{{Short description|American detective (1855–1928)}} {{use American English|date=September 2025}} {{use mdy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Charlie Siringo | image = Charles A Siringo.jpg | alt = | caption = Siringo, {{circa|1890}} | birth_name = Charles Angelo Sartana Siringo | birth_date = {{birth date|1855|2|7}}<ref name=Ben/>{{rp|xvii}}<ref name="Charles">{{cite book |last1=Siringo |first1=Charles |title=A Cowboy Detective |date=1912 |publisher=Arcadia Press |isbn=9781545001882 |pages=9–13}}</ref> | birth_place = [[Matagorda County, Texas]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1928|10|18|1855|02|07}} | death_place = [[Altadena, California]] | other_names = | known_for = Being a lawman and [[Pinkerton National Detective Agency|Pinkerton]] detective | occupation = Lawman, detective, [[bounty hunter]], cowboy, author, merchant }}
'''Charles Angelo Sartana Siringo''' (February 7, 1855 – October 18, 1928) was an American lawman, detective, [[bounty hunter]], and agent for the [[Pinkerton National Detective Agency]] during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
==Early life== [[File:Young Siringo.jpg|thumb|Young Siringo]] Siringo was born on [[Matagorda Peninsula]] in [[Matagorda County, Texas]], to an [[Irish people|Irish]] [[immigrant]] mother and an Italian immigrant father of Sicilian origins who arrived from Genoa, where his family had long since moved.<ref>{{cite web|title=Charlie Siringo|url=http://www.thrillingdetective.com/eyes/siringo.html|access-date=16 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.niaf.org/research/contribution.asp |title=Italian American Contributions |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520214950/https://www.niaf.org/research/contribution.asp |archive-date=2013-05-20 }}</ref> His father died when Siringo was a year old. He attended public school until the start of the [[American Civil War]], then took his first [[cowpuncher]] lessons in 1867 before moving to St. Louis after his mother remarried. Siringo attended Fisk public school for a time while in New Orleans but then started work as a [[cowboy]] for [[Abel Head "Shanghai" Pierce]] in April 1871, after returning to Texas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fsi32 |title=Siringo, Charles Angelo |work=The Handbook of Texas Online |access-date= 2009-07-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Siringo |first1=Charles |title=A Texas Cowboy, Or, Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony |date=1885 |publisher=Pantianos Classics |isbn=9781540575937 |pages=10–11, 16–18, 29–31, 34}}</ref><ref name=Charles/><ref name=Ben/>{{rp|75–76}}
In July 1877, Siringo was in [[Dodge City, Kansas]], where he survived an encounter with [[Bat Masterson]].<ref name=Charles/>{{rp|123–125}}
Siringo was already working as a [[cattle drive]] cowboy when he started working for the [[Potter County, Texas#LX Ranch|LX Ranch]] in 1877. This job entailed chasing after LX cattle stolen by [[Billy the Kid]] in 1880. Siringo stopped working for the LX Ranch when he married Mamie in 1884 and opened a tobacco store in [[Caldwell, Kansas]]. Their daughter Viola was born on 28 February 1885. He began writing his autobiography, ''A Texas Cow Boy; Or Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony''. A year later it was published to wide acclaim, and Siringo moved his family to Chicago in the spring of 1886 for publication of a second printing.<ref name=Ben>{{cite book |last1=Pingenot |first1=Ben |title=Siringo |date=1989 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |location=College Station |isbn=0890963819 |pages=3–13, 55–58}}</ref><ref name=Charles/>{{rp|98–100}}
===Pinkerton service=== [[File:Texas Cowboy 1886 (Cover).jpg|thumb|Cover of ''A Texas Cow Boy'']] In 1886, Siringo witnessed the [[Chicago]] [[Haymarket affair]]. This prompted him to join the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, using [[gunfighter|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. His wife died in 1890, and his daughter went to live with his wife's aunt and her husband, Emma and Will F. Read.<ref name=Ben/>{{rp|15,21–22}}<ref name=Charles/>
