Flat Nose Currie or Big Nose George Parrott

Famous outlaws with strange noses. At least that is what I thought I might call this post.

Maybe, Flat Nose Currie and Big Nose George Parrott were not the same man would be a better title. The fact is, likely only because of their noses these two men are often mixed up, but they shouldn’t be.

George Sutherland Currie often called Flat-Nose, because of his, well, rather flat and wide nose, was a well known and somewhat written about robber in Wyoming and the old west. He mentored cold-blooded killer Harvey Logan, who took the name Kid Currie out of respect for his friend and teacher. The two robbed banks before joining Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch.

Flat Nose

Big Nose George Parrott, who went by several aliases, never rode with, and never met Butch Cassidy. This is a certainty as Parrott was lynched when Butch Cassidy was still Robert LeRoy Parker, a 14-year-old, growing up in Utah.

Big Nose

Parrott claimed he rode with the famous James brothers, another story that has been mostly debunked. Much of the fame Big Nose George has today, is because after his death he was partially skinned with the skin being made into a medical satchel and a pair of shoes for Dr. John Osborn. Osborn who was involved in a gruesome autopsy where he and a Doctor friend searched Parrott’s brain for evidence of a criminal lobe.

Governor Osborn - Dr. Osborn, a few years later, wore the shoes to the governor's inaugural ball when he was elected Wyoming’s third governor and the first Democrat to hold the office. Osborne declined a chance to run for another two-year term and instead served as Wyoming’s representative in the 55^th Congress of the United States.

So why all the above about the two outlaws?  Recently I ran across a  list of members of the Hole in the Wall Gang from a familiar source, one that many modern day, old west writers use in research. This was one of the listings. “George L. ‘Flat Nose’ Curry, also known as George Parrott, was a veteran bank robber. . . . . .”

And if that was not bad enough, not surprisingly, multiple sources on the web have the two mixed up. I Googled a photo of George “Flat Nose” Curry, and the first few that came up were all photos of Big Nose George.

Nope, not the same guy – fake news, er, a, fake history.

The moral of this post, check the facts, even if most modern day news outlets do not. 

Nothing to do with today's post but a photo I took yesterday

Wyoming History - Top Ten Politicians

Like many Americans, I watched a bit of both the Republican and the Democrat conventions in the past two weeks. Makes me think about some of Wyoming's most famous politicians.

I am not a fan of modern day politicians, but maybe that’s more an age thing. After all, Harry S Truman was president when I was born. It seems to me that compromise is dead when it comes to politics, and it is something that is sorely needed.

Enough editorializing, here is my list, of all time best politicians from Wyoming – listed in alphabetical order so as not to make anyone mad, now that is a compromise.  

     -Top Ten Wyoming’s Greatest Politicians-

John A. Campbell - First governor of The Territory of Wyoming 1869-1875.

Robert D. Carey - Governor of Wyoming and the first to be both a governor and later a U.S Senator from the state.

Dick Cheney - Love him or hate him, the man had quite a political career. Working for both presidents Nixon and then Ford, where he became Chief Of Staff. After his white house years, he was elected six-time as Wyoming's lone Representative to Congress and later was Secretary of Defense for the first President Bush and Vice President for the second.

Clifford Hansen - Governor in the early 60s and then two-term U.S. Senator.

Lester C. Hunt - Governor 1943-1949 and U. S. Senator 1949-1954.

John B. Kendrick - Governor 1915-1917 and Senator 1917-1933  Quite an accomplishment for a Texas cowboy who came north as a 21-year-old pushing cattle and stayed to become a Wyoming legend.

Cynthia Lummis - She came from a well-known Cheyenne ranch family, but made her mark serving as both a Representative and Senator in the Wyoming State House. Later she served two terms as Wyoming Treasure and them multiple terms in the United States House of Representatives.

John Osborn - Served in Wyoming’s Territorial Assembly, elected as the third Governor of the state, later he served as Wyoming's representative in the U.S. House. Oh, and if you are wondering, he was a physician and had a pair of fine boots made from Wyoming bad man Big Nose George.

Nellie Tayloe Ross - First woman, elected governor in the United States, later ran the U.S Mint in Denver.

Alan K. Simpson - Possibly the most influential politician Wyoming has produced, he served in the Wyoming legislature and then 18 years in the United States Senate.

Francis E. Warren - first elected Governor of Wyoming and then a United States Senator for 37 years.

There you have it, my list, a pretty good group of leaders. In the unlikely event anyone is counting, I know that my top ten list is actually 11, but who has ever heard of a top 11 list?

Feel free to comment on others that should be included, after all, they might find their way into one of my books someday. Actually, they already are, except the book is unfinished, tentatively titled, It’s All About Time, it is my take on the history of our great state. Someday it will be published, hoping for next summer, but then I am the eternal optimist. 

Little Know Fact
I once ran for Wyoming  Superintendent of Public Instruction

Wyoming History - Top Ten Politicians

Like many Americans, I watched a bit of both the Republican and the Democrat conventions in the past two weeks. Makes me think about some of Wyoming's most famous politicians.

I am not a fan of modern day politicians, but maybe that’s more an age thing. After all, Harry S Truman was president when I was born. It seems to me that compromise is dead when it comes to politics, and it is something that is sorely needed.

Enough editorializing, here is my list, of all time best politicians from Wyoming – listed in alphabetical order so as not to make anyone mad, now that is a compromise.  

     -Top Ten Wyoming’s Greatest Politicians-

John A. Campbell - First governor of The Territory of Wyoming 1869-1875.

