Cattle rustling and train robberies were an inviting way to make a living in 1800s Wyoming... Until you were caught

By Mat Brost

Amid the masked faces of a 200-person lynch mob, an erect telegraph pole supports the lifeless body of a large man, hung by the neck. Blood trickles from the butchered lesions that were, moments before, ears. Drops resonate on the tips of his boots before dropping to the ground, instantly absorbed by the thirsty sand.

Although not a well-known outlaw, "Big Nose" George Parrott is the leading character in one of Wyoming's most bizarre Wild-West tales.

After being on the run for two years, George Parrott was apprehended for the murders of two authorities during a failed train robbery. In a Rawlins,Wyoming,court during the winter of 1880, George was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang the following year.

George failed to live to his execution date, however, as the angry citizens of Rawlins took it upon themselves to execute George. A lynch mob formed, and George was forced into a noose flung over a telegraph pole. George struggled frantically and the poorly tied noose loosened just enough for George's head to slide through, but not his ears. The noose peeled George's ears right off his head during the struggle.

The mob found a more suitable rope for a man of George's size, and a short time later, his dead body dangled from the pole.

In a grisly scene, doctors performing the autopsy were curious to see if the criminal brain was shaped differently than that of a noncriminal. Doctors John Osbourne and Thomas Maghee removed George's skullcap. While Maghee examined the brain, Osbourne began skinning George's body. Parts of George's chest and thighs were skinned and tanned, and eventually Osbourne fashioned the skin into a pair of shoes.

Dr. John Osbourne wore these shoes proudly. In 1892, Osbourne was elected as Wyoming's first Democratic governor. At his first inaugural ball, Osbourne wore the shoes made from "Big Nose" George's criminal remains.

"It's such an unusual story that a lot of people come just to see it," said Judy Smith, employee of the Carbon County Museum where the infamous shoes, and George's earless death mask and skull are on display. The Big Nose George exhibit is the main attraction for the museum according to Smith.

As a small time criminal, Big Nose George Parrott started robbing pay wagons and stealing horses with who some believe were the infamous James Brothers, Frank and Jesse. The gang grew tired of the smaller crimes, and devised a plan to derail a Union Pacific train.

The gang made two failed attempts at a train heist. On their second attempt, the gang destroyed a section of track with hopes of triggering a derailment. Before the train arrived, Union Pacific employees discovered the damaged track. Discontent developed between gang members and arguments broke out as to whether they should kill the track inspectors before they make repairs. The gang knew they didn't want the wrath of the railroad, so they watched as the track was repaired and their second attempt foiled. Knowing authorities would be looking for the culprits, the gang split up. George was among the outlaws who retreated to Rattlesnake Canyon, where they set up camp.

Special Railroad Detective Henry H. "Tip" Vincent and Carbon County Sheriff Deputy Robert Widdowfield set out to apprehend the men responsible for the damaged railroad track. Both were killed in a firefight after finding the gang’s campsite.

After killing Vincent and Widdowfield, the remaining gang split up, and never worked together again. George ended up in Miles City, Mont., two years after the murders, where he was arrested for public intoxication. While in jail, he boasted about the crimes he and his gang had committed. "I believe it’s untrue that the James Gang worked with George," said Smith. "The dates just don’t quite match up." A telegraph was sent to Sheriff Robert Rankin, who wasted no time traveling to Montana to take George back to stand trial in Rawlins.

On the way to Rawlins, George's train was stopped by a lynch mob. After stringing him up, George said he would confess to everything he knew about the murders if the mob let him stand trial. The mob obliged, and George was allowed to travel on to Rawlins.

George's trial opened on Nov. 8, 1880, where he immediately requested a change of venue on the grounds that the judge was biased towards him. Another judge was brought in to hear the trial. In early December, George was sentenced to hang on April 2, 1881. Upon hearing his sentence, George wept uncontrollably in the courtroom.

In March 1881, George managed to escape from his shackles and knock the jailer unconscious. The jailer's wife heard the commotion and held George at gun point until he returned to his cell.

empted escape, and a mob formed. Suddenly, groups of masked men and women started making their way through the streets of Rawlins. The mob congregated around the jail and took George from his cell. George was escorted to the corner of Third and East Front Streets where the mob had grown to 200 people. They strung up George from a telegraph pole and placed a whiskey barrel under his feet. George begged unsuccessfully to be shot. After numerous attempts, George’s body hung dead.

Despite George's death, the citizens of Rawlins weren't done with him yet. Dr. John Osborne and Dr. Thomas Maghee, and his 15-yearold apprentice, Lillian Heath, were curious to see if there were any differences in George's criminal brain, which might have caused him to kill. They cut the top of George's skull off, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Lillian Heath kept the skullcap and eventually became Wyoming’s first female doctor.

In what was seemingly an act of vengance, Dr. Osborne created a death mask— a molding of George’s earless head. He also removed and tanned the skin from George’s thighs and chest, and had a pair of shoes made, which he wore to his inaugural ball in 1893 as the first Democratic governor of Wyoming. After George's body was mutilated, his remains were buried in a whiskey barrel in the yard behind Dr. Maghee’s office. On May 11, 1950, an excavating crew unearthed the barrel. After matching Lillian Heath's skullcap to the rest of the skull, it was concluded that the remains belonged to Big Nose George. Whether his fate was justified, however, is disputed. "Some people think it was totally barbaric," said Smith. "Others believe it was pretty standard for the time".

George's legacy lives on in the Carbon County Museum in Rawlins.