Scope and Contents On May 27, 1894, Samuel Dashiell Hammett was born in Maryland the second of three children. When he was 13 he dropped out of school to help support his family. He joined the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in 1915. The time he spent here would be his inspiration for many of his infamous crime fiction and detective stories. At some point in his early years, Hammett dropped his first name, going by his middle name Dashiell or Dash. When the United States joined the First World War, Hammett...