FREE: Vintage Grand Trunk Railroad Police Officer Shoulder Patch

The listing, Vintage Grand Trunk Railroad Police Officer Shoulder Patch has ended.

Listed for your Bidding Consideration, is this Vintage Grand Trunk RailRoad Michigan Police shoulder patch.

This patch has been worn but is in excellent condition.

It is 4 1/4 inches long by 3 1/4 inches wide. In the center of this Blue and Gold Patch is the Full Color State of Michigan Seal.

The history of railroad police in the United States traces back to the beginnings of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. In the mid nineteenth century, the number of U.S. Marshals was insufficient to police the railway lines sprawling across the vast frontier.

Passing through areas far removed from the protective measures available in populated centers left railroad lines and their passengers and freight vulnerable to banditry. Through his detective business, Allan Pinkerton met George B. McClellan, the president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad and Illinois Central Railroad, as well as its attorney, Abraham Lincoln. With Lincoln's encouragement, Pinkerton began supplying detectives for the railroad.

Railroad contracts were subsequently a mainstay of Pinkerton's until railroad companies gradually developed their own police departments in the years following the Civil War. After the founding of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers in 1863, Pinkerton's and the new railroad police agencies became instrumental in crushing strikes of rail workers.

Another major concern was pilferage by employees, especially the passenger conductor, who had the greatest authority and freedom on passenger trains and collected ticket fees. Pinkerton began this work for the South Michigan Line in 1854, and on 1 February 1855, he created the North West Police Agency with $10,000 given for the cause by six anxious Midwestern railroads.

Bid now and with complete confidence. Add this hard to find patch to your Michigan collection, you will not be disappointed!

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