Private Detective. Born in New York City, almost nothing is known of her prior to 1856 when, as a young widow, she answered an employment advertisement placed by Alan Pinkerton. She was one of four new agents the Pinkerton Detective Agency hired that year and proved to be a natural, taking to undercover work easily. She had taken part in embezzlement and railroad security cases when in 1861 the Pinkertons developed the first lead about an anti-Lincoln conspiracy. She was one of several operative sent to Baltimore to uncover the plot, going undercover as a Southern belle and infiltrating the Barnum Hotel’s social circle, allowing her to confirm a plot wand offer key details. She then coordinated the operatives and devised a scheme to get Lincoln safely to Washington. When General McClellan requested Pinkerton’s for his own security, she was among the operatives assigned. Over her career she assisted in breaking the Rose O’Neal Greenhow spy ring in Washington, trapped a murderer and bank robber in Mississippi, thwarted a poisoner, and became supervisor of Pinkerton’s Female Detective Bureau. Pinkerton wrote that she had never disappointed him, never let him down, and was one of the top operatives his agency ever produced. In December 1867, she fell ill, and Pinkerton stayed by her side until she succumbed at about age 35. She was buried in Pinkerton family plot, her tombstone misspelled. All documents from the Pinkerton archive spelled her name Warne, but throughout her career she was also called Kay Warne, Kay Waren, Kay Warren, Kate Warne, Kate Waren, Kate Warren, Kitty Warne, Kitty Waren, Kitty Warren, Kittie Warren, Kittie Warne, Kittie Warren. (bio by: Iola)