View source for Big Nose George

{{Infobox person
|name = George Parrott
|image = Big Nose George.jpg
|caption =
|birth_name =
|birth_date =
|birth_place =
|death_date = {{Death date|1881|03|22}}
|death_place = [[Rawlins, Wyoming]], [[United States|USA]]
|other_names = George Warden, George Manuse
|known_for = [[Banditry]], [[Murder]], being made into a pair of shoes
|occupation = [[Outlaw]] and [[cattle rustler]]
|nationality = [[United States|American]]
|spouse =
|children =
|parents =
}}
'''George Parrott''', also known as '''Big Nose George''', '''"Au-Groz-Nez" George''', '''George Manuse''' and '''George Warden''', was a [[cattle rustler]] and [[highwayman]] in the American Wild West in the late 19th century. His skin was made into a pair of shoes after his execution and part of his skull was used as an ashtray.

==Outlaw==
A noted [[outlaw]] and [[road agent]], whose territory covered the [[Black Hills]] to Elk Mountain country, near Rawlins, WY. Numerous holdups of the [[Cheyenne - Black Hills Stage Line]].

In 1878, Parrott and his gang murdered two law enforcement officers—[[Wyoming]] deputy sheriff Robert Widdowfield and [[Union Pacific]] detective Tip Vincent—while trying to escape following a bungled train robbery. 

They removed a tie (or a rail?) from the track of the [[Union Pacific Railroad]] and laid it across the track in order to cause the train to wreck and plunge into the 150 deep gorge. A railroad worker spotted the damage in time to avert the wreck.
(more details needed here)

Widdowfield and Vincent were ordered to track down Parrott's gang on August 19, 1878, following the attempted robbery on an isolated stretch of track near the [[Medicine Bow River]]. The officers traced the outlaws to a camp at Rattlesnake Canyon, near [[Elk Mountain, Wyoming|Elk Mountain]], where they were spotted by a gang lookout. The robbers stamped out their fire and hid in a bush but, when Widdowfield arrived at the scene, he realised the ashes of the fire were still hot. The gang then opened fire and Widdowfield was shot in the face. Vincent tried to escape, but was shot before he made it out of the canyon. The gang stole the weapons of both men, as well as one of their horses, before covering up the bodies and fleeing the area. The murder of the two lawmen was quickly discovered and a $10,000 reward was offered for the "apprehension of their murderers". This was later doubled to $20,000.

In February (?or January?) 1879, Big Nose George and his cohorts were in Milestown, later present day [[Miles City, Montana]]. It was known around Milestown that a prosperous local merchant, one [[Morris Cahn]] would be taking money east to buy stocks of merchandise. Big Nose George, Charlie Burris and two others planned and carried out a daring daylight robbery even though Morris Cahn was traveling with a group of 15 soldiers, two officers, an ambulance and a wagon from [[Fort Keogh]], who were going east to collect the army payroll. At a site about 10&nbsp;miles beyond the Powder River Crossing, about 2 miles west of present day Terry, Montana, there is a steep coulee (known ever since as "Cahn's Coulee"). Approaching the coulee over a five-mile plateau, the soldiers, ambulance and the wagon got strung out. The gang donned masks and stationed themselves at the bottom of the coulee, at a turn in the trail. The gang first surprised and then captured the lead element of soldiers, as well as the ambulance with Cahn and the officers. Then they waited and likewise captured the rear element of soldiers with the wagon. Cahn was robbed of somewhere between $3,200 and $14,000, depending on who was doing the reporting.

==Arrests==
Following the robbery of Cahn, the boys live it up in Miles City.

:From Jim Masterson's "It Happened in Montana- Vol IV": During the winter of '86 (sic), this bill, dilapidated, torn and crudely patched, made the rounds of the commercial channels common to Miles City in those care free, law free days. Gamblers said it brought bad luck. One of them, Conn, leaving for Bismark by stage (sic) offered to take it out of town. That night the stage was held up by a lone bandit (sic) and the passengers robbed four miles west (sic) of Terry at what has since been known as Conn's Coulee. The next day Big Nose George, who had long been suspected of nefarious deeds, strolled into the [[Gray Mule Saloon]] in Miles City, ordered drinks for the house, nonchalantly tendered in payment- the patched twenty dollar bill.

[[Hank Wormwood]] led a posse that included Fred Schmalsle that arrested Big Nose and (and a couple of confederates) near Buffalo Rapids a couple of months later [March 1879?]. 