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]].<ref name=Ben/>{{rp|16–17}}<ref name=Charles/>{{rp|79}} He began operating [[undercover|under cover]], a relatively new technique at the time, and infiltrated gangs of [[robbery|robbers]] and [[rustling|rustlers]], making more than 100 arrests.<ref name=TD-Siringo>[http://www.thrillingdetective.com/eyes/siringo.html Siringo] - Thrilling Detective.</ref>
In the early 1890s, he found himself assigned to office work in the [[Denver, Colorado|Denver]] office of the agency, work which he greatly despised. During that time, he worked with noted Pinkerton agent, gunman, and later [[assassination|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 February 1891, assuming the name Charles T. Leon, Siringo undertook a 6-month investigation for New Mexico Governor [[L. Bradford Prince]]. Siringo investigated the attempted assassination of [[Elias S. Stover]], [[Thomas B. Catron]], T.B. Mills, and Joseph Anchete. Siringo was able to infiltrate [[Las Gorras Blancas]] and the [[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. Siringo did, however, purchase 265 acres near [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]], and established his Sunny Slope Ranch. Located north of Arroyo Chamiso, Siringo built a two-room [[adobe]] home, with a view of the [[Sangre de Cristo Mountains]].<ref name=Ben/>{{rp|25–32}}<ref name=Charles/>{{rp|48–55,58–59}}
In 1892, Siringo was assigned to a case in the [[Idaho Panhandle]], [[Silver Valley (Idaho)|Silver Valley]], for the [[Mine Owners' Protective Association]]. He assumed the identity of Charles Leon Allison, working as a shoveler in the Gem Mine. Siringo at first turned down the assignment, telling his boss, James McParland, that he sympathized with the union miners. McParland later asked him to go anyway, with the agreement that Siringo could leave if he still felt the same way after seeing the situation. Siringo infiltrated the Gem Miners' Union, and decided that the leadership was in the hands of anarchists such as [[George Pettibone]].<ref>Charle. A. Siringo ''Two Evil Isms: Pinkertonism and Anarchism'' (Chicago: publ. by the author, 1915) 36-38.</ref> After 14 months, which included the [[Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor strike of 1892]], Siringo's undercover work and testimony helped convict 18 union leaders.<ref name=Ben/>{{rp|33–46}}<ref name=Charles/>{{rp|55–76}}
Siringo married Lillie Thomas in 1893, and their son William Lee Roy was born in 1896. However, they soon divorced, when she wanted to live in Los Angeles, California.<ref name=Ben/>{{rp|48,55}}
For 4 years starting in 1899, posing under the aliases "Charles L. Carter", an alleged Mexican outlaw on the run from the law for [[murder]], "Chas. Tony Lloyd", and later as "Harry Blevins", Siringo infiltrated [[Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch]]. Siringo called Butch Cassidy, "the shrewdest and most daring out law of the present age," and the Wild Bunch "kept a system of blind post offices all the way from the [[Hole-in-the-Wall (Wyoming)|Hole-in-the-Wall]] in northern Wyoming to [[Alma, New Mexico|Alma]] in southern New Mexico, these post offices being in rocky crevices or on top of round mounds on the desert." In Siringo's words, "I closed the [[Union Pacific]] train robbery case after having traveled more than 25,000 miles by rail, vehicles, afoot, and on horseback, and after being on the operation constantly for about four years. The 'Wild Bunch' during these four years were pretty well scattered, many being put in their graves and others in prison." During that time, Siringo referred to both Tom Horn and [[Joe Lefors]] as friends.<ref name=TD-Siringo /><ref name=Ben/>{{rp|59–60}}<ref name=Charles/>{{rp|92–93,120–148}}
