, 1900-02-07
ODD CASE Of PACKER
.OLORADO'S CANNIBAL CONVICT
THE CAUSE OF A SERI-
Gus ROW
Two Editors are Shot-Hints of More
Trouble in Case Packer is Pardon
ed-Curious Political and Business
Entanglements Growing Out of a
Conviction for Man-Eating.

GUS and grewsome story of politics and
murder and fear which led up to the
shooting of F. G. Bonfils and H.. H.
Tammen, publishers of the Denver
Evening Post, on January 6. The two
editors are now on the road to recov-
cry. and a bitter fight over the pro-
posed release of "Man-Eater' Alfred
Packer from the Colorado penitentiary
will soon be resumed.
On one side is Otto Mears, % years
ago the proprietor of a little general
store in the mountains and now one of
the most influential men in Colorado
politics. He is called the kingmaker
Of the state. Mears was instrumental
in having Packer convicted, and now
declares that his life will not be worth
the snuff of a candle if the convict Is
released from the p~enitentiary. When
Gov. Thomas had Packers parole I'M
der advisement Mears hired a special
train and hurried across the continent
from Washington to prevent favorable
action upon it. Gov. Thomas refused
the parole. Now the claim is made
that there is u flaw in the original in
dictment which will lead to Packers re-
lease, and that the state is liable to
heavy damages for restraining a citi-
zen unlawfully for seventeen years.
Opposed to Mears and Thomas is AL
fred Packer. the convict, sullen and
morose. and his friends, who since the
case became inextricably mixed with
the politics of the state, have ranged
themselves upon his side.
Packer, the m%an-eater, is now serv-
ing a 40 year term in the Colorado pen
itentiary for having killed and eaten
five Of his companions while on a pros
pecting tour in the Colorado mountains
in 1874. Recently a law was passed by
the Colorado legislature for the espe-
cial purpose of giving the governor an
excuse for p%ardoniing Packer. But
Gov. Thomas refused to take advan-
tage of this opportunity, although 80
other prisoners have been paroled I'M
der the new law. The refusal Of Gov
ernor Thomas to pardon Packer, which
he explained in a document Of II, 900
words, was severely criticised by the
Denver Evening Post. This fact, con-
nected with statements made about
Anderson, Packers present attorney,
by Bonfils and Tammen, led to the
shooting of Jan. 6.
The question of Packers degree of
guilt df guilty at alb in killing his
comrades twenty-six years ago in the
San Juan country, and then living up
on their remains, has long since been
subordinated to the fear of Otto Mears
that Packer, If paroled, will be come
a Nemesis, following him to death, to
the effort of lawyers and newspapers
to make reputation out of the plea for
parole, to the interference of legisla-
lures, and the struggles of governors
to keep free from compromising en-
tanglements.
This story is vouched by Otto Mears,
General Charles Adams Qate minister
to Bolivia under President Arthur,
and Herman Leuders. That Packer and
his friends deny the truth of most Of
the essential details is an important
fact. Connected with the relation is
the plea of extenuation for Packer
the plea that m%an-eating was resorted
to by the Greedy expedition when in
h wilds of the north, and by the sur
vivors of the Fremont expedition on
its fourth trip into the San Juan range.
In 1873 Otto Mears was a member of
the firm of Mears & Gottheif, merchan-
disc dealers at Saguache, a town in the
county of the same name in this state,
lying west Of Gibson's peak and south
OF Marshalls pass. 1t is in the noun
famous and gold-rich San Juan dis
trict, where, from Spaniards to modern
days men have repeatedly given up
their lives for the treasure in rocky
and almost inaccessible Businesses.
One day in the year 1874 there came
to Mears in bis store a Utah miner, By
name Packer, who asked If he had a
horse to sell. Mears told him he had,
and sold him for $40. General Adams,
VINO was then Indian agent at Los Pin
os, arrived at Saguache at this time
o Denver, being en- route to the
agency. Mears went to him and said
that a story was afioat that Packer had
been prospecting in the San Juan
range with five companions, and that
he was suspected Of having murdered
them, as they had not been seen for
weeks, and he appeared to be we'll sup
piled with money. General Adams in
turn called into conference with him
and Mears a party Of Utah men who
were then in Saguache. These men
stated that they believed Packer to be
a murderer. Late in the fall they said
Packer and five companions had set out
from the Grand canyon of the Gunnison
to a point in the San Juan range, to
prospect for gold and silver. The win
ter season was on, the trail was cover
ed, food and game scarce, and the
chances of losing life was very great.
Packer and his i've companions were
warned, but determined to push on.
Packer returned, six weeks later, with
out his companions, and said that he
had hurt his leg, was unable to pro-
coed, and had been left by his compan-
ions to die in the wilds. He had final