I remember reading something very similar, Keith. Sometimes, I think that some "historians" are out to revise history, rather than report it objectively. In the Old West, I've heard at least three tales of people stranded eating the family pets.
On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 1:26 AM, Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@comcast.net>wrote: > > > Interesting. I'm not surprised that the press of the day--which could put > The National Enquirer and Fox News to shame for sensationalism--might have > played up a story that might be untrue. I clearly remember reading about > this as a child, and reading one story which asserted that a diary had been > found kept by one of the party. Not sure which it was, but the story gave > graphic details of how this man supposedly recorded he'd come to like the > taste of human flesh, and had even written down recipes for how he cooked > certain organs! > > > > *********************************************************************** > http://news.discovery.com/history/donner-party-cannibalism.html Donner > Party Ate Family Dog, Maybe Not People Did ethnic prejudice spur the now > infamous legend of the Donner Party's cannibalism By Jennifer > Viegas<http://news.discovery.com/contributors/jennifer-viegas/>| Thu Apr 15, > 2010 12:01 PM ET > [image: Donner Party] > > James F. Reed and his wife, Margret W. Keyes Reed, seen in this file photo > taken in the 1850s, were survivors of the tragic Donner Party. > *AP Photo* > > *THE GIST:* > > - *Analysis of bones discovered at the Donner Party campsite found no > evidence for cannibalism.* > - *The members did resort to consuming the family dog, cattle, deer and > horses. * > - *Slate pieces and china shards reveal the members tried to live with > dignity.* > > ------------------------------ > > The Donner Party, a group of 19th century American pioneers who became > snowbound in the Sierra Nevada and supposedly resorted to cannibalism, may > not have eaten each other after all, suggests a new study on bones found at > the Donner's Alder Creek campsite hearth in California. > > Detailed analysis of the bones instead found that the 84 Donner Party > members consumed a family dog, "Uno," along with cattle, deer and horses. > Cattle, likely eaten after the animals themselves died of starvation, appear > to have been their mainstay. > > The study is the first to