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. Horn was able to obtain vital information from explosives expert Bill Speck that revealed to investigators who the suspects were who had killed Sheriff Josiah Hazen,<ref>[http://www.odmp.org/officer/6276-sheriff-josiah-hazen Josiah Hazen] - Officer Down Memorial Page</ref> who had been shot and killed during the pursuit of the robbers.<ref>[http://www.tom-horn.com/story-wilcox-train.htm Wilcox Train Robbery] - TomHorn.com</ref> [[File:Cowboy Detective (Cover).jpg|thumb|Cover of ''A Cowboy Detective'']]
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 [[Lynching|lynch]] Haywood, Pettibone, [[Charles Moyer]], and Haywood's [[lawyer]] [[Clarence Darrow]], which prevented the hanging.<ref name=Ben/>{{rp|61–63}}
==After the Pinkertons== In 1907, Siringo married Grace, after resigning from the Pinkertons. That marriage ended in divorce in 1909. Siringo accepted some assignments from [[William J. Burns]]' [[William J. Burns International Detective Agency|Detective Agency]].<ref name=Ben/>{{rp|64,67–68}}
Siringo wrote another book, ''Pinkerton's Cowboy Detective''. The Pinkerton Detective Agency delayed publication for two years, feeling it violated the confidentiality agreement that Siringo had signed upon hiring. Siringo capitulated, and deleted their name from the book title and elsewhere in the book. Thus, ''Pinkerton's Cowboy Detective'' became ''A Cowboy Detective'', and the names of other characters were fictionalized.<ref name=TD-Siringo /><ref name=Ben/>{{rp|69–74}}
In 1913, Siringo was briefly married to Ellen Partain. This was Siringo's last attempt at marriage.<ref name=Ben/>{{rp|76}}
Angry with the agency after it sabotaged the publication of his cowboy memoirs, Siringo published ''Two Evil Isms: Pinkertonism and Anarchism'', a revealing chronicle of Pinkerton methods and deception. Siringo wrote that he had been instructed to commit voter fraud in the re-election campaign of Colorado Governor [[James Hamilton Peabody|James Peabody]]. Siringo said, "I voted eight times, as per [Pinkerton supervisor] [[James McParland|McParland's]] orders—three times before the same election judges".<ref>Martin, MaryJoy (2004). ''The Corpse on Boomerang Road: Telluride's War on Labor 1899–1908''. Montrose, Colorado: Western Reflections. p. 267. {{ISBN|978-1-932738-02-5}}.</ref> The election was unique, owing to fraud by Democrats and Republicans that resulted in Colorado having three different governors seated during the course of one day. In the book, Siringo defended his work against the leadership of the Western Federation of Miners, but he admitted "one dark blot on my conscience" for his work as an informant among the coal miners of southern Colorado, for the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company: "... I hated to report their threats against the greedy corporation which treated them as slaves."<ref>Charles A. Siringo, ''Two Evil Isms: Pinkertonism and Anarchism''(Chicago: publ. by the author, 1915) 71, 108-109.</ref>
The Pinkerton Agency succeeded in suppressing the book, charging Siringo with criminal libel, and calling for his arrest and extradition to Chicago. New Mexico Governor [[William C. McDonald (governor)|McDonald]] denied the extradition request. Yet, Pinkerton was successful in getting a court order impounding the book's plates and remaining copies.<ref name=Ben/>{{rp|84–85}}
In 1916, Siringo began working as a [[New Mexico Mounted Patrol]]man to assist in the capture of numerous [[cattle raiding|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.<ref name=knuthco1>{{cite web |last=Dworkin |first=Mark |title=Tombstone History Archives - Charlie Siringo, Letter Writer |url=http://home.earthlink.net/~knuthco1/recent/Siringo.htm |access-date=16 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604153221/http://home.earthlink.net/~knuthco1/recent/Siringo.htm |archive-date=4 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
