08/19/2026
: The Frontier Murder of Deputy Widdowfield and Detective Vincent
The phrase “walk a mile in my shoes” takes on a chilling literal meaning in one of the most bizarre chapters of American frontier justice.
On this day, August 19, 1878, the brutal reality of law enforcement on the Western frontier claimed the lives of two dedicated public servants: Carbon County Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Widdowfield and Union Pacific Detective Henry “Tip” Vincent.
The lawmen were tracking the notorious train robber and outlaw "Big Nose George" Parrott and his gang, who had just failed in their attempt to derail and rob a Union Pacific payroll train. The posse tracked the bandits to Rattlesnake Canyon near Elk Mountain, Wyoming, where the outlaws ambushed and murdered both men.
The gang eluded capture for nearly two years, but justice, and a dark twist of fate, eventually caught up with them:
The Capture: In 1880, Parrott was arrested in Montana after bragging about the murders in local bars.
The Lynching: Before his scheduled ex*****on in 1881, Parrott attempted a jailbreak. An enraged mob of 200 citizens dragged him from his cell and lynched him from a telegraph pole.
The Macabre Aftermath: With no one to claim the body, local physicians took the co**se for medical study. Dr. John Osborne went a step further, he had a pair of shoes fashioned from Parrott’s skin, which he shockingly wore to his own inauguration as Wyoming’s 3rd Governor after Statehood in 1893.
Today, those very shoes and Parrott's skull are split between the Carbon County Museum and the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, serving as a gruesome reminder of the untamed Wild West.
Above all, this day honors Deputy Widdowfield and Detective Vincent, who paid the ultimate price to bring law and order to the early Wyoming frontier.
Resources
• "Big Nose George in News Again; Early Documents Located." Rawlins Daily Times, Oct. 12, 1950.
• “Bones of ‘Big Nose George’ Unearthed in Whiskey Barrel.” The Frontier Index, special edition commemorating the 100th anniversary of Rawlins, Wyo., Aug. 7, 1968, 1.
• “Gone Up Higher!” Carbon County Journal, March 26, 1881. Accessed July 21, 2014, at http://www.wyonewspapers.org.
• Langford, KeAnne. Registrar, Carbon County Museum, Rawlins, Wyo. Telephone interviews with author, Aug. 26, 2014; Sept. 16, 2014.
• Matray, Margaret. “‘Big Nose’ George.” Casper Star-Tribune, Oct. 30, 2011.
• Miller, Mark. Wyoming State Archeologist. Email interview with author, July 10, 2014.
• Perue, Richard. Former owner and editor of the Saratoga Sun. Interview with author, May 29, 2014, Saratoga, Wyo. Perue provided several of the early day newspaper articles from the R.I. Martin collection for research purposes, including the following:
• “Big Nose George Was Tough Hombre in Wyoming’s Youth,” no date, no publisher listed.
• Grill, “Mon Tana Lou.” “M. Cahn, Miles City Merchant, Lost Large Sum of Money When He was Held up and Robbed By ‘Big Nose’ George and His Confederates, in Powder River Country in 1879.” The Park County [Montana] News, no date.
• “Osborne Gives [Shackles of] ‘Big Nose’ George to U.P.,” no date, no publisher named, but possibly a report printed in the Rawlins, Wyo., American Legion post newsletter. This report reproduces the Sept. 12, 1928, statement provided by Dr. John Osborne to the U.P. to confirm the authenticity of the shackles.
• Van Pelt, Lori. Dreamers and Schemers: Profiles from Carbon County, Wyoming’s Past. Glendo, Wyo.: High Plains Press, 1999, 105-111, 113-120, 179-186.
