About Me
I am the only person ever convicted of cannibalism in the United States. I was born in Allegheny County, PA., January 21st, 1842. I was by occupation, a shoemaker. At the age of 20, I enlisted in the Union Army, April 22nd, 1862, at Winona, Minnesota, and was honorably discharged December 29th, 1862, at Fort Ontario, New York, due to disability. I went west working at my trade and engaged in prospecting.On November 8th, 1873, as a guide for a party of 21 men, I left Bingham Canyon, Utah to go to the gold fields of the Colorado Territory. Part of our food supply was accidentally lost crossing a river on a raft. A most severe winter made travel extremely hazardous. The food ran out. Late in January of 1874 we found shelter and food at Chief Ouray's camp near Montrose, Colorado. On February 9th, myself and five companions left the camp, contrary to the advice of Ouray.I arrived alone at the Los Pinos Indian Agency, near Saguache, Colorado on April 16th, 1874. I was fat and had plenty of money. My conduct invited suspicion and questioning by Otto Mears and General Adams. I broke down and made two confessions. I admitted that I had lived off the flesh of my five companions the bigger part of the sixty days I was lost between Lake San Cristobal and the Los Pinos Agency.The five bodies were found. I was placed in a dungeon in Saguache, but made good my escape through the aid of an accomplice on August 8th, 1874. I was arrested eight years later near Fort Fetterman, Wyoming, March 11th, 1883. I was tried in Lake City, Colorado, April 6th-13th, 1883, found guilty and sentenced to death.The Lynch Mob was ready to take over. To prevent this, I was moved during the night to the Gunnison jail, where I remained for three years. My case was appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court and reversed on October 30th, 1885 due to a technicality, because I was charged after a Territorial law, but tried under a State law. The second trial was held in Gunnison, Colorado, August 2nd-5th, 1886. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter for each of the five victims, or a total of forty years.I served in the penitentiary at Canon City, Colorado from 1886-1901. Sob sister Polly Pry of The Denver Post, and lawyer Wm. W. "Plug Hat" Anderson were given the task of getting me paroled. "Plug Hat" came up with the proposition that the offense having occurred on an Indian Reservation, the trial should have been in a Federal court and not a State court. There appears to be merit to this theory.I was eventually paroled and after I was released I became a vegetarian and made a modest living selling autographed photos of myself. I died April 23rd, 1907 and I am buried in Littleton, Colorado. Thousands of tourists visit my grave every summer. The University Colorado at Boulder affectionately named its cafeteria after me. It's called the Alferd E. Packer Memorial Grill.Regarding my name, I was born Alfred E. Packer, but when I got a tattoo of my name, the tattooist misspelled it "Alferd" and I sort of took to it, and used it except for on official documents and such.
