Wild West punishments, the way the record shows them: no jail, so you were chained to a tree; tar and feathers; a Territorial prison with a Dark Cell; vigilantes who hung a sign on you; a federal judge with a gallows built for six — and what the frontier did to you after you were dead.
The real story at the end is Big Nose George Parrott, Rawlins, Wyoming, 1881: a botched lynching, two doctors, a pair of shoes, and a governor’s inauguration.
In this video: the Wickenburg jail tree and Lincoln’s pit jail (Billy the Kid, 1878) · tar and feathers and riding the rail · Yuma Territorial Prison and the Dark Cell (1894) · Stuart’s Stranglers and the “Horse Thief” placards (Montana, 1884) · the lynching of Ella Watson and Jim Averell (Wyoming, 1889) · Judge Isaac Parker’s six-man gallows at Fort Smith (1875) · the Dalton Gang’s bodies on display at Coffeyville (1892) and the cowboys of Canyon Diablo (1905) · Elmer McCurdy’s sixty years on tour (1911–1977) · Big Nose George (1878–1950).
Sources: True West (Marshall Trimble), Arizona State Parks and Arizona Highways (Yuma), Wikipedia, WyoHistory.org (Ella Watson; Big Nose George), the Encyclopedia of Arkansas and the National Park Service (Judge Parker), the Kansas Historical Society (the Daltons), the Santa Cruz Daily Surf (1887), Sanders v. State (Ark. 1892). Where a detail is a legend, the narration says so.
Chapters
0:00 Chained to a tree: the Wild West jail
1:03 There was no jail (Wickenburg, Lincoln’s pit)
2:24 The town decides: tar, feathers and the rail
3:41 Yuma Territorial Prison and the Dark Cell
5:00 The rope with a sign: Stuart’s Stranglers
6:34 Ella Watson, Wyoming 1889
8:15 The Hanging Judge’s six-man gallows
9:40 After you died: the Daltons, Canyon Diablo, Elmer McCurdy
12:25 The real story: Big Nose George
15:45 The lucky option
Sources (every spoken claim was checked against these)
https://truewestmagazine.com/?p=39701
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jail_tree
https://wickenburgaz.gov/557/Downtown-Characters
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wickenburg-jail-tree
https://truewestmagazine.com/?p=96859
https://truewestmagazine.com/?p=44371
https://www.historynet.com/the-great-escape-billy-the-kids-last-stand.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarring_and_feathering
https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/items/show/52830
https://www.historyaccess.com/ask-the-editors-part-3/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_a_rail
https://www.nps.gov/fosc/learn/education/guarddesertion.htm
https://home.nps.gov/fosc/learn/education/guarddiscip.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart%27s_Stranglers
https://wyohistory.org/essays/covering-cattle-kate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Watson
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/isaac-charles-parker-1732/
https://www.nps.gov/fosm/learn/photosmultimedia/g_vt_02.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_C._Parker
https://www.kansashistory.gov/kansapedia/dalton-gang-souvenirs/16804
https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/big-nose-george-grisly-frontier-tale
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Nose_George
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_McCurdy
https://azstateparks.com/yuma-territorial
https://www.yumaprison.org/photos.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuma_Territorial_Prison
https://www.arizonahighways.com/archive/issues/chapter/Doc.871.Chapter.4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyon_Diablo_shootout
https://cap-redacted-demo.lil.tools/ark/55/html/0365-01.html
https://truewestmagazine.com/?p=40813
https://truewestmagazine.com/?p=44674
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