:(Kenny Vail, Sep 14 2009) The judge ([[Alexander Carmichael]]) was crooked and the evidence against the gang perjured. They got out on bail - Deputy [[U.S. Marshal]] [[John Beidler]] re-arrested George - he got out again and took his band away off to the north and then west for over a year. Beidler suffered his frustrations regarding "Big Nose" George. When Schalsle made the last arrest in 1880 the Wyoming authorities were contacted immediately. Quietly and secretly a small detachment of lawdogs from down there came up, whisked Parrott out the back door of the county jail at Miles City (to avoid potential reprisal from gang members) and took him back to Wyoming to face 1878 murder charges. 
After being gone for a year, Parrott and his gang return to Miles City, frequenting the saloons and [[John Chinick]]'s cabin at his ranch a few block north of Main Street. (Chinnick's hosting of outlaws and toughs would culminate in the fake "lynching" of his bartender in 1883 by "vigilantes" and his accidental death during his expulsion from town.)

Big Nose George Parrott and his second, [[Charlie Burris]] or "Dutch Charley" (another account refers to [[Jack Campbell]] instead, were arrested in Miles City by two local deputies, [[Lem Wilson]] and [[Fred Schmalsle]], after Big Nose and Charlie got drunk and boasted of killing the two Wyoming lawmen, thus identifying themselves as men with a price on their head. A ruse was used to arrest them, with Sheriff Tom Irvine and Deputy Jack Johnson staying away to avoid alerting the gang. Parott was returned to Wyoming to face charges of murder. [[19 July 1880]] Lem Wilson and Fred Schmalsle approached Parrott at John Chinick's cabin, where he was staying. Parrott was sitting the doorway enjoying the evening breezes when Schmalsle "told him to throw up, placing a pistol to his left ear." They then did the same with Jack Campbell at at a local saloon.

==Lynching==
Parrott was sentenced to hang on April 2, 1881, following a trial, but tried to escape while being held at a [[Rawlins, Wyoming]] jail. Parrott was able to wedge and file the rivets of the heavy shackles on his ankles, using a pocket knife and a piece of sandstone. On March 22, having removed his shackles, he hid in the washroom until jailor Robert Rankin entered the area. Using the shackles, Parrott struck Rankin over the head, fracturing his skull. Rankin managed to fight back, calling out to his wife, Rosa, for help at the same time. Grabbing a pistol, she managed to persuade Parrott to return to his cell. 

News of the escape attempt spread through Rawlins and groups of people started making their way to the jail. While Rankin lay recovering, masked men with pistols burst into the jail. Holding Rankin at gunpoint, they took his keys, then dragged Parrott from his cell. The 200-strong [[lynch mob]] strung him up from a telegraph pole.

Charlie Burris suffered a similar lynching not long after his capture; having been transported by train to Rawlins, a group of locals found him hiding in a baggage compartment and proceeded to hang him on the crossbeam of a nearby telegraph pole.

[[6 Aug 1880]] Special to the Omaha Tribune: George Parrott...was brought here this morning, down the Missouri River, from Miles City, Montana, where he was recently captured by Deputy United States Marshal Irwin, who got the drop on him.. Sheriff Rankin, of Rawlins, Wyoming, who has Parrott in charge, left for home with him on the noon train. The chances are that the friends of Widdowfield and Vincnet, at Carbon, will treat him to a lynching, as they did Dutch Charley....His arrest...will probably break up the ...outlaws... who, it is thought...were preparing to raid the Union Pacific and other roads, and to rob stage coaches.

[[22 Mar 1881]] Cheyenne, Wyoming: George Parrott, alias Big Nose George, of the Elk Mountain murderers, and an infamous road agent, who is under sentence to be hanged on [[2 Apr 1881]], attempted to break jail this evening at Rawlins. He got his shackles off with which he attacked the jailer when he entered the corridor to lock the prisoners in their cells for the night. The jailor's wife, hearing the conflict, had the presence of mind to lock the outside door, locking the jailer in with the prisoners. The alarm was then raised and a number of citizens hastened to the jail, released the jailer and secured the prisoner. He will be doubly ironed and strictly guarded until the day of his execution. This action of George is surprising since he has always manifested a contrite spirit and did not desire a trial, pleading guilty to the indictment and desiring to be hanged soon. When the sentence of death was passed on him he wept like a child and broke down completely. He also said his health was failing and in consequence these facts he gained much sympathy, but now threats of lynching are made and all desire now to see him suffer death.

(later) A special to the Cheyenne Leader says that Big Nose George was taken out of jail by a party of masked men at 10:55 to-night and taken to a telegraph pole opposite the railroad machine shops, where a rope was thrown over a crossbeam of the pole and Big Nose was made to climb up a ladder, when a rope was placed around his neck and the ladder then pulled out from under him, letting swing between heaven and earth. His last words were: "I will jump off, boys, and break my neck."

