"Polly Pry's most famous story was about the 'Colorado Cannibal,' Alferd Packer," according to Special Collections And Digital Archives, Denver Public Library.
Legendary Colorado Cannibal Alfred or 'Alferd' Packer, (as guide) and Israel Swan, Shannon Wilson Bell, George Noon, James Humphrey, and Frank Miller risked the brutal Colorado winter of 1873-74 in search of mineral wealth in the snowy San Juans in southwest Colorado. After leaving Ouray's camp, nearby present-day Montrose, the group was buried by blizzard near the present site of Lake City, Colorado.
Packer was next seen on April 16, 1874, straggling into the Los Pinos Indian Agency with little more than a rifle and a skinning knife belonging to members of his party. The story Packer told at that time was that, once the storm hit, he had set up camp while the others went forward in search of food. They never returned, and Packer subsequently headed out for Los Pinos.
After recovering, Packer left for Saguache, Colorado, where by some
accounts he suddenly became a 'big spender' at the local saloon.
Unfortunately for Packer, in Saguache he encountered several men from
the original Provo group who were dubious about his version of the
story.
Indian Agent Charles Adams took Packer back to Los Pinos for questioning
about the matter, and on May 8, 1874, extracted the first of Packard's
two conflicting confessions.
According to Packer, Israel Swan had died and the others, being without food, had eaten him. Subsequently, three others had died from exposure and starvation. Then, Packer admitted to killing Shannon Bell, claiming it was in self-defense.
Packer was transported back to Saguache and jailed outside of town, not in the town's jail house as some have told. In August, Packer escaped from custody and wasn't seen again until March, 1883, when Frenchy Cabazon, one of the original prospecting party, found him quite by accident in Douglas, Wyoming. By coincidence, on the day of Packer's escape from Saguache, the ghostly remains of the missing prospectors were found in a valley overlooking what is now Lake City, Colorado. There was evidence of a struggle and foul play.
In March, 1883, Packer was taken to Denver, Colorado, and questioned again about the incident. In his second confession, Packer stuck with his original claim of self-defense, but admitted to stealing the rifle and $70 in cash from the dead men. Packer was charged with the murder of Israel Swan, the first to die, and was taken to Lake City for trial. The jury wasted no time in finding Packer guilty of murder, and Judge Melville B. Gerry suggested he hang.
Packer appealed his conviction to the Colorado Supreme Court where the verdict was reversed. He was tried again and this time found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 40 years in the state penitentiary. After serving only 17 years of his sentence, Packer's cause was championed by a grass-roots campaign in Denver. In 1901, Governor Charles S. Thomas granted Packer's parole request.
Polly Pry helps free "Colorado Cannibal"
"Adventurous newspaper writer, gossip columnist, and social activist who became one of the first women to run her own newspaper, Leonel Ross Campbell was born in 1857 to a wealthy Mississippi family. She went by her nickname, Nell, in everyday life," says Special Collections And Digital Archives, Denver Public Library.
"Many authors and journalists at the time used a pen name instead of their real name. Nell's fellow writers at the New York World nicknamed her Polly Pry because she could pry information from unlikely sources. She decided to use Polly Pry as her pen name, and kept it for the rest of her life."
After beginning her career with New York World, Nell's mother and father moved to Denver in the late 1890s. Nell's father had tuberculosis,
and Denver had some of the best hospitals in the country to treat the
disease. In 1898, Nell took a train from New York to Denver to visit
them. On the train, she happened to meet, and strike up a conversation with one of the owners and publishers of the Denver Post, and soon she was working for the paper.
For her most famous Colorado story:
"Nell originally met Packer in the Cañon City prison while researching a story about Colorado's prison system. Although Packer had avoided talking to reporters for years, Nell convinced him to give her an interview.
This interview led to a series of meetings between Nell and Packer, in which he shared his side of the story. He told her that his companions had died in the mountains, and that he had eaten them to keep from starving to death. But, he said, he had never murdered anyone.
Nell became convinced that Packer was innocent of murder. She argued that since sailors were legally allowed to eat people if they were lost at sea, the same rules should apply to people stranded in the mountains.
Nell told her idea to Frederick Bonfils and H.H. Tammen, the owners of The Denver Post. They agreed to hire a lawyer to help clear Packer's name - partly because Polly Pry's stories about Packer had gotten many new people to start reading the Post! They knew a court case would help sell even more newspapers.
