You never let facts get in the way of a good story, but "The Pinkerton Method" is based on the robbery of a Rock Island express car on March 12, 1886.  The brakeman was Harry Schwartz and his accomplice was Newton Watt, an expressman.  Kellogg Nichols was the employee of the US Express Company killed in the robbery.  The story is fairly true to the facts of the case recorded in the Pinkerton Agency's files.