The Shoes (Made) of Flat Nose George
George Manuse went under a number of aliases. They included “George Parrott,” “Flat Nose George” and “George Curry.” There are even those who confuse him with Harvey Logan, because Harvey used a couple of similar aliases.But, our George operated in the Powder River region of Wyoming. He was the leader of a gang that attempted to rob a Union Pacific train by removing a length of railroad track. Unfortunately, the train was running behind schedule. And a railroad inspection crew happened onto the missing rails before the train arrived. The crew notified the sheriff. A posse arrived, and engaged the would-be train robbers. In the fracas, two of the posse were killed.
Realizing things would be hot for him, George laid low for a while. But like with many a man, George just couldn’t keep his mouth shut and in July of 1880 he was in a saloon in Miles City, Montana with too many whiskeys under his belt. And he started bragging about his escapades in Wyoming. It was only a matter of days, and George found himself in jail in Rawlings, Wyoming. By the end of 1880, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to be hanged.
Like kids and Christmas, the citizens of Rawlings just couldn’t wait, and on the night of March 22, 1881, George Manuse, was escorted out of jail and hanged from a telegraph pole.
But they weren’t done with George. A couple of “surgeons” pealed the hide off of him, and made a pair of moccasins and a tobacco pouch out of it. Incidentally, you can still view this “remembrance” in a museum in Rawlings.
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