Nell was successful. Alferd Packer was released, but was told he could not leave the state of Colorado ever again. He moved near Littleton, Colorado, and lived the rest of his life as a vegetarian.
After Alferd Packer's pardon, Nell found herself making headlines instead of writing them. Nell and her bosses discovered that the attorney hired by The Denver Post took payment from Alferd Packer as well as from The Post.
Frederick Bonfils and H.H. Tammen called the lawyer into their offices at The Denver Post. Nell and her bosses confronted him about taking double payment, and demanded he return Packer's money.
Frederick Bonfils
During the confrontation, the attorney, W. W. Anderson, pulled a gun and shot both of the men; as he prepared to shoot again, she jumped in front of Harry Heye Tammen,
trying to shield him. Anderson threatened to shoot her if she didn't
move. However, she stalled him long enough for the police to arrive and
used her skirt to stop the bleeding. Later, rumors began circulating
that her skirts saved her publishers' lives by slowing down bullets from
the gun.
"The gunman told her to move or she would be shot as well. Nell dared him to do so. She was the most popular writer in Colorado, and she told him he would get the death penalty if he hurt her."
Anderson's portrait from the Colorado Bar Association
Nell stalled the attacker long enough for the police to arrive, and managed to stop the bleeding of her bosses by using her dress.
"Rumors circulated about Nell catching bullets in her hoop skirts and tearing the gun out of the would-be murderer's hands. While untrue, these stories made Nell a bigger legend than ever."
In a story celebrating 125 years of The Denver Post stories, by Dick Kreck The Denver Post, October 15, 2017, tells about one of the paper's most famous and boldest characters, Polly Pry, by name.
"While there, she prevailed on the editor of The New York World, a friend of her father’s, for a job. He rejected her but offered an assignment covering a slum fire. She did such a good job that he hired her full-time."
It was while at the World that she got the name for which she would become well-known after fellow reporters called her “Polly Pry” because she could, it was said, pry information out of anyone.
"Her mother and father moved to Denver in 1898, and she came for a
visit. The story goes that on the train ride out she sat next to
Frederick Bonfils, co-owner of The Denver Post. He took her to dinner in
the dining car, and by the time the train reached Denver, he had hired
her, making Polly the paper’s first female reporter," writes Kreck.
Her enduring fame in Denver history comes from an incident that exploded in the shared offices of her bosses, Bonfils and Harry Tammen.
"In 1901, Polly helped win the release of Alfred Packer, serving a
life sentence in prison for cannibalizing some of his fellow hikers
during a winter expedition in the Rockies. The Post hired a local
attorney, W.W. “Plug Hat” Anderson, to help effect his release. When
Tammen and Bonfils found out that Anderson was taking money from them
and from Packer for the job, they were furious. A showdown in the partners’ office led to Anderson firing his gun at
both men, wounding Bonfils seriously and winging Tammen. It could have
been worse had Polly not jumped between the combatants, protected her
bosses with her body and wrestled the gun away from Anderson," wrote Kreck.
After she left The Post, Polly founded her own newspaper, Polly Pry,
and became a strong advocate for woman’s suffrage. When her paper
folded, she moved back to New York City, says Kreck.
But according to information Special Collections And Digital Archives, Denver Public Library:
"Nell missed Denver, and was happy to come back when the Denver Times offered her a position as a reporter. Although she was now well past middle age, she accepted a job to go to Mexico and interview Pancho Villa, who had overthrown the Mexican government."
"Villa refused to talk to American reporters, and threatened to have
Nell killed when she asked for an interview. Nell responded to his
threats by telling jokes until Pancho Villa changed his mind," library information said.
After this, Polly Pry returned to journalism full-time, and covered World War I in Europe even though she was well into her sixties.
Nell stayed active throughout her life, and only slowed down once she started having heart problems at age eighty-one. Her last words were as she was trying to leave her hospital bed against the nurses' wishes - "I must be up, and..." She passed away before she could finish her sentence.
"Polly Pry was not only a beloved Colorado celebrity, she paved the way for women writers throughout the country. Although she sometimes faced prejudice because she was a woman, her strong personality and excellent writing won people over. Investigative reporters around the world were inspired by her writing and dedication to getting stories no one else could," says Special Collections And Digital Archives, Denver Public Library.
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