Details added by the Omaha Bee on the 24th: Dutch Charley was captured in Wyoming on a Union Pacific train shortly after the murders. He was lynched by a mob. Parrott was captured "near" Miles City, and after narrowly escaping lynching was brought to Carbon County, tried and sentenced....About 7:30 he tried to escape, injuring jailor Robert Rankin. Had obtained a file from another prisoner. Mob hung him about 10 rods from the train depot. He was placed on a barrel which was kicked out from under him, which only stunned him, he was cut down and made to climb and jump off a ladder. The fall failed to break his neck and his hands became untied, so he climbed 6 feet up the telegraph pole and begged to be shot. Eventually he lost his grip and died. The body was cut down by the coroner, inquest to be held.

Sentenced by Judge Peck in Rawlins on [[15 Dec 1880]]. Attemped to turn Union Pacific passenger train into a chasm 150 feet deep at Big Springs, in 1878. Sim Wan was captured at the end of July

==Desecration of remains==
Doctors Thomas Maghee and [[John Eugene Osborne]] took possession of Parrott's body after his death, to study the outlaw's brain for clues to his [[criminality]].<ref name="Hobo"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wyomingbnb-ranchrec.com/City.Rawlins.html|accessdate=2009-03-11|author=Wyoming Bed and Breakfast website|title=Rawlins, Wyoming|year=2009| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20090412103001/http://www.wyomingbnb-ranchrec.com/City.Rawlins.html| archivedate= 12 April 2009 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> The top of Parrott's skull was crudely sawn off, and the cap was presented to 15-year-old [[Lillian Heath]], then a medical assistant to Maghee. Heath became the first female doctor in Wyoming and is said to have used the cap as an ash tray, a pen holder and a doorstop.<ref name="Wyoming"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.carboncountymuseum.org/bignose.html|accessdate=2009-03-11|author=Carbon County Museum|title=Big Nose George Parrott|year=2007}}</ref> A [[death mask]] was also created of Parrott's face, and skin from his thighs and chest was removed. The skin, including the dead man's nipples, was sent to a [[Tanning|tannery]] in [[Denver]], where it was made into a pair of shoes and a [[medical bag]].<ref name="Roadside">{{cite web|url=http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/14910|accessdate=2009-03-11|author=Roadside America|title=Shoes Made From Big Nose George|year=2008| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20090311015335/http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/14910| archivedate= 11 March 2009 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elkmountainhotel.com/georgeParrottCont.html|accessdate=2009-03-11|author=Elk Mountain Hotel|title=Carbon County's Most Infamous Outlaw|year=2008| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20090406043330/http://www.elkmountainhotel.com/georgeParrottCont.html| archivedate= 6 April 2009 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> They were kept by Osborne, who wore the shoes to his inaugural ball after being elected as the first Democratic [[List of Governors of Wyoming#Governors of Wyoming|Governor of the State of Wyoming]].<ref name="Carbon">{{cite web|url=http://www.carboncountymuseum.org/bignose.html|accessdate=2009-03-11|author=Carbon County Museum|title=Site of Big Nose George lynching|year=2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=aAVRnON5nrMC&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq=big+nose+george%2Blegends&source=bl&ots=VkC20I9qmt&sig=F25cEFbTwT5ox3mInEGrybTlofM&hl=en&ei=ccy3SZHYE-KYjAf5vOmeCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA124,M1|accessdate=2009-03-11|title=Charles M. Russell|author=John Taliaferro|year=2008}}</ref> Parrott's dismembered body was stored in a whiskey barrel filled with a salt solution for about a year, while the experiments continued, until he was buried in the yard behind Maghee's office.<ref name="Legends"/><ref name="Outwest"/>

===Rediscovery===
The death of Big Nose George faded into history over the years until May 11, 1950, when construction workers unearthed a whiskey barrel filled with bones while working on the Rawlins National Bank on Cedar Street in Rawlins. Inside the barrel was a skull with the top sawed off, a bottle of vegetable compound, and the shoes said to have been made from Parrott's thigh flesh.<ref>{{cite book|title=Historical atlas of the outlaw West|first=Richard M.|last=Patterson|pages=213|publisher=Big Earth Publishing|year=1984|isbn=0-933472-89-7}}</ref> Dr. Lillian Heath, then in her eighties, was contacted and her skull cap was sent to the scene. It was found to fit the skull in the barrel perfectly, and [[DNA testing]] later confirmed the remains were those of Big Nose George. Today the shoes made from the skin of Big Nose George are on permanent display at the Carbon County Museum in Rawlins, together with the bottom part of the outlaw's skull and Big Nose George's earless death mask.<ref name="Wyoming"/> The shackles used during the hanging of the outlaw, as well as the skull cap, are on show at the Union Pacific Museum in [[Omaha]], [[Nebraska]]. The medicine bag made from his skin has never been found.<ref name="Frances"/><ref name="Outwest"/><ref name="Time"/>

