Pearl Harbor Day - No Old West Today

We should all remember this day in history. December 7, 1941.
My wife and I visited Pearl Harbor three years ago and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Every American should be lucky enough to some day visit.
When I was in college I had a history professor who told us that when he was a kid he thought he would never watch a parade without old men proudly walking by in their Union and Confederate uniforms. When I was a kid I watched so many old solders marching in their World War One and World War Two uniforms waving to us kids. I hope that there’re not all gone before all of us remember to say thanks. And not just to them but to all who served and are serving now.

Expand and Cut

Funny how long rewrites can take. I am on my third trip through my recently completed novel. First draft was a little over 60,000 words now it is up over eighty and I am trying Stephen King’s idea of cutting ten percent. Not sure I am ever going to like it enough to try to publish. Afraid I may be a bit scared of getting the dreaded rejections and a western novel is not the hottest genre out there right now.
I try to write a Christmas story every year so that will be taking my writing time for the next few days. I have an idea so it should be easy to get started. I have also completed my annual, much anticipated Christmas letter (once again fun and very tongue in cheek).
Time to get back to the re-write.

The Thief, the Legend 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.

How I spent my Summer

Didn’t get much writing done this summer but did get in Lots of travel and a lot of fun. Now I am back in the classroom, starting my 41st year teaching.
My List of best places I visited this summer---In no particular order of importance.
1. Fort Robinson –Where Crazy Horse was killed. I have visited several times and it is always worth the visit.
2. Murray State Park in Oklahoma—family and fun.
3. Grambling University in Louisiana –neat and interesting place only wish we would have been a few weeks later and been able to watch the football team and band practice.
4. Estes Park Colorado—always fun and only three hours away—took our five year old grandson with us both times. Am just starting to realize that old guys and little guys like a lot of the same stuff.
5. Route 66 through Texas – I still remember the old TV show
6. Mountains of the Snowy Range (only thirty miles away but still great fun) we walked through snow three and four feet deep in late June.
7. The Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie (O.K. I know that it is just on the other side of town) but it is still a great place to visit. Butch Cassidy spent some time there and I love visiting the broom factory and watching them work on the old machines.
8. Wyoming Cowboy Football practice—several times
I also read several good books and more than a few average ones and one bad one, but who’s counting.

Summer in Wyoming

Second night in a row I am setting out on the patio enjoying another beautiful Wyoming evening. We pay for it when winter comes but summers are spectacular. Seventy-one degrees, southwest breeze and 27 percent humidity can’t beat it. Last night we sat outside until ten-thirty, put the blankets over us about nine. Temperature went down to 48 last night but back around 80 today.

Fort Robinson

Took a day trip to Fort Robinson to do some research yesterday. Always good to go back again. This is my fifth or sixth trip to Fort Rob and I always come away with something new, plus we ate a great lunch at the post cafe. Fort Fobinson and the Red Cloud agency are such a big part of Sioux history that it is a must visit for anyone who loves the old west and it's history. Crazy Horse was killed on a site at the fort and remains to this day a spot of reverance to Native people and history buffs alike. The fort also has some world war one and two history with the United States Army Calvary and Canine Core.

Vacation

When the going got tough I went on vacation. Ten states and a great time, lots of fine people and good times. Much history to see in America. I have been reading and researching most of the summer -oh- and working in the garden and playing with my grandson, he's five and we act about the same. (according to grandma)

Hope all of you are having a great summer, I am.

Back to work for this old teacher in a few weeks--my 41st year in the classroom. For those of you who were not with me on the old blogs I teach history of Wyoming and the American West, and AP European history. I teach high school but taught college Western American History for many years also. Other than the west I have interest and have published some works on the WPA and the CCC.

I will try to get back to posting at least once a week -Will be posting one of my short fiction works soon.

Remember -- don't put a cartridge under the hammer, five should do the job.

-N-