Yes I appreciate that, we would have had similar in the UK at various points, but I would anticipate the violence coming from government troops/police under the guise of ‘maintaining public order’ rather than private security under the control of a private industrialist, that’s all.
Did the UK have an equivalent of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency? Back in those days, it was essentially a private army-for-hire for industrialists.
Not that I’m aware of. Of course we had ‘private’ armies roaming the colonies - East India Company being the obvious example. But I’m not aware of any on home soil - at least beyond normal security guards who certainly wouldn’t have had the power to shoot strikers en masse.
Mind you the strikers usually gave as good as they got. In fact, that’s when the National Guard or Army was usually called in, because the Pinkertons were getting their asses handed to em. Look up the Homestead Strike of 1892 for a good example of this.
The Peterloo Massacre was inflicted by the Manchester Yeomanry Cavalry, raised against possible invasion by Napoleon but not let to go to waste when starving mill workers got all cheeky. (Mike Leigh made a movie about it. The England of Mike Leigh is in a different universe than Julian Fellows’, although Topsy Turvy could have been a common ground if it included a fair-minded nobleman who stills all troubled waters)
The fact that the railroads carried the US mail was used a legal fig leaf to call out US army troops to suppress the Pullman strike. They shot 30 strikers.
Yeah, I thought the guys dressed like military were military - the National Guard, brought in to maintain thr peace. The Pinkertons would be dressed in civvies, probably suits. They were detectives, not soldiers, although they did do so e paramilitary stuff and engaged in some strike busting. But if you see lines of uniformed men with guns and an officer commanding them, they aren’t Pinkertons, they are soldiers of some kind.
The Pinkertons would have been the guys in civvies organizing the response, calling the guard, liasing between the military and the owner, perhaps trying to get dirt on the organizers, that sort of thing.
The Pinkerton detective agency never went away. It was eventually bought by a Swedish security firm.
Indeed, the Pinkertons were in Nerd News last year because Wizards of the Coast hired them to confiscate some leaked Magic product. As far as Uniforms etc., I think the Pinkertons of 1883 were as much that era’s version of Blackwater as they were investigators. They busted plenty of heads.
Sure they did. I’m sure they had ‘operators’ who did nasty stuff. But I’ve never seen Pinkertons dressed like soldiers being ordered around in squads by a soldier.
They were caught so fast and easily because the people who caught them had already seen the multiple episodes of Downton Abbey where the same things happen.
Just finished S2 with my family. We enjoyed it as much as S1: a big-budget historical soap opera with an appealing cast, beautiful settings and costumes, and mostly-interesting (if often predictable) storylines.
We just knew that Peggy and her editor were going to get into some Jim Crow bad craziness when they went South. We almost expected the editor to be lynched in front of her, but that would have been 'way too much for a show like this. As soon as Ada’s husband mentioned his bad back, we also thought he was probably doomed (should have brought in Dr. House’s grandfather for a cancer consult). It took Oscar’s second meeting with the railroad financier before we figured out that it was a con game, though (“Oh, no, sir, I couldn’t possibly take your huge check…!”).
We also thought Marian would break it off with Cousin Dashiell when he either flatly forbade her to continue teaching, or revealed himself to be a racist jerk with Peggy. That didn’t happen, obviously.
Sorry we still haven’t seen a young T.R., although it was nice to see President Chester Arthur (also a New Yorker) at the dedication ceremonies for the Brooklyn Bridge. I wish historian David McCullough had lived long enough to see that; some great scenes and fireworks sfx for the event.
The blue-coated troops in Pittsburgh were indeed from the Pennsylvania National Guard; we saw Russell talking to his chief of staff earlier about the Governor ordering them to Pittsburgh in case there was trouble. I agree that ordinarily a businessman wouldn’t be giving orders to an officer in charge of the troops, but I suppose Russell is so powerful, wealthy and influential that the Governor instructed the officer, “Consider yourself and your men to be at Mr. Russell’s disposal,” or words to that effect.
We particularly liked the last episode: the Russells’ cook and servant enjoy a sweet night out together at the opera… the bald valet and his daughter are able to heartwarmingly reconnect… the Van Rhijn footman gets his alarm-clock patent… Mrs. Russell has her opening-night triumph at the Met… Marian gets a nice front-steps smooch from Larry… Ada learns she now has a fortune and unexpected new power within the Van Rhijn household. All a bit too tidy, perhaps, but it left us smiling.
We wondered, will Ada now use her buckets o’ cash to hire the Pinkertons to track down the con artists who ripped off Oscar? Probably not, but it could be fun to have a detective side-story in S3.
I could see Ada doing that just to shut Agnes up.