New book about infamous Wyoming outlaw now available

Wyo4news Staff, [email protected] [PRESS RELEASE]

SWEETWATER COUNTY, WYOMING — A new book about one of the strangest cases in Wyoming frontier history has just been released, the Sweetwater County Historical Museum said in a special release on Thursday.

In 1878, two Wyoming lawmen, Carbon County Deputy Sheriff Robert Widdowfield and Union Pacific Special Agent Henry “Tip” Vincent, were murdered near Elk Mountain by “Big Nose” George Parott and his gang after a botched train robbery. Captured in Montana in 1880, Parott stood trial in Rawlins, was convicted of the killings, and sentenced to death. When he attempted to escape the county jail, an enraged mob lynched him.

What followed next was a bizarre chain of events unique in Old West history – two local doctors took charge of Parott’s body, removed his brain for study, and presented his skullcap to their young female assistant, Lillian Heath, who went on to become the first licensed woman doctor in Wyoming. One of the physicians, Dr. John Osborne, skinned large portions of the body, had the skin tanned, and incorporated it into a pair of shoes. Years later, he wore the shoes to his inaugural ball when he was elected Governor of Wyoming.

High Plains Press of Glendo recently published a new book about Parott: Big Nose George – His Troublesome Trail, by Mark E. Miller, who served for 30 years as Wyoming State Archaeologist. Extensively researched and compellingly written, Big Nose George is easily the most authoritative work on the case yet produced, said Dick Blust of the museum’s staff. It’s now available at the Museum’s book store in Green River.

Parott’s handgun, a .44-caliber Remington New Model Army, is part of the Sweetwater County Historical Museum’s “Firearms of the American West – Single Action Revolvers” exhibit and bears two notches cut into its grip.

The Carbon County Museum in Rawlins has a fine George Parott exhibit, which includes his death mask, a cast of his skull, and Dr. Osborne’s shoes made from his tanned skin.