Part 31 (1/2)

Messrs. Eddy and Foster of the Third Relief had travelled with him on the plains, starved with him in camp, and had had opportunities of talking with him upon their return to the cabins too late to rescue Jimmy Eddy and Georgia Foster. Had they believed that he had murdered the children, would those two fathers and the rest of their party have taken Simon Murphy and the three little Donner girls and left Keseberg _alive_ in camp with lone, sick, and helpless Mrs. Murphy--Mrs. Murphy who was grandmother of Georgia Foster, and had sole charge of Jimmy Eddy?

[Footnote 28: Should be spelled Keseberg.]

[Footnote 29: General Kearney and escort, accompanied by Edwin Bryant.]

[Footnote 30: McGlashan's ”History of the Donner Party” (1879).]

[Footnote 31: The old Alcalde records are not in existence, but some of the survivors of the party remember the circ.u.mstance; and Mrs. Samuel Kybert, now of Clarkville, Eldorado County, was a witness at the trial.

C.F. McGlashan, 1879.]

IV

LEWIS KESEBERG

In March, 1879, while collecting material for his ”History of the Donner Party,” Mr. C.F. McGlashan, of Truckee, California, visited survivors at San Jose, and coming to me, said:

”Mrs. Houghton, I am sorry that I must look to you and your sisters for answers to the most delicate and trying questions relating to this history. I refer to the death of your mother at the hand of Keseberg.”

He was so surprised and shocked as I replied, ”I do not believe that Keseberg was responsible for my mother's death,” that he interrupted me, lost for a moment the manner of the impartial historian, and with the directness of a cross-questioning attorney asked:

”Is it possible that Mrs. George Donner's daughter defends the murderer of her mother?”

And when I replied, ”We have no proofs. My mother's body was never found,” he continued earnestly,

”Why, I have enough evidence in this note book to convict that monster, and I can do it, or at least arouse such public sentiment against him that he will have to leave the State.”

Very closely he followed my answering words, ”Mr. McGlashan, from little girlhood I have prayed that Lewis Keseberg some day would send for me and tell me of my mother's last hours, and perhaps give a last message left for her children, and I firmly believe that my prayer will be granted, and I would not like you to destroy my opportunity. You have a ready pen, but it will not be used in exact justice to all the survivors, as you have promised, if you finish your work without giving Keseberg also a chance to speak for himself.”

After a moment's reflection, he replied, ”I am amazed; but your wish in this matter shall be respected.”

The following evening he wrote from San Francisco:

You will be glad to know that I have put Harry N. Morse's detective agency of Oakland upon the track of Keseberg, and if found, I mean to take steps to obtain his confession.

In less than a week after the foregoing, came a note from him which tells its own story.

SACRAMENTO, _Midnight, April 4, 1879_

MRS. E.P. HOUGHTON, DEAR MADAM:--

Late as it is, I feel that I ought to tell you that I have spent the evening with Keseberg. I have just got back, and return early to-morrow to complete my interview. By merest accident, while tracing, as I supposed, the record of his death, I found a clue to his whereabouts. After dark I drove six miles and found him. At first he declined to tell me anything, but somehow I melted the mood with which he seemed enwrapped, and he talked freely.

He swears to me that he did not murder your mother. He declares it so earnestly that I cannot doubt his veracity. To-morrow I intend plying him closely with questions, and by a rigid system of cross examination will detect the false-hood, if there is one, in his statement. He gives chapter after chapter that others never knew. I cannot say more to-night, but desire that you write me (at the Cosmopolitan) any questions you might wish me to ask Keseberg, and if I have not already asked them, I will do so on my return from San Francisco.

C.F. MCGLASHAN.

After his second interview with Keseberg and in response to my urgent appeal for full details of everything relating to my parents, Mr.

McGlashan wrote: