Pinkerton sends an agent to catch a thief on the Southern railway In the build-up to the Civil War, Montgomery is a thriving town—a local capital grown rich on cotton and the railroad. When $10, 000 disappears from the railroad, suspicion falls on a clerk named Maroney, an upstanding citizen whose only vice is a love of horseracing. The railroad hires the South’s best detectives to tail Maroney, looking for a clue as to where the money has gone, but they find nothing. So they turn to the only man who can help: Allan Pinkerton. The head of the nation’s first modern detective agency, Pinkerton invented undercover detective work, and he sends his finest agent, Mr. Porter, to infiltrate the high society of the old South. Whether Maroney is the culprit or merely a scapegoat, Porter will get to the truth. Allan Pinkerton never rests until justice is served. This ebook features a new introduction by Otto Penzler and has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.