Big Nose George Parrott was an outlaw who helped murder
two lawmen. After his lynching, Dr. Osborne skinned Big
Nose George's body and made his skin into a pair of
shoes. He later become the second Governor of Wyoming
and wore those shoes to his inaugural ball.
For the full story click here
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Big Nose George Parrott
Photo
Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
© All rights reserved
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Dr. Ben Sturgis, Carbon
County Coroner in 1950 on the left, Lou Nelson,
husband of Dr. Lillian Heath on the right.
Photo Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
©
All rights reserved |
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Bones of Big Nose discovered
May 11, 1950
Photo Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
© All rights reserved
Discovery of Bones
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Dr. Lillian Heath. First
female doctor in the state of Wyoming. Dr.
Heath apprenticed under Dr. Osborne and Dr.
Maghee before attending medical school.
Photo Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
©
All rights reserved
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Dr. Lillian Heath holding the
skull cap of Big Nose George Parrott a.k.a
George Francis Warden
Photo
Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
© All rights reserved
Dr. Lillian Heath |
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Monument to Robert
Widdowfield and Tip Vincent in Rattlesnake
Canyon on Elk Mountain
Photo Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
©
All rights reserved
Widdowfield & Vincent |
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Death Mask of Big Nose George
and shoes made of Big Nose George's Skin
Photos
Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
© All rights reserved
Death Mask |
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Bottom part of Big
Nose George's skull
Photo Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
©
All rights reserved |
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Dr. John Osborne
Photo Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
©
All rights reserved
Dr. John Osborne
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Dr. John Osborne, first
elected Democratic Governor of Wyoming
Photo Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
©
All rights reserved
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Dr. Thomas Maghee, 1903
Photo
Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
©
All right reserved
Dr.
Maghee |
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Rosa Rankin prevented the
escape of Big Nose George
Photo
Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
© All rights reserved
Rosa Rankin |
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The watch awarded to Rosa
Rankins for her bravery is inscribed :
“Presented to Mrs. Rosa Rankin by the County
Commissioners, Carbon County for bravery in
preventing the escape of Big Nose George from
jail March 22, 1881”
The watch is on display at
the Carbon County Museum
Photo Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
© All rights reserved |
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Front Street - site of Big
Nose George lynching
Photo
Courtesy of
Carbon County Museum
© All rights reserved
Lynching |
George Parrott, or George Francis Warden, better known
as Big Nose George was a member of a gang of horse
thieves and highwaymen. In the late 1870's they were
actively robbing pay wagons and stages of cash shipments
as well as taking involuntary contributions from
teamsters and passengers. This gang which had formed in
the Powder River country included Big Nose George, Joe
Manuse, Frank McKinney, Jack Campbell, Sim Jan, John
Wells a.k.a. Sandy, Tom Reed, Frank Tole and Dutch
“Charley” Burress. During 1880, in a pre-trial
interview, Big Nose stated that McKinney had claimed to
be Frank James. George further said that Sim Jan was
the leader of the gang. These two statements have led
to a lot of wild speculations that Frank and Sim were
actually the infamous James brothers, Frank and Jesse.
In mid-August
1878, the gang decided to try for a bigger haul and came
South from the Powder River to rob a Union Pacific
train. By August 16th, seven of them had
arrived at Medicine Bow Station. That night they broke
into a tool shack and stole the tools needed to draw
railroad spikes and remove fish plates. Intending to
derail a train and rob the wreckage, they went three or
four miles east of the station to a point where the
Union Pacific track crossed the Medicine Bow River.
Their timing was off! As they were loosening some
rails, the East bound train they intended to rob, came
past. George was on the bridge and the locomotive
almost struck him before he jumped to safety. The train
sped by, the engineer apparently assuming the outlaws
were a section gang. After Union Pacific No. 4 had
passed, the disgruntled gang rode over a hill and camped
until evening. Then they returned and finished
loosening a rail so they could ditch No. 3 Westbound.
After the spikes and fish plates were removed, a long
piece of telegraph wire was tied to the loose track so
that it could be pulled away just as the locomotive
reached it. As the outlaws lay in wait, out of site in
the brush, section foreman Eric Brown and his crew came
along. They discovered the tampered rail, but not
seeing anyone near the far end of the strand of
telegraph wire, the crew nervously repaired the track.
While they did so, McKinney wanted to shoot them, but
Big Nose George and Frank Tole objected, saying they
didn’t come to kill section men. The gang watched as
the railroaders fixed the rail, got on their handcar and
rode off.
