The Story Behind the Alferd Packer Grill (Part II)Packer was promptly jailed, but escaped in August of 1874 and wasn't apprehended again until March of 1883, in Douglas, Wyoming. By sheer coincidence, the remains of the five others (along with evidence of foul play) were found outside Lake City the same day that Packer escaped.During his second deposition regarding the matter (this time in Denver, Colorado), Packer stuck with his original claim of self-defense, but admitted to stealing $70 in cash and a rifle from his dead companions. Packer was charged with the murder of the first man to die, and taken back to Lake City for trial. In Lake City, Packer was found guilty of murder and sentenced to "be hanged by the neck until you are dead, dead, dead...". Packer appealed to Colorado's Supreme Court, which overturned the sentence on a technicality, but was tried again, convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to forty years in the state pentitentiary. Packer's cause was championed by a grass-roots campaign in Denver, and Governor Charles S. Thomas granted Packer's parole request in
1901, after he had served 17 years of his 40-year sentence. Packer moved to Littleton, Colorado, where by all accounts he was a model
citizen and neighbor, and he was buried in Littleton Cemetery with military honors in 1907.
Part I of the saga behind CU's Alferd Packer Grill
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