Why are they Called Private Eyes?

In 1850, the sheriff of Cook County Illinois opened up the nation's first private detective agency. The logo he devised was a big, all-seeing eye. This man, the first "private eye," was Allan Pinkerton. Things went well. President Lincoln asked him to establish the Secret Service. Today is the late Allan Pinkerton's birthday. He is survived, of course, by the company that bears his name: The Pinkerton Agency is now part of the nation's largest security firm.

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