==Legends==
Many legends surround Big Nose George—including one which claims him as a member of [[Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch]]. Cassidy, however, would only have been 14 at the time of George's death, so this theory has been ruled out by historians. There is also speculation that he ran with the James brothers—with the flames of this rumor fanned by George himself.<ref name="Roadside"/> During a pre-trial interview in 1880, Big Nose stated that his outlaw pal Frank McKinney had claimed to be [[Frank James]]. He also told investigators that another member, Sim Jan, was the gang leader—leading to wild rumors that Frank and Sim were the infamous James brothers, Frank and [[Jesse James|Jesse]].<ref name="Echo"/>

However, it is generally agreed that Parrott was more of a run-of-the-mill horse thief and highwayman. His gang enjoyed a successful run of robbing pay wagons and stage coaches of cash in the late 1870s, but a yearning for bigger profits led to the attempted train robbery.<ref name="Carbon"/>

==Robert Widdowfield==
<!--does this bio belong in this article?-->
Robert Widdowfield, one of the two victims of George Parrott's gang, was born on February 15, 1846, at Cook Bank, [[Tanfield, Durham|Tanfield]], [[County Durham]], [[England]]. He was the son of [[miner]] Robert Widdowfield and his wife Sarah Craggs, but was brought up by his stepmother, Ann Maugham, from an early age. By the time he was 15, he was working in the mines of County Durham.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://google.com/search?q=cache:8Wi8A2C89k4J:listsearches.rootsweb.com/th/read/UK-NORTHEAST/2001-09/1000231961+%22robert+widdowfield%22%2Bsheriff%2Bborn&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk|title=Deputy Sheriff Robert Widdowfield|last=Pasqual|first=Phyllis|publisher=RootsWeb|accessdate=2009-05-12}}</ref> It was his stepmother, according to family legend, who decided to take the family to America in 1869–70. Robert, his three brothers and a sister all travelled with Ann, but there is no mention of what happened to his father. The family settled in Wyoming and Robert became a deputy sheriff in Carbon County. On August 19, 1878, he became Wyoming's first officer to be killed in the line of duty.<ref name="Echo"/>

== Raw Notes ==
Ellen Compton  	Sat Sep 12 2009 
Beidler, if I am not mistaken, hung the outlaw Big Nose George Parrott that my relative, William Frederick Schmalsle, brought in to jail. Schmalsle was an Indian guide, Scout, and Courier to Lieutenant Baldwin and General Miles. I heard that Beidler had a remote cabin in Yellowstone Park. Somehow I found out that a shovel with his name on it might be in a Montana museum. 

Kenny Vail 	Mon Sep 14 2009 	
Actually, after some dogged research it turns out that Schmalsle had two encounters with "Big Nose" George Parrot. He was in a posse that captured Parrott (and a couple of confederates) about 12 miles outside Miles City in 1879. The judge (Carmichael)was crooked and the evidence against the gang perjured. They got out on bail - Beidler re-arrested George - he got out again and took his band away off to the north and then west for over a year.
Beidler suffered his frustrations regarding "Big Nose" George. When Schalsle made the last arrest in 1880 the Wyoming athorities were contacted immediately. Quietly and secretly a small detachment of lawdogs from down there came up, whisked Parrott out the back door of the county jail at Miles City (to avoid potential reprisal from gang members) and took him back to Wyoming to face 1878 murder charges. 



==See also==
*[[George Curry (Wild Bunch)]]
*[[Lilian Heath]]
*[[Big Horn, Wyoming]]
*[[List of American Old West outlaws]]
*[[Train robbery]]
*[[Johnson County War]]
*[[Anthropodermic bibliopegy]]

==Links==
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=bj1qDCQfM0wC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Assault+on+the+Deadwood+Stage:+Road+Agents+and+Shotgun+Messengers&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Ec7QUsuwJ7jNsQTtuYCIDA&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Assault%20on%20the%20Deadwood%20Stage%3A%20Road%20Agents%20and%20Shotgun%20Messengers&f=false Good material on the events surrounding George Parrott]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{Lynching in the United States}}

<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
{{Persondata
|NAME= Parrott, Big Nose George
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Manuse, George; Warden, George
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= [[Outlaw]], [[cattle rustler]]
|DATE OF BIRTH= 
|PLACE OF BIRTH=
|DATE OF DEATH= 1881-03-22
|PLACE OF DEATH= [[Rawlins, Wyoming]], [[United States|USA]]
}}
[[Category:Outlaws of the American Old West]]
[[Category:Lynching deaths in Wyoming]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by Wyoming]]
[[Category:Shoes]]
[[Category:Train robbers]]
[[Category:19th-century births]]
[[Category:1881 deaths]]