proposed to do so, unless shown some authority by which they had
a better claim. This so exasperated them, that they acted as though they
were going to kill me. I offered to let them bind me as a prisoner, and
take me before the alcalde at Sutter's Fort, and I promised that I would
then tell all I knew about the money. They would listen to nothing,
however, and finally I told them where they would find the silver
buried, and gave them the gold. After I had done this, they showed me a
document from Alcalde Sinclair, by which they were to receive a certain
proportion of all moneys and property which they rescued."

The men spoken of by Keseberg, were the fourth relief party. Their names
were, Captain Fallon, William M. Foster, John Rhodes, J. Foster, R. P.
Tucker, E. Coffeemire, and--Keyser. William M. Foster had recrossed
the mountains the second time, hoping to rescue his wife's mother, Mrs.
Murphy. Alas! he found only her mutilated remains.

Chapter XX.

Dates of the Rescues
Arrival of the Fourth Relief
A Scene Beggaring Description
The Wealth of the Donners
An Appeal to the Highest Court
A Dreadful Shock
Saved from a Grizzly Bear
A Trial for Slander
Keseberg Vindicated
Two Kettles of Human Blood
The Enmity of the Relief Party
"Born under an Evil Star"
"Stone Him! Stone Him!"
Fire and Flood
Keseberg's Reputation for Honesty
A Prisoner in his own House
The Most Miserable of Men

December 16, 1846, the fifteen composing the "Forlorn Hope," left Donner
Lake. January 17, 1847, as they reached Johnson's ranch; and February
5th Capt. Tucker's party started to the assistance of the emigrants.
This first relief arrived February 19th at the cabins; the second
relief, or Reed's party, arrived March 1st; the third, or Foster's,
about the middle of March; and the fourth, or Fallon's, on the
seventeenth of April. Upon the arrival of Capt. Fallon's company, the
sight presented at the cabins beggars all description. Capt. R. P.
Tucker, now of Goleta, Santa Barbara County, Cal., endeavors, in his
correspondence, to give a slight idea of the scene. Human bodies,
terribly mutilated, legs, arms, skulls, and portions of remains, were
scattered in every direction and strewn about the camp. Mr. Foster found
Mrs. Murphy's body with one of her limbs sawed off, the saw still lying
by her remains. It was such scenes as these which gave t