dead. Mr. Foster had discovered the animal, and slipping up close
to camp, had killed it."

When the party arrived at Sutter's Fort, they took no pains to conceal
their feelings toward Keseberg. Some of the men openly accused him of
Mrs. Donner's murder. Keseberg, at the suggestion of Captain Sutter,
brought action against Captain Fallon, Ned Coffeemire, and the others,
for slander. The case was tried before Alcalde Sinclair, and the jury
gave Keseberg a verdict of one dollar damages. The old alcalde
records are not in existence, but some of the survivors remember the
circumstance, and Mrs. Samuel Kyburz, now of Clarksville, El Dorado
County, was a witness at the trial. If Keseberg was able to vindicate
himself in an action for slander against the evidence of all the
party, it is clear that such evidence was not adduced as has frequently
appeared in books. For instance, in Captain Fallon's report of this
trip, he alleges that "in the cabin with Keseberg were found two kettles
of human blood, in all supposed to be over one gallon." Had this been
proven, no jury would have found for Keseberg. Fresh blood could not
have been obtained from starved bodies, and had the blood been found,
Keseberg would have been adjudged a murderer.

Speaking upon this point, Keseberg denies the assertion that any blood
was discovered, calls attention to the length of time Mrs. Donner had
been dead, to the readiness with which blood coagulates, and adds that
not a witness testified to such a circumstance at the trial. Why
should Keseberg murder Mrs. Donner? If he wanted her money, it was
only necessary to allow her to go out into the mountains alone, without
provisions, without any one to point out the way, and perish in the
trackless snows. She could not carry any considerable portion of her
money with her, and he, had only to go back to Alder Creek and secure
the treasure. He bears witness that she never tasted human flesh; that
she would not partake of the food he offered; how reasonable, then, the
story of her death. The fourth relief party expected to find a vast sum
of money. One half was to be given them for their trouble. They regarded
the man Keseberg as the murderer of George Foster, because of the
reports given by the little children brought out by the third relief.
The father of this child was with both the third and fourth reliefs.
Arriving at the cabins, they were amazed and horrified at the dreadful
sights. Hastening to the ten