At the first railroad telegraph, foreman Brown
reported the incident to his district supervisors in
Laramie. They immediately notified Albany and Carbon
County authorities. After some initial investigations,
a special two man posse was formed to hunt for the
culprits in Carbon County. Deputy Sheriff Robert
Widdowfield from the coal mining town of Carbon and
Special Railroad Detective Henry H. “Tip” Vincent took
up the pursuit. By the time they hit the trail, the
gang had headed south along Halleck Ridge, then on to
Elk Mountain where they camped in Rattlesnake Canyon.
One member of
the outlaw gang stood guard near the mouth of the canyon
so they would not be surprised by anyone who would
attempt to follow them. The day after they set up camp
the guard saw what he thought were two head of cattle.
On closer observation, he realized that what he was
seeing were two men on horseback. The guard reported
the approaching men to the rest of the gang. They
immediately put out their fire and hid in the brush
about twenty feet from the campfire. The gang agreed
that if the men were herders, they would let them pass
unharmed. When the lawmen arrived at the camp,
Widdowfield got off his horse and put his hand in the
ashes of the campfire. He remarked to his partner that
the ashes were very hot and that the gang must be
close. Frank Tole immediately fired, shooting
Widdowfield in the face. The deputy fell dead in the
ashes.
The gang
members then fired at Vincent who was trying to escape
by riding up the canyon. The gang ran after him firing
more shots. He fell from his horse, but managed to get
up on his knees and tried to raise his gun. The gang
fired again and Vincent fell dead They removed
Vincent’s boots and took his gun. Then they put a strap
around his legs and pulled him into the brush. Having
stolen both men’s weapons and one of their horses, they
covered the bodies with dead brush and sticks.
Shortly after
this the gang fled from Elk Mountain. After traveling a
short distance, the party began to divide up and take
separate routes back to the Powder River Country. Frank
Tole struck out on his own and was killed the next month
while trying to rob the Black Hills Stage Line. The
remainder of the gang never worked together again.
According to information obtained from Big Nose George
during a jailhouse interview, he and Frank Tole had
created bad feelings among the gang when they objected
to killing the railroad section crew.
When
Widdowfield & Vincent failed to return, a party led by a
knowledgeable guide, John F. Foote, set out to look for
them. They found the officers’ bodies in Rattlesnake
Canyon on Elk Mountain. Widdowfield’s body was found in
thick underbrush. He had a single wound to the head.
Vincent’s body was found hidden in brush about fifty
yards away. Vincent had no boots and there were several
bullet holes in his breast and legs. Vincent’s body was
swollen considerably but not decayed, while
Widdowfield’s body was putrefied. Vincent had been shot
in the back and the bullet had exited from his chest.
The bodies of
the men were placed in coffins and taken to Rawlins.
Initially county authorities offered a $10,000 reward
for the apprehension of the murderers. One week later
the Union Pacific Railroad doubled the amount. The
first to be captured for the murders was Dutch Charlie.
The Westbound train bringing him to Rawlins for trial
was stopped by a mob in Carbon. He was forcibly taken
from the train, a rope was tied around his neck and the
other end tossed over the crossarm of a telegraph pole.
A barrel was placed beneath his feet. Then according to
legend Mrs. Elizabeth Widdowfield kicked the barrel from
under Dutch Charlie shouting, “This will teach you to
kill my brother-in-law.” In reality however, a hastily
called grand jury was incapable of discovering who
participated in the lynching, (let alone who kicked the
barrel).
Big Nose
George was in Montana enjoying life when he was arrested
after getting drunk and boasting of the attempted train
robbery and the murders in Wyoming. A telegraph was
sent to Sheriff Rankin of Carbon County in Rawlins. He
went to Montana to bring Big Nose back from Miles City
in July 1880. The train carrying Big Nose to Rawlins
was also stopped in Carbon by the same mob that had met
Dutch Charlie and lynched him. George was taken from
the train and strung up. He plead with the vigilantes
and confessed, promising to tell all he knew about the
murders if they would let him live. He was cut down and
allowed to be taken to Rawlins for trial.
