Senate Moves to Outlaw Private Armed Guards
Legislature targets 'obnoxious agents of moneyed power' as Kinnear bill passes unanimously.
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The anti-Pinkerton bill, which a year since aroused so much feeling and bitter opposition in the legislature, went through the Senate today without a dissenting vote, and miners and other workingmen will begin to think that this legislature takes a genuine interest in protecting them from these very obnoxious agents of moneyed power. The Kinnear bill, passed today, makes it unlawful for any corporation or individual to maintain or employ an armed body of men to protect their property or employees. It was claimed on the floor of the Senate today that at Newcastle, King county, nearly sixty so-called Pinkerton detectives patrol the coal mines and mining districts, armed with Winchester rifles. Now that the bill abolishing such armed guard has passed the Senate and may soon become a law, Pinkerton and other detective forces are naturally much disturbed.
“The Kinnear bill, passed today, makes it unlawful for any corporation or individual to maintain or employ an armed body of men to protect their property or employes.”
This reflects a recurring tension in labor history regarding the use of private security and state power against organized workers. Much like current debates surrounding corporate policing and privatized security, the 1891 legislature sought to reclaim public order from the hands of private interest groups.
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