Under an Evil Star

In April 1847, Louis Keseberg, the last survivor of the Donner Party, was rescued from a snow-covered cabin in a pass of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Surrounded by the dismembered bodies of his fellow-travelers and unhinged by hunger and isolation, itÕs obvious that he consumed the bodies of his comrades to survive. Money belonging to the Donner family was found in his possession. Did Keseberg murder for food? Why had he taken money belonging to George and Tamzene Donner? Had he planned his ÒcrimesÓ all along, refusing repeated opportunities of rescue so that he could remain behind and prey on weaker and more vulnerable victims? Those answers lay with Keseberg and for decades, as speculation grew into rumor, printed in a host of books, articles and memoirs, the most infamous member of the Donner Party kept his silence. In 1879, Sacramento newspaper reporter Charles McGlashan tracked Keseberg down at the behest of Eliza, youngest daughter of George and Tamzene Donner. She believed that only he could provide the details of her motherÕs last moments and convey TamzeneÕs dying words to her family. Convinced that he might receive a confession that would bring the infamous cannibal to justice, McGlashan confronted Keseberg and obtained a statement. In April, 1879, Eliza Donner and Louis Keseberg met face to face, and he swore his innocence of her motherÕs death and, by extension, the other heinous actions imputed to him. But did he give McGlashan and Eliza the whole story? Was he a blood-thirsty, heartless fiend or a deeply-flawed human being driven beyond desperation?