The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-07-14
THE DCNNER TRAGEDY.
TIE MOST FRFGHTFUL NARRATIHE
OF MODERN TIMES.

OF MODERN TIMES.
The current number of the Overland Monthly
describes atresh, and no doubt with minute ac-
curacy, chain of events, which for ghastly
horror are probably without equal In authentic
records. The tale realizes, In truth, the
trightful Remuneration of 0thello; for in Il ''on
horrors head horrors accumulate" and surely
imagination can picture nothing in the way OF
the iplteous and awful more extrene than
what was suffered by the unfortunates concern
ed In various forms, by rocks, newspapers,
and more frequently, By private report, the
the story has been told; for 1t happened long
aso-in ls4S-befepe Captain Suster had made
his discovery, and beforeevery old whaler from
,Casco Bay to Hatteras had been fitted up, to
ssrave once more the perils of Cape Horn,
But many have persisted in dishelieving it. It
was too horrible, they said, to believe. And
il Is true that there seemed to be a rawhead
and bloodyIbenes air about the narrative that
more frequently attends fiction than fact, and
which, at SA events, lent warrant to the sus-
plcion thatlt had been expanded andembel-
lished. There Is, however, no doubt about
the melancholy truth Of 1t; and the minute
account NOW published Is to be accepted as
the product Of all the sltted and collated testi-
mony that it has been possible to obtain.
Donner Lake-named after the leader of the
party who met their death hard by-is one OF
the most picturesque and lovely spots among
the elevated valleys OF the Sierra Nevada.
.sStarpasion Gamp"-the immediate scene OF
the calamity-is close at hand, and by 1t runs
the railroad, a strange contrast n the plenty
aud succorit suggests to the helpless misery
the spot once witnessed. The Donner party LETT
their home for the Pacific slopein search OF q
healthful and eligible soil, and having penetra-
ted this great distance toward their promised
land, were s'snowed up" near the lake. Their
Indian guide, 0He. .Truckee, warned them one al
ternoon that dreadfel weather was at hand, and
urged them to push on. but-for the ground
was as yet uncovered they had found wood,
water and grass, and determined to halt for
the night. In the morning. q foot OF snow had
fallen and their cattle had wandered away 30
that few of them could be found. Alarmed,
the waylarers began to build cabins and 10
take such other measures as they could to pro-
tect themselves from the elements: The snow
continued to fall, and presently became i'm
passable. In q few days 1t was eight feet deep.
During nearly the whole Of November the long
storm continued, and the snow on the noun
tains ultimately reached depth OF more than
twenty feet.
There were eighty-two souls in the party,
thirty.two being women and a large proper
tion children. The Captain, George Donner,
was q man of some sagacity and considerable
wealth, and his wife and children being with
him, had every incentive to prudence and ac-
tipity. But all efforts to escape from their
frightful situation proved vain. In short
food was gone. They devoured their dogs, the
hides OF the cattle they had saved and their
own boots and shoes. Finally the mis-
cradle creatures began to think Of eating each
other. At this period q death occurred
thus deferring the need for violence, and
horrible to relate. the corpse was eagerly
consumed. Other deaths followed, and the
survivors continued to subsist on the flesh of
their dead companions. After six weeks, the
storms having subsided, eight men and five
women, guided by two Indians, set out to try
10 make their way to California. The hopes
Of all that remained hung on their efforts and
they struggled desperately to succeed. But In
week, and before they had passed the Divide,
this forlorn hope was again overwhelmed by
snow. Three died almost OF once. and the
rest ate their bodies. Having" says the
Overland Monthly, "now been without NOR
sci to eat for:four days, those wretched people
cut the flesh from the bodies OF the dead, and
having refreshed themselves upon portion OF
it and dried the balance for future use, again
pushed on. This was their New Years feast,
1t now being the first day Of January, l847.
Nye days later their food was again all gone,
and they had only the strings of their snow
shoes leftto eat"
The unhappy wretches then desired 10 de-
your their Indian guides; but the latter, see
Ing their intention, fed over the hills and were
seen no more. On the 18th of January all but
three of the thirteen were dead, and of the
survivors two laid down to die. The third had
fallen In with friendly Indian, who conduct
ed him to settlement on Bear River. There
the story was told, and Immediately expedi-
tions set forth from both San Francisco and
Suffers Fort to rescue those OF the original
party who might still be alive. -
What the benevolent adVentllrers found al
most beggars description. Those that had
died remained where their last sigh had been
breathed-but they were stripped OF their
flesh. .Bodies half devoured lay strewn
around the dismal cabins, from which issued
sitting fetorn of those who yet lived.
mot only were their bodies enfeebled and
emaciated TO the last degree, but with many
the very soul had become desolation. While
some welcomed their deliverers with ecstacies
of Joy, others, gloomy and cadarerous, regard
ed them with c0ldpess amounting almost to
Indifference, they having become not only
reconciled to their cannibalistic diet, but pre-
ferring 1t to wholesome food when set before
them MonstrOus Us 1t may seem, to such an
extent IdQ IuS QdIludl buotSo VI SOLuc VI LuCSC
people become perverted that they pushed
aside the -four and bacon rendered them,
choosing rather 10 partake of the horrid feast
to which they had SO long been accustomed.
Parents were seen feeding on the remains Of
their children, and children on those
of their parents. Here wife was brolI-
ing on the Goals the flesh Of her husband,
and elsewhere O company; were making
a repast upon the roasted limb of q dead
companion, All flllal and parental affection
seemed dead, the one Instinct Of selfpreserya-
tion reignng supreme. Rapidly some OF those
most wretched creatures were being trans
formed into ghouls and demons, having al
ready lost many of the divine traits Of human
itY Haggard and attenuated, they spoke but
little, while their looks and demeanor were
wild and unearthlg. Too incredible for belief
are the stories told Of the ravenous greed ex-
hibited by some of these starving wretches,
one of whom Is said to have eaten the entire
body OF child during the course Of single
night; while another Insisted on appropriating
to his own use the hearts and other viscera OF
his dead companions. On the other hand,
many refused to touch the flesh Of those who
had perished until the very last, and then par
took of it sparlngly, aud with evident feelings
of horror.'
Thirty-six of the company had perished, and
many of the remainder were on the point Of
doing so. Amid devastation and woe there
were CLEANS Of heroism that almost seemed
needfGl to show that these afflicted souls shar-
ed common humanity. Donner, the leader,