Big Nose George
Big Nose George Parott was held in the Carbon County Jail in Rawlins, in what was then Wyoming Territory, awaiting a scheduled execution. On the night of March 22, 1881, a mob broke into the jail, took him from his cell and hanged him from a telegraph pole in town, according to a 2023 HistoryNet article. That article says Sheriff Isaac Miller was out of town at the time and that jailer Bob Rankin had been struck by Parott during an escape attempt earlier that night. An 1881 dispatch reprinted in a Dakota newspaper places the hanging at a telegraph pole near the railroad shops, and says the men were masked.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took Big Nose George Parott from the Carbon County Jail in Rawlins and hanged him from a telegraph pole, per a reprinted Cheyenne Leader dispatch; the jailer was reportedly struck by him during an earlier escape attempt.
Reported by: Cheyenne Leader dispatch, as reprinted in the Press and Daily Dakotaian (reporters); vigilantes, per the article.