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''. In 1925, Siringo served as a consultant for [[William S. Hart]]'s ''[[Tumbleweeds (1925 film)|Tumbleweeds]]''.<ref name=Ben/>{{rp|95,99,102–103,105,109}}
In 1927, he released another book, ''Riata and Spurs'', a composite of ''Lone Star Cowboy'' and ''A Cowboy Detective''. The Pinkerton Agency again halted publication, resulting in a bowdlerized copy, with many fictional accounts rather than the true accounts that Siringo had envisioned.<ref name=Ben/>{{rp|112,123,127–133}}
===Death=== Siringo died in [[Altadena, California]], on October 18, 1928. He was buried at [[Inglewood Park Cemetery]], [[Inglewood, California]].<ref name=Ben/>{{rp|149}}
==In popular culture== * In Loren Estleman's ''Ragtime Cowboys'', Charles Siringo is a lead character partnered with Dashiell Hammett to engage in an investigation. * In [[Sergio Sollima]]'s 1967 [[Spaghetti Western]] film ''[[Face to Face (1967 film)|Face to Face]]'', a character patterned after Siringo (but with his first name being spelled "Charley") is portrayed by [[William Berger (actor)|William Berger]]. Siringo's appearance in the film is an [[anachronism]], as ''Face to Face'' takes place in the [[American Civil War]], when the real Siringo was only a child. * Charles Siringo also appears as a character in Leif Enger's ''So Brave, Young, and Handsome'' (2008; {{ISBN|978-0-87113-985-6}}). * Siringo Road, a major thoroughfare on the south side of the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, is named for the former detective and writer. * In [[Larry McMurtry]]'s novel ''[[Streets of Laredo (novel)|Streets of Laredo]]'', Call reads Siringo's first book and tells [[Charles Goodnight]] that it is mostly yarns. * Mike Blakely's original composition and song titled "Charlie Siringo" was about the life of Charlie Siringo. * Charles Siringo is referenced admiringly in Arthur Penn's quirky 1976 Western ''[[The Missouri Breaks]]''. * Charles Siringo appeared in the comic book "[[Wynonna Earp]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=Wynonna Earp Legends: Doc Holliday #2|url=https://www.comixology.com/Wynonna-Earp-Legends-Doc-Holliday-2/digital-comic/467194?ref=c2l0ZS9saXN0L2Rlc2t0b3AvZ3JpZExpc3QvbGlzdDE0ODEy|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170104234953/https://www.comixology.com/Wynonna-Earp-Legends-Doc-Holliday-2/digital-comic/467194?ref=c2l0ZS9saXN0L2Rlc2t0b3AvZ3JpZExpc3QvbGlzdDE0ODEy|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 4, 2017|publisher=Comixology/IDW|access-date=4 January 2017}}</ref>
==Bibliography==
===Works by=== {{Refbegin}} * {{cite book |title=A Texas Cow Boy: Or, Fifteen Years On The Hurricane Deck of A Spanish Pony |last=Siringo |first=Charles A. |author-link=Charlie Siringo |author-mask=1 |year=1885 |publisher=M. Umbdenstock and Company |location=Chicago |isbn=0-14-043751-7 |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38309/38309-h/38309-h.htm |access-date=2014-04-09}} * {{cite book |title=A Texas Cow Boy: Or, Fifteen Years On The Hurricane Deck of A Spanish Pony [2nd edition] |last=Siringo |first=Charles A. |author-link=Charlie Siringo |author-mask=1 |year=1886 |publisher=Siringo & Dobson |location=Chicago |url=https://archive.org/details/texascowboyorfif00siri |access-date=2014-04-09}} * {{cite book |title=A Cowboy Detective: A True Story of Twenty-Two Years With A World-Famous Detective Agency |last=Siringo |first=Charles A. |author-link=Charlie Siringo |author-mask=1 |year=1912 |publisher=W. B. Conkey Company |location=Chicago |isbn=0-8032-9189-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/cowboydetectivet00siririch |access-date=2014-04-09}} * {{cite book |title=Two Evil Isms, Pinkertonism and Anarchism: By A Cowboy Detective Who Knows, as He Spent Twenty-Two Years in the Inner Circle of Pinkerton's National Detective