Big Nose
George pled guilty to murder in District Court at
Rawlins on September 13, 1880. Four days later he
changed his plea to not guilty. On November 8, 1880,
the opening day of his trial, Big Nose asked for a
change of venue on grounds that the judge was prejudiced
against him. Associate Justice, William Ware Peck, of
the Wyoming Supreme Court was assigned to hear the
case. C. W. Bramel of Laramie was appointed to defend
George. Three days later Big Nose again changed his
plea to guilty and on December 15, 1880, he was
sentenced to be hanged on April 2, 1881. Upon hearing
the sentence, Parrott or Warden began weeping violently
and had to be helped from the courtroom.
While in jail
awaiting execution Big Nose got or pretended to get
religion. He tried to conduct himself in such a manner
so that no one would suspect his real motives. With the
possible assistance from someone on the outside, he was
able to wedge and file the rivets of the heavy shackles
on his ankles. To do this, he used a boy’s pocketknife
and a piece of sandstone from the wall of the jail.
Having removed his shackles Parrott hid in the water
closet until Jailer Robert Rankin entered the area.
Parrott then attacked him from behind. Using the
shackles which weighed some seven or eight pounds,
Parrott struck Rankin over the head fracturing his skull
and cutting his scalp. Somehow, Rankin turned and
delivered a blow to the side of Parrott’s neck knocking
him against the wall. Rankin was then able to call to
his wife for help. Grabbing her husband’s pistol and
the extra keys, Rosa Rankin entered the cell block. She
closed and locked the grated door behind her to prevent
an escape. Pistol in hand she convinced Parrott to
return to his cell. Her husband was then able to leave
the area and Dr. John Osborne treated his injuries.
James Candlish, local blacksmith, was called to re-rivet
the shackles onto Big Nose George’s ankles. The
attempted escape had failed, and the situation was
supposedly under control.
News of the
attempted escape quickly spread throughout the city.
Soon small groups of men were seen deep in conversation
on nearly every corner. About ten that night many
people (supposedly including some of the best citizens
of Rawlins) were seen walking in the direction of the
jail in groups of two or three. There were no
boisterous conversations or unruly crowds anywhere.
Jailer Robert Rankin was lying in his room recovering
from his wounds. Meanwhile a Deputy named Simms was on
duty in the jail. When a knock was heard on the door,
Simms inquired “Who’s there?” “Friends” was the
reply. Simms informed the men that because of the late
hour they could not enter. The door was immediately
forced and several grimly determined masked men burst
in pointing pistols at the deputy. All Deputy Simms
could do was throw up his hands and watch while armed
men entered the room where Rankin was resting. A few
held Rankin at gunpoint while others took his jail keys
and unlocked the cellblock area. They proceeded to
remove Parrott from his cell and were taking him out of
the jail when they were confronted by John Landon a
special guard hired that night to prevent just such a
thing. The guard was told by the men that it would be
conducive to his health to “take a walk.” Facing
several unknown men all pointing pistols at him, Landon
did take a walk - - in the opposite direction. The mob
then proceeded down to East Front Street with Parrott in
tow. A crowd of about 200 persons assembled around a
telegraph pole adjacent to the railroad track and across
the street from the J.W. Hugus Company Store near the
corner of Front and Third Streets. Dr. John Osborne who
had treated jailer Rankin for his wounds at the jail
had retired to his office. Suddenly an unnamed man
appeared and requested that he go with him to see if Big
Nose George was dead. When Dr. Osborne arrived at the
scene of the lynching he saw Big Nose with his hands
tied behind his back. He was shuffling along because of
the heavy shackles around his ankles. George was placed
on an empty kerosene barrel, a rope tied around his neck
with the other end thrown over the cross arm of the
telegraph pole. The barrel was then kicked out from
under him, but the lynch rope broke allowing George to
fall to the ground where he begged to be shot.
While Big Nose
George was on the ground, he succeeded in loosening the
rope which held his hands behind his back. Meanwhile a
ladder was set up against the pole and another noose of
heavier rope was place around his neck. He was forced
to climb the ladder to a height of about twelve feet.
Then the ladder was pulled from under him. By now he
had succeeded in untying his hands, and as he swung by
his neck into the pole, he was able to put his arms
around it. But, he was unable to climb or cling to the
pole and because of his own weight and that of the heavy
shackles he soon tired and gravity pulled him down,
slowly choking him to death. When he no longer
struggled the crowd dispersed. The body was left
hanging for several hours. Later, William Daley, the
local undertaker, removed it. Dr. Osborne took
possession of the leg shackles when they were removed
from the body. He kept them until 1928 when they were
donated by him to the Union Pacific Railroad for display
in their Omaha, Nebraska Museum.
