn more about Operative Ellen, the cases she worked,

and the other women Pinkerton agents read

The Pinks:

The First Women Detectives, Operatives, and Spies with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency

From the Women’s Studies Shelf

The Pinks
Chris Enss
TwoDot
c/o Rowman & Littlefield
9781493008339 $16.95 www.rowman.com

The Pinks: The First Women Detectives, Operatives, and Spies with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency is recommended for history, women’s issues, and sociology holdings with a special interest in law enforcement as it surveys the Pinkerton Detective Agency and the true stories surrounding the first woman detective in America and those who came after her. Chapters capture feats of courage, daring, and historical import as they follow female agents who pursue justice and whose exploits added to American history and early struggles for justice. No women’s history collection should be without this lively, important survey.

This from the Midwest Book Review

The Midwest Book Review

Established in 1976, the Midwest Book Review is an organization committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. The MBR publishes the following monthly book review magazines specifically designed for community and academic librarians, booksellers, and the general reading public: