Alfred Packer was born on January 21, 1842, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War and was discharged in June 1863 for epilepsy. Packer traveled to the Rockies and worked for the mines for 9 years. In November 1873, Packer and a party of 21 left Utah for the Colorado Gold Country. They were advised by Chief Ouray they should postpone their expedition until spring due to winter weather. In February, 1874, Alfred Packer and 5 other men headed for the high mountains against Ouray's advice. The group became snowbound by a blizzard. Alfred Packer emerged alone from the mountains in April. He signed his first confession describing what had happened and stated that one member had died and that he had eaten him to stay alive. Later the others died of starvation. Packer admitted killing the last man in self-defense. In August, 1874, the 5 bodies of the missing companions were found near Lake City and Packer was put into jail in Saguache, Colorado. He escaped from jail and was not seen again until March, 1883, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He signed his second confession and was taken to Lake City where he stood trial and was found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang. In October 1886 the sentence was reversed to manslaughter and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was paroled in 1901 by the Governor and took up residence in Littleton, Colorado, where he became a model citizen. Alfred died on April 23, 1907, and was buried with a military funeral in the Littleton Cemetery. It was said that Alfred Packer became a vegetarian before he died.