On the subject of secret identities, Tourist Guy turns out to be Peter Guzli of Budapest
Posted on 06/20/2003 10:12:45 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
On the subject of secret identities, Tourist Guy turns out to be Peter Guzli of Budapest
Alfred Packer
The only man in United States history ever convicted of a crime related to cannibalism lies buried in the southwest quarter of lot 65 in the Littleton Cemetery with a tombstone placed over his head at the expense of the U.S. government.
Alfred G. Packer was born in Pennsylvania in 1842. His chosen occupation of shoe-making was quickly interrupted by the outbreak of the Civil War. He enlisted in Company F, 16th U.S. Infantry in April of 1862, but his epilepsy resulted in a disability discharge the following December. Evidently liking army life, he soon reenlisted in an Iowa regiment, only to be discharged for the same reason. He then went West to try his hand in the gold fields and by 1873 he was working as a guide in the Utah and Colorado wilderness.
In November of that year, in Bingham Canyon, Utah, he was employed to lead twenty-one men seeking their fortunes in the gold fields near Breckenridge, Colorado. After an arduous three months in unrelenting winter weather, they located the camp of Ute Indian Chief Ouray, near present-day Montrose, and were provided food and shelter. Against the advice of Ouray, Packer and five other men continued their trek eastward, not wishing to lose further time waiting for a break in the weather.
Sixty-six days later, only Packer emerged from the mountains -- looking more fit than he should. He first claimed that he had become separated from his companions in the blinding snow and had survived on rabbits and rose buds. But when confronted about having a lot of money and personal possessions of the missing men, he finally admitted his tale of cannibalism: how four of the men had died in turn from the extreme conditions and been eaten by the rest, and how he killed the fifth crazed companion, Shannon Bell, in self-defense before devouring him, as well. This might have been the end of it, but the five skeletons were soon discovered at a single campsite, not strung out along the trail as he had claimed, and Packer was charged with a single count of murdering Israel Swan, whose remains allegedly showed signs of a bitter hand-to-hand struggle.
The dining hall at the University of Colorado is named in his honor.
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