Big Nose George - Outlaw

Outlaw

In 1878, Parrott and his gang murdered two law enforcement officers—Wyoming deputy sheriff Robert Widdowfield and Union Pacific detective Tip Vincent—while trying to escape following a bungled train robbery. Widdowfield and Vincent were ordered to track down Parrott's gang on August 19, 1878, following the attempted robbery on an isolated stretch of track near the Medicine Bow River. The officers traced the outlaws to a camp at Rattlesnake Canyon, near Elk Mountain, where they were spotted by a gang lookout. The robbers stamped out their fire and hid in a bush but, when Widdowfield arrived at the scene, he realised the ashes of the fire were still hot. The gang then opened fire and Widdowfield was shot in the face. Vincent tried to escape, but was shot before he made it out of the canyon. The gang stole the weapons of both men, as well as one of their horses, before covering up the bodies and fleeing the area. The murder of the two lawmen was quickly discovered and a $10,000 reward was offered for the "apprehension of their murderers". This was later doubled to $20,000.

In February 1879, Big Nose George and his cohorts were in Milestown, later present day Miles City, Montana. It was known around Milestown that a prosperous local merchant, one Morris Cahn would be taking money east to buy stocks of merchandise. Big Nose George, Charlie Burris and two others planned and carried out a daring daylight robbery even though Morris Cahn was traveling with a group of 15 soldiers, two officers, an ambulance and a wagon from Fort Keogh, who were going east to collect the army payroll. At a site about 10 miles beyond the Powder River Crossing, near present day Terry, Montana, there is a steep coulee (known ever since as "Cahn's Coulee"). Approaching the coulee over a five-mile plateau, the soldiers, ambulance and the wagon got strung out. The gang donned masks and stationed themselves at the bottom of the coulee, at a turn in the trail. The gang first surprised and then captured the lead element of soldiers, as well as the ambulance with Cahn and the officers. Then they waited and likewise captured the rear element of soldiers with the wagon. Cahn was robbed of somewhere between $3,600 and $14,000, depending on who was doing the reporting.