Alferd Packer
| Alferd Packer | |
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Alferd Packer
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| Born |
Alferd Griner Packer January 21, 1842 Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, US |
| Died | April 23, 1907 (aged 65) Jefferson County, Colorado |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | John Swartze |
| Known for | Accused of murdering his mining party |
Alfred Griner "Alferd" Packer (January 21, 1842 – April 23, 1907) was an American prospector who confessed to cannibalism during the winter of 1874. He and five other men attempted to travel through the high mountains of Colorado during the peak of a harsh winter. When only Alfred reached civilization, he claimed that the others had killed each other for food, and confessed to having lived off the flesh of his companions during his snowbound state and to having used it to survive his trek out of the mountains two months later. After his story was called into question, he hid from justice for nine years before being tried, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death. Packer won a retrial and was eventually sentenced to 40 years in prison for manslaughter. A biopic of his life, The Legend of Alfred Packer, was made in 1980. A more comedic take, titled Cannibal! The Musical, was made in 1993.
Alferd Griner Packer was born January 21, 1842, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, one of three children of James Packer and his wife Esther Griner. By the early 1850s, James Packer had moved his family to LaGrange County, Indiana, where he worked as a cabinet maker.
Alfred Packer served in the Union Army in the American Civil War. Upon enlisting, on April 22, 1862 at Winona, Minnesota in Company F, 16th U. S. Infantry Regiment, he gave his occupation as a shoemaker. He was honorably discharged due to epilepsy eight months later, at Fort Ontario, New York. He moved south and on June 25, 1863, enlisted in Company L, 8th Iowa Cavalry Regiment at Ottumwa, Iowa; however, he was discharged at Cleveland, Tennessee on April 22, 1864, for the same reason. He then traveled to the Rocky Mountains and worked at mining related jobs for nine years.
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