Microscopic Examination of Exhumed Wool and Hemp Fibers from the Grave of the Victims of Alferd Packer

In February 1874 a party of six gold miners set off from an Ute Indian camp near the present city of Delta, Colorado. They were bound east into the San Juan Mountains to the Los Piños Indian Agency (Figure 1). Only Alferd Packer completed the journey. According to his harrowing account, the other members of the party died of starvation or were killed when they attacked other members of the group. Packer admitted to killing one member of the party in self-defense; he also admitted surviving by eating flesh from the dead. In August 1874 an artist for Harper’s Weekly came upon five mutilated bodies near the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River. Following an inquest held on the spot, a warrant was issued for Packer’s arrest.