Robert D. Carey - Governor of Wyoming and the first to be both a governor and later a U.S Senator from the state.

Dick Cheney - Love him or hate him, the man had quite a political career. Working for both presidents Nixon and then Ford, where he became Chief Of Staff. After his white house years, he was elected six-time as Wyoming's lone Representative to Congress and later was Secretary of Defense for the first President Bush and Vice President for the second.

Clifford Hansen - Governor in the early 60s and then two-term U.S. Senator.

Lester C. Hunt - Governor 1943-1949 and U. S. Senator 1949-1954.

John B. Kendrick - Governor 1915-1917 and Senator 1917-1933  Quite an accomplishment for a Texas cowboy who came north as a 21-year-old pushing cattle and stayed to become a Wyoming legend.

Cynthia Lummis - She came from a well-known Cheyenne ranch family, but made her mark serving as both a Representative and Senator in the Wyoming State House. Later she served two terms as Wyoming Treasure and them multiple terms in the United States House of Representatives.

John Osborn - Served in Wyoming’s Territorial Assembly, elected as the third Governor of the state, later he served as Wyoming's representative in the U.S. House. Oh, and if you are wondering, he was a physician and had a pair of fine boots made from Wyoming bad man Big Nose George.

Nellie Tayloe Ross - First woman, elected governor in the United States, later ran the U.S Mint in Denver.

Alan K. Simpson - Possibly the most influential politician Wyoming has produced, he served in the Wyoming legislature and then 18 years in the United States Senate.

Francis E. Warren - first elected Governor of Wyoming and then a United States Senator for 37 years.

There you have it, my list, a pretty good group of leaders. In the unlikely event anyone is counting, I know that my top ten list is actually 11, but who has ever heard of a top 11 list?

Feel free to comment on others that should be included, after all, they might find their way into one of my books someday. Actually, they already are, except the book is unfinished, tentatively titled, It’s All About Time, it is my take on the history of our great state. Someday it will be published, hoping for next summer, but then I am the eternal optimist. 

Little Know Fact
I was once ran for Wyoming  Superintendent of Public Instruction

Thief, Robber and a Pair of Shoes

Big Nose George Parrott was a petty crook, horse thief and stage coach robber in Wyoming during most of the 1870s. He made a few local headlines but longed for more, both money and fame. Gangs he rode with were not famous like Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch or the James Gang, two groups he rode with many years after his death in dime novels and writers dreams. Now the fame he sought while robbing stage coaches and hardware stores has finally become part of his legend.

Today he is famous, at least in Wyoming, but maybe not for what he wanted. There are so many versions of his train or attempted train robbery in Wyoming that it is often hard to believe any of them. So like all writers I choose to put together parts of the many stories and come up with my own. (I may have also thrown in a few of my own ideas.)

Big Nose George and his gang of two, Sim Jan and Frank McKinney had started to tear up a small section of railroad track near Medicine Bow Wyoming. The three were so content on working that they did not see an official of the railroad checking track. Once he and the outlaws spotted each other the official high tailed it back to the office and wired for help. While he ran back east to the office the outlaws ran south and west toward the mountain side hamlet of Elk Mountain.

Railroad official Tip Vincent and Carbon county Deputy Sheriff Robert Widdowfield soon caught up with the outlaws. A good old west shot out ensued with Big Nose and the gang killing both Widdowfield and Vincent. Widdowfield reportedly taking a shotgun blast in the face and Vincent shot in the back tiring to get away.

It took three years but the law finally caught up with up with Big Nose George Parrott in Montana and he was taken back to the city of Rawlins in Carbon County Wyoming for trial. Within days he attempted to escape but he was no better at this than train robbing and he never got outside the jail house building. The people of Rawlins, although a good humor bunch did not find this funny. Within hours he was ripped from the jail by a mob of 200 and lynched.

This should have been the end of the line for Big Nose George but in his unusual case we’re just getting warmed up. The body was given to a local doctor and his apprentice who attempted a crude autopsy sawing off the top of Parrots head in search of some type of outlaw lobe in his brain. Not sure if they found much of anything—see bungled robbery and escape above. But the story still does not end.

Will it ever?

Big Nose George was skinned and made into a pair of shoes a small bag and according to some a belt and a wallet. The shoes were worn by a local doctor on many special occasions including his own inaugural ball after being elected governor of Wyoming in 1893.

Big Nose George’s body was pickled in salt brine and kept for a year or more in various business places in and around Rawlins Wyoming. Reportedly a favorite game of locals was to take unsuspecting visitors to see the famous Big Nose George—the big game likely went something like this:

“Hey Pard ya ever heard of Big Nose George the outlaw?”
“Sure everyone’s heard of him.”
“Ya wanna see him.”
“Not likely, he’s been dead for years”

The local comic then reaches over opens the wooden whiskey keg reaches in grabs a few parts of ol’ Big Nose and pulls him out of the barrel and starts laughing hysterically. At this point visitor passes out or throws up.

But a year later all the parts of Big Nose George disappeared—until 1950 when a construction project unearthed his bones—Big Nose George was back.

Historical Note—The skull and shoes can still be viewed in a downtown Rawlins Wyoming museum. There was a bag that appeared to be a medical bag but it has not been seen in more than a century. As for the belt and wallet –they may have existed only in legend; if they were real, like the bag they are lost forever.

Personal Note—My wife and I live within an hour’s drive of the train robbery site, my son and his family live on a hill overlooking the train tracks Big Nose tried to tear up just outside of Medicine Bow Wyoming.