Alferd Packer: The Man Who Consumed Five Democrats
Alferd Griner Packer was born in Pennsylvania in 1842. During the American Civil War, he left his job as a shoemaker to serve in the army of the Northern states. After eight months, he was honourably discharged for medical reasons. Packer occasionally has epileptic seizures. The American then moved to another state where he joined another company. Not much later, he was discharged again, again for epilepsy.
Alferd Packer does not owe his place in the history books to this unglamorous career in the army. After the Civil War, he worked for some nine years in the mines of the Rocky Mountains, but there is little else to tell about that either.
A piece of advice ignored
The historical story of the American begins in 1873. Alferd Packer then took part as a guide in a hunting expedition in the mountains of Colorado. The expedition consisted of twenty-one men. On the way, the party encountered Ouray, an Indian leader who was well disposed towards the whites. Ouray advised the men to postpone the trip until spring, as winter conditions could cause danger along the…