George F. Parks (1856-1888) - Waiter at the Commercial Hotel

Photo:  Donna

George Fremont Parks was born in California in 1856.  His parents were Charles Parks and Irene Taylor, and he had a younger brother named Charles.

Following the death of George’s father, the Parks family moved to Phoenix, Arizona.  In 1879, Mrs. Parks married George Patterson, an immigrant from Norway.

Young George Parks worked as a waiter at the Commercial Hotel in Phoenix during the winter months.  During the summers, when there were fewer travelers lodging at the hotel, he would go up to Prescott to work.  Like many local men, he was a member of the volunteer Phoenix Fire Department, Hose Company.

On October 12, 1882, George married Mary Agnes Thompson Lucas, but the marriage may have been of short duration, as nothing more is known about her.

On the evening of December 10, 1888, after serving supper to the hotel’s guests, George and three other waiters sat down to enjoy their own meal in the dining room of the Commercial Hotel.  They were apparently talking and joking among themselves when the hotel’s Chinese cook, Wong Lee, passed by.  Thinking that they were making fun of him, he made some profane remarks, to which George took exception.

George and the cook took their dispute outdoors, where they probably exchanged a blow or two.  Evidently George considered the incident resolved, for he came back to the dining room and resumed his seat.  But the cook’s anger had not been appeased, for he followed George and, drawing a knife, stabbed him.

George exclaimed, “He’s knifed me; look out for him!” and ran into the bar where he seized a pistol and went after his assailant.  However, Constable McDonald caught George as he collapsed and carried him back to the dining room.  Dr. McGlasson was summoned, but the knife had penetrated to the heart.  George lingered for two or three hours, remaining conscious long enough to bid farewell to his grief-stricken mother.

Wong Lee, George’s assailant, was swiftly apprehended and jailed amid muttered threats of lynching.  Nevertheless, he stood trial in early February before Judge DeForest Porter and was adjudged guilty of manslaughter.  Late in May, 1889, Wong Lee was conveyed to the penitentiary in Yuma to serve a six-year sentence.

George F. Parks was initially buried in City Loosley Cemetery.  Scarcely a year later, his mother passed away and was buried next to him.  In 1918, their remains, as well as those of George Patterson, were removed to Greenwood Cemetery.

- by Donna L. Carr