Big Nose George Parrot, an infamous desperado of a lawless band, terrorized the peaceful landscapes of Wyoming’s Powder River region, primarily targeting pay wagons and stagecoaches. The gang’s criminal ambition swelled to such a point that they plotted to derail a Union Pacific train near Medicine Bow, a plan that was luckily detected and thwarted by a vigilant crew.
Local law enforcement was mobilized to hunt down the gang members but, when two officers tracked them to Rattlesnake Canyon at Elk Mountain, they fell victim to the outlaws’ bullets. The gang scattered, evading capture by fleeing in different directions. The Union Pacific Railroad, seeking justice, ramped up efforts to catch these killers, placing a hefty bounty on their heads.
In a twist of fate, Big Nose George was apprehended in Miles City, Montana, not by pursuers but through his own drunken revelry. As he bragged about his criminal exploits, the locals seized their chance and sent a telegraph to alert authorities. In July 1880, Sheriff Rankin of Carbon County made the journey to Montana to escort George back to Wyoming to face trial.
George was condemned to the gallows on December 15, 1880, the sentence scheduled to be carried out on April 2, 1881. However, George would not await death idly. On March 22, he attempted an escape that ended in a struggle with Jailer Robert Rankin, injuring both men. Mrs. Rankin’s timely intervention with a firearm put an end to George’s freedom bid.
Word of the daring escape attempt spread like wildfire, stirring up a group of masked vigilantes. Fueled by anger, they overran the jail, seizing George and dragging him to a telegraph pole on Front Street. After two unsuccessful attempts, they finally succeeded in hanging him. His lifeless body was left suspended for hours before being removed by an undertaker.
With no next of kin to claim George’s remains, two local physicians, Doctors Thomas Maghee and John Osborne, seized the opportunity to study his brain, hoping to uncover the roots of his criminal tendencies. Lillian Heath, a young assistant to Dr. Maghee, bore witness to this unorthodox investigation.
The physicians dissected George’s skull but found his brain to be unremarkably similar to an average one. Dr. Osborne, however, ventured further into the macabre. He first fashioned a death mask from George’s face, then had the skin from George’s thighs and chest transformed into a pair of shoes and a medicine bag by a Denver tannery. To the dismay of Dr. Osborne, the shoes arrived without nipples, yet he wore them with pride nonetheless.
George’s remaining body parts were stored in a whiskey barrel filled with a salt solution and Dr. Osborne continued his morbid studies before finally interring the barrel and its grim contents in the yard behind Dr. Maghee’s office.
Despite his bizarre treatment of George’s remains, Dr. Osborne rose to local political prominence. He was elected the first Democratic Governor of Wyoming in 1892 and was even rumored to have donned the macabre shoes made from George’s skin to his inaugural ball in 1893. Later, he served under President Wilson as the Assistant Secretary of State.
George’s skull cap eventually ended up with Lillian Heath, who went on to be Wyoming’s first female physician. Over the years, the grim memento served as both an ashtray and a doorstop in her office, a curious keepsake from the intriguing tale of Big Nose George Parrot.
Head Over Heals 