Name/Title
Print, PhotographicEntry/Object ID
1951.162.0386Description
Dr. Heath holding the cap of Big Nose's skull cap.
Update - June 2010: Black & white print. Snapshot. Image of an older woman in a polkadot dress seated at a desk holding a bowl-shaped piece of bone. Papers in cubby holes & on desk top. Woman's hair is pinned up.
Emulsion slightly soiled.
Update 2012: Add 1 original, glossy, 8" x 10", black and white print. Written on back: "Mrs. Lillie Heath, Rawlins, Wyo. 1952. Mrs Nelson is holding the top of the skull of Big Nose George. Big nose George was hung in Rawlins in 1881 when Mrs. Nelson was a young girl-she is now 84 or 85 yrs. old. Big Nose George and his gang tried to wreck a Union Pacific train in order to role the pay car--failed but when the sheriff and his men went in search of them they killed two men". "Hung March 26, 1881" "The top of Big Nose George's skull, (the real name was supposed to be George Mannuse altho he went by the mane of George Parrott) was sawed off by Dr. Thomas Maghee, who was then the U. P. Surgeon and his brain studied. He later gave it to Dr. Lilly Heath who was his assistant". "1952" "The top of the skull of Big Nose George owned by Dr. Lillian Heath Nelson has been sent to the U. P. Museum in Omaha".
"She was the first lady doctor west of the Mississippi" ?
No. 178 Union Pacific R. R. Public Relations Omaha, Neb.".
Update 2015- There is another print of this photo. Measures 5" x 7." Written on back in black ink: "Dr. Lillian Heath Nelson." Good condition. Some abrasion.Collection
Photograph Collection