Agency |last=Siringo |first=Charles A. |author-link=Charlie Siringo |author-mask=1 |year=1915 |isbn=1-4297-6551-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924002532475|access-date=2014-04-09}} * {{cite book |title=A Lone Star cowboy |last=Siringo |first=Charles A. |author-link=Charlie Siringo |author-mask=1 |year=1919 |location=Santa Fe |url=https://archive.org/details/lonestarcowboybe00siri |access-date=2014-04-09}} * {{cite book |title=A Song Companion of A Lone Star Cowboy |last=Siringo |first=Charles A. |author-link=Charlie Siringo |author-mask=1 |year=1919 |location=Santa Fe }} * {{cite book |title=A History of "Billy the Kid" |last=Siringo |first=Charles A. |author-link=Charlie Siringo |author-mask=1 |year=1920 |publisher=Charles A. Siringo |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbillyki00siririch |access-date=2014-04-09}} * {{cite book |title=Riata and Spurs: The Story Of A Lifetime Spent In The Saddle As Cowboy And Ranger |last=Siringo |first=Charles A. |author-link=Charlie Siringo |author-mask=1 |author2=Gifford Pinchot |year=1927 |isbn=1-4179-1067-4 |author2-link=Gifford Pinchot }} {{Refend}}
===Works about=== {{Refbegin}} * Barclay, Donald A. "Charles A. Siringo". ''Nineteenth-Century American Western Writers''. Ed. Robert L. Gale. ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'' Vol. 186. Detroit: Gale, 1997. {{ISBN|978-0-7876-1682-3}}. * {{cite book |title=Charlie Siringo's West: An Interpretive Biography |last=Lamar |first=Howard R. |author-link=Howard R. Lamar |year=2005 |publisher=University Of New Mexico Press |isbn=0-8263-3669-8 |title-link=Charlie Siringo's West: An Interpretive Biography }} * {{cite book |title=Charles A. Siringo: A Texas Picaro |last=Peavy |first=Charles D. |year=1967 |publisher=Steck-Vaughn Company |location=Austin, Texas |url=https://archive.org/details/charlesasiringot00peav|url-access=registration }} {{OCLC search link|2019759}} * {{cite book |title=Siringo: The True Story Of Charles A. Siringo, Texas Cowboy, Longhorn Trail Driver, Private Detective, Rancher, New Mexico Ranger and Author |last=Pingenot |first=Ben E. |year=1989 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |location=College Station, Texas |isbn=0-89096-381-9 }} * {{cite book |title=The Floor of Heaven: A True Tale of the Last Frontier and the Yukon Gold Rush |last=Blum |first=Howard |author-link=Howard Blum |year=2011 |publisher=Crown Publishers |isbn=978-0-307-46172-8 |title-link=The Floor of Heaven: A True Tale of the Last Frontier and the Yukon Gold Rush }} {{Refend}} Ward, Nathan. Son of the Old West. NY: Grove Atlantic,2023. Coming on 5 September 2023. ISBN 978-0-8021-6208-3
== See also == {{Portal|Biography}}
==References== {{Reflist}} * [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fsi32 "Siringo, Charles Angelo Sartana"]. ''The Handbook of Texas Online''. Retrieved 2015-01-16
.https://open.spotify.com/track/5MmBoF8woOynv8sU71Lwgm?si=LUCNfspaRwC5mvgxTsEqbw
==External links== {{Commons category|Charles Siringo|Charlie Siringo}} * {{Gutenberg author | id=39216}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Charles Angelo Siringo}} * {{Librivox author |id=2578}} * {{Find a Grave|9004|access-date=August 28, 2010}}
{{Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Siringo, Charlie}} [[Category:1855 births]] [[Category:1928 deaths]] [[Category:American people of Irish descent]] [[Category:American people of Italian descent]] [[Category:American police officers]] [[Category:Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery]] [[Category:Cowboys]] [[Category:Labor detectives]] [[Category:Law enforcement officials from California]] [[Category:Law enforcement officials from New Mexico]] [[Category:Lawmen of the American Old West]] [[Category:People from Matagorda County, Texas]] [[Category:Pinkerton (detective agency)]] [[Category:American private investigators]] [[Category:Anti-crime activists]] [[Category:Bounty hunters]]