The way the operative went about his work was peculiar, but effective. He did not attempt to belittle the power of the organization, or to insinuate that the basic principles of the newly-founded brotherhood were not good and sound. What he did do was to befoul and defame the character of President Estes. He privately told a number of the members that George Estes was an adventurer who had founded the order for his own personal benefit ; that he was a thief, a robber, a traitor, and God knows what not.
This talk was repeated and believed, and before long the powerful Sacramento lodge became a shadow of its former self. The members nearly all resigned, because they believed the slanderous rumors about President E^stes. The decline and fall of the Sacramento lodge brought about the gradual decadence of the order, and within about one year after it had been launched, the United Brotherhood of Railway Em-
The Pinkerton Labor Spy. 189
ployees had ceased to be an important factor in the industrial world.
One curious phase of the work of the Agency in this case was that, while they were busy fighting the different railroad orders on the Union Pacific system, they were intriguing through their operative at Sacramento to induce the members of the United Brotherhood to leave it and join the International Association of Machinists, or some other old, long-established railroad trades union.
It is unnecessary to say that the actions of the Pinkerton operative at Sacramento were strictly in accord with the instructions given him by Division Manager James McParland and General Supt. B. F. Kemble of the San Francisco and Los Angeles offices.