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Alferd Packer - Colorado's Cannibal

Picture courtesy of Mike Sinnwell May 2005

According to legend when Alferd Packer was tried and sentenced for cannibalism the Judge said "Packer you man eating SOB, there was seven dimmycrats in Hinsdale county and you eat five of them. (Some more curse words) I sentence you to be hanged by the neck until dead, dead, dead as a warning against reducing the dimmycratis population."  This memorial can be found on the way over Slumgullion Pass.

If you haven't read about Alferd it is an interesting story. The incident happened in January of 1874. It wasn't until May of 1883 that he was sentenced, as he had left the country before they discovered the bodies. He was free for 9 years. He was recaptured and retried and sentenced to 5 consecutive terms of 8 years in prison. He was paroled in 1901. CU students also honor him with the naming of their cafeteria after him.

Best book if you want to read the real story -Man-Eater: The Life and Legend of an American Cannibal by Harold Schechter    

Oh, and the story about the dimmycarts,  it never happened. I read the judges sentencing and I was honestly bored with all the unnecessary words he used.