ts, they found no money. Their idea that
Keseberg was a thief was confirmed by his disgorging the money when
threatened with death. There was much reason for their hatred of the man
who crossed the mountains with them, and this was intensified by their
being brought before Alcalde Sinclair and proven slanderers. Out of
this hatred has grown reports which time has magnified into the hideous
falsehoods which greet the ear from all directions. Keseberg may be
responsible for the death of Hardcoop, but urges in his defense that all
were walking, even to the women and the children. He says Hardcoop was
not missed until evening, and that it was supposed the old man
would catch up with the train during the night. The terrible dangers
surrounding the company, the extreme lateness of the season, the
weakness of the oxen, and the constant fear of lurking, hostile
Indians, prevented him or any one else from going back. Keseberg may be
responsible for the death of Wolfinger, of George Foster, of James Eddy,
of Mrs. Murphy, and of Mrs. Tamsen Donner, but the most careful searcher
for evidence can not find the slightest trace of proofs. In his own
mournful language, he comes near the truth when he says:

"I have been born under an evil star! Fate, misfortune, bad luck,
compelled me to remain at Donner Lake. If God would decree that I should
again pass through such an ordeal, I could not do otherwise than I did.
My conscience is free from reproach. Yet that camp has been the one
burden of my life. Wherever I have gone, people have cried, 'Stone him!
stone him!' Even the little children in the streets have mocked me and
thrown stones at me as I passed. Only a man conscious of his innocence,
and clear in the sight of God, would not have succumbed to the terrible
things which have been said of me--would not have committed suicide!
Mortification, disgrace, disaster, and unheard-of misfortune have
followed and overwhelmed me. I often think that the Almighty has singled
me out, among all the men on the face of the earth, in order to see how
much hardship, suffering, and misery a human being can bear!"

"Soon after my arrival at the Fort, I took charge of the schooner
Sacramento, and conveyed wheat from Sacramento to San Francisco, in
payment of Capt. Sutter's purchase of the Russian possessions. I worked
seven months for Sutter; but, although he was kind to me, I did not get
my money. I then went to Sonoma, and worked about the same length