Legal
officials in Rawlins, embarrassed by the lynching,
called a Grand Jury. They soon discovered that all
those involved in the lynching had allegedly worn
masks. Therefore witnesses were unable to identify any
who may have been involved. Even prominent
entrepreneur, James France, was called as a witness, but
it seems he had been one of the few Rawlins citizens to
stay at home that evening and was unable to testify
about the event. With nothing else to work on, the
following Coroner’s inquest became the verdict brought
in by the Grand Jury.
TERRITORY OF WYOMING ) ss
Carbon County )
At an inquisition holden at Rawlins, in
Carbon County on the 23rd day of March, A.D.
1881, before me. A.G. Edgerton, coroner for said county,
upon the body of George Parrott, alias Big Nose George,
lying dead, by the jurors whose names hereunto
subscribed, the said jurors upon their oath to say that
said Parrott, alias Big Nose George, was forcibly taken
from the jail by a party of masked men to us unknown,
taken to a telegraph pole and there hung by the neck
with a rope until he was dead.
In testimony whereof the said jurors have
hereunto set their hands the day and year aforesaid.
The jurors serving were D.P. Hughes, Frank
Blake, P.L. Smith, R.M. Galbraith, D.W. France and
S.M.Miller. A.G. Edgerton, coroner. The investigation
was closed!
The following comment appeared April 9,
1881, in the newspaper: “On looking over the warrant
for the execution of Big Nose George, we notice that the
warrant was returned not executed, because on the day
appointed for the execution George Parrott could not be
found in Carbon County.”
The undertaker prepared the body of Big Nose
George for burial. It is related that the nose of the
dead man was so large that it interfered with the lid of
the coffin and that excess pressure had to be exerted to
close it and to nail it down. Big Nose George was not
destined to “Rest in Peace.” Dr. John Osborne, Dr.
Thomas Maghee, and young Lillian Heath who was working
as an assistant to Dr. Maghee had the casket opened and
the body removed. The doctors wanted to study Parrott’s
brain to see if there was some physical reason for his
criminal behavior. The skull cap was crudely sawed off
to get at the brain and it was later given to young Miss
Heath.
Dr.
Maghee and his fifteen year old protégé acted with the
medical ethics of the time using the results of their
study for scientific research. But Dr. Osborne’s
involvement borders on the morbidly bizarre.
First he molded
George’s death mask using plaster of paris. The casting
is without ears because while struggling as he choked to
death, George’s ears were worn off by the rope. Next he
removed the skin from Parrott’s thighs and chest. This
flesh was tanned and the greater portion of it made into
a pair of shoes that Dr. Osborne wore proudly. For
example, it is interesting to note that in the fall of
1892,
John Osborne was elected the first Democratic
Governor of the State of Wyoming and that he wore those
shoes to his inaugural ball in 1893.
The
dismembered body of Big Nose George was kept in a salt
solution in a whiskey barrel for about a year while
further dissection and experimentation continued. After
the experimentations were complete, the barrel, George
and all, were buried in the yard behind Dr. Maghee’s
office. George was all but forgotten until May 11,
1950, when workmen excavating for a new building on
Cedar Street, unearthed a whiskey barrel of bones behind
the building that years before had been Maghee’s
office. This barrel contained numerous human bones
including a skull with the top sawed off.
A
crowd quickly gathered to view the grisly remains.
Someone remembered that Dr. Lillian Heath had kept a
skull cap of a lynched criminal named Big Nose George as
a memento. She was still alive and well in her eighties
and living in the home that her father had built in
Rawlins in 1880. Her husband, Lou Nelson, brought the
skull cap to the scene and it fit perfectly to the skull
found in the barrel. For locals this proved that the
bones were those of Big Nose George Parrott. Subsequent
DNA testing directed by the Wyoming State Crime Lab
verified their belief.
The death mask, lower skull and shoes made
from Parrott’s-Warden’s hide and the shoes he wore at
the time of the hanging are on display at the Carbon
County Museum in Rawlins, Wyoming. A gold Elgin watch
given by the County Commissioners to Rosa Rankin is also
on display. The watch is inscribed - - “Presented to
Mrs. Rosa Rankin by the County Commissioners, Carbon
County for bravery in preventing the escape of Big Nose
George from jail March 22, 1881.” The skull cap and the
shackles are on display at the Union Pacific Museum in
Omaha, Nebraska. The rest of Big Nose George was
secretly disposed of years ago.