, 1900-02-07


General Adams and which would search
for the missing five. Packer was to be
guide Of the party. He demurred to
going at al. but when promised ample
reward fatacusly consented and went
to the agency with Mears and two or
lLrce Of the Ctah men.
Genera! tLams determin d to force
Picker into a corner, and in tits couree
he was sustained by Mears, who believ-
ed the man to be guilty. Packer then
made another confession, in which he
told of how the men had been killed
by mutual consent, one at a time, In
til only he and Bell remained; that
they agreed to spare each others lives,
after subsisting on the flesh of the
others, but that Bell became desperate
and attempted to shoot him. Then
further:
This happened near Lake San Girls
toval. l cut from his body all the fish
| could conviently carry and then made
my way in pain and suffering to the
agency"
General Adams did not believe the
story but said if it was true Packer was
not to blame. To prove it's truthful
ness, though, he must accompany a
party the next day to show where the
bodies were buried. A party of six was
organized under command of II. F.
Lauter and started for the borders OF
San Cristoval to search for the remains
of Bell. The party was gone two
weeks, with Packer acting as guide.
His first act was to attempt to mislead
the party. The fourth day out he at
tackled Lauder with a large knife, but
was seized and disarmed.
The expedition was a failure. Lauter
took Packer to Saguache and turned
him over to the sheriff of the county.
The search for the missing men was
kept up, however, and at various times
articles of clothing and other things
were found which gave still further ev-
idence that they were murdered.
In June, when the SHOWS began to
disappear, the five bodies were found
by a photographer named Reynolds,
who was taking pictures for an eastern
publication. The bodies were lying in
a row, all but that of Bell. The four
had been killed with a Ratchet or ak,
as their skulls were crushed. They
were asleep when struck. The fifth
was shot with a rife and the head sew
cred from the body. This fifth was
the man Bell. and there were. evidences
that he had fought for his life. All of
the bodies had been mutilated, but
nothing to indicate that food was so
scarce when they we're killed as to
necessitate c%annibalIsm. A rude cabin
was found near the spot, and leading
from it to the bodies was a well-worn
trail, showing that Packer had occupied
the place for some time after killing
his companions.
The news of the discovery came
quickly to Saguache, and a coroner's
jury found Alfred Packer guilty of the
crime. A warrant for his arrest was
issued, but he made his escape from
Saguache and was not heard of until
March, 1888, when he was discovered
at Fort Fetterman, Wyo. He was
brought first to Denver and then to
Gunnison, and finally to Lake City,
where he was tried. He was found
guilty of premeditated murder and sem
fenced to be hung May 10, 1887.
His counsel appealed the case to the
supreme court on May Z. On May II
Justice Beck handed down a decision,
which in effect wrought a stay of pro-
ceedings in Packers case and prevent
ed his execution. He was tried a sec
ond time in August, 1886, found gull
ty, and sentenced to the state peniten-
tiary at Canyon City for forty years,
He was then sc years old. From that
time to this Packers friends have
sought to secure his release under one
pretext and another, holding that he
was not guilty of murder ~premeditat-
Vu. ohS III AZ PiCdo lldue ny lucll
vas the citing of the history of the
Greedy expedition, when the intrepid
explorer had to sacrifice part of his
number for the good Of many.
Fremont's terrible experience with
man-eating when he made his fourth
expedition through the very mountains
where this tragedy occurred was also
cited. but the supreme court maintain
ed it could not take cognizance Of any
thing but errors of the trial court, and
on account of this lack of jurisdiction
the case was thrown out.
The effort of Packers friends were
not chilled by this rebuff from the
highest court in the state. They sim
ply changed tactics. A bill was intro
duced in the twelfth general assembly,
intended to give Governor Thomas an
excuse to pardon Packer. Thirty con-
victs were released under the bill, but
Packer was not.
Governor Thomas reviewed the case
at great length. His argument was
that Packer was naturally a vicious and
morose character whom 1t would be
dangerous to trust at large in any COM
munity, and that he was guilty OF
wanton murder.
The Denver Post impeached the
statement Of the governor by ascrib-
ing the real motive to the personal