Look at how important fat in the diet was known to be!


There is no question Alferd Packer ate the flesh of his five companions while
trekking through the barren, snowy San Juan Mountains. The beady-eyed
prospector admitted to as much during his trial more than 100 years ago.But
what remains in question - at least in some researchers' minds - is whether
Colorado's most famous man-eater was also a murderer, or merely a man acting
in self-defense who then helped himself to the flesh of his already-slain
friends.This week David Bailey, curator of history at the Museum of Western
Colorado, hopes to settle the matter once and for all.After seven years of
combing through yellowed newspaper clippings, testimonies and journals for
references on the case, Bailey hopes to add X-ray analysis to his collection
of evidence, which, he feels, bolsters the notion that Packer killed only one
man - not five - and did so only to protect his own skin.Who Ate Who?Alferd
Packer (he signed his first name Alferd, although some officials used the
more conventional spelling, Alfred) was convicted in 1883 of hatcheting to
death and eating his five companions while leading them through the San Juan
Mountains in search of California gold. The team, which included a strapping
19-year-old as well as a 58-year-old with severe arthritis, was en route to
California when they were trapped by a sudden, vicious storm . They soon ran
out of flour, fat and meat. For three days the men survived on pine sap and
rosebuds, but eventually hunger drove one of the prospectors to seek heartier
nourishment.During his trial Packer was fingered as the one who first grabbed
an ax and butchered all five of his companions. It was Packer, after all, who
emerged from the forest days later, while his companions never did. The judge
who tried the case was so repulsed by Packer that he sentenced him to be
hanged until he was "dead, dead, dead." But Packer escaped death and served
only prison time.Packer, until his dying day, claimed it was another man,
Shannon Bell, who began the carnage. In his earliest statements, Packer
claimed most of the men had died of natural causes, but in his later
confession, Packer said he'd left camp to scout for food and when he
returned, he found Bell amid the bodies of the other four, roasting a flank
of human flesh.Packer said Bell then turned to attack Packer and Packer shot
the crazed cannibal twice in defense. He then grabbed the ax from Bell and
finished the job - as well as the meal Bell had begun to roast.Evidence of
Virtue?Packer eventually found sympathetic ears for his version of the story
in a young, feminist reporter, Polly Pry, and was finally pardoned by the
governor of Colorado in 1901. Accounts of his final years describe a friendly
old man who offered hard candies to local children and who, himself, "never
touched meat."In a few days, Bailey's team, including a soil chemist, an
archaeologist and a gunpowder expert, plan to X-ray five bagfuls of soil,
clothing and human remains taken from the San Juan mountain site to try to
corroborate Packer's story. Bailey hopes to find traces of lead or gunpowder
residue that match gunpowder and lead bullet samples taken from that time
period."Packer said he fired point blank at Bell," says Bailey. "So there
should be residue. It may not solve the case for good, but it would be good
proof that Packer wasn't lying."Bailey also cites reports from earlier
excavations of a bullet hole in the hip of one skeleton, thought to be Bell.
Bailey says the reports further support Packer's story. But the leader of a
1989 excavation of the site buys none of it.'A Despicable Man'"Packer just
lied and lied and lied," says James Starrs, a professor of law and forensics
at George Washington University. "He was a despicable person."The alleged
bullet hole in one the skeleton's hips, says Starrs, actually showed the
clear markings of a gnawing, foraging animal, not a bullet. Starrs and his
team did find a bullet wound in Bell's skeleton, but it was in his left arm
and, Starrs says, it had probably been incurred at least 20 years before
Bell's death.Starrs explains the idea that Bell's hip bone had taken a bullet
originated from a premature and incorrect assessment of one of his crew
members, that was then published in the Denver Post."He was absolutely
wrong," says Starrs. "Our later analysis showed it was conclusively not from
a bullet wound."The team also revealed evidence of a mad killer, including
deep cuts in the hand and arm bones of the victims - indicating they'd thrown
their hands over their heads in fright. Nicks in arm and leg bones suggested
where the cannibal had hacked away flesh for roasting.Starrs has followed up
with some of his own investigative work on Packer and found little to support
the idea that he was a decent fellow who had simply eaten his companions to
survive.Starr says Civil War records show Packer had been convicted during
the war of pilfering the pockets of dead soldiers while working for ambulance
crews. Packer also received a stipend from the government for his epilepsy,
which, he claimed, was a war injury."He said he contracted epilepsy from
walking guard during cold nights, which is just ridiculous," says Starrs.Bad
History Repeats ItselfBailey and his team, however, remain adamant that
Packer was a victim of a bad rap and that scientific analysis might revive
his tarnished reputation."I believe there's such a thing as a bad history
gene," says Bailey. "If you tell a story long enough, it eventually becomes
the truth."It was that generated truth, says Bailey, that eventually killed
the old cannibal. Packer died in 1907 - six years after being released from
prison - of what records describe as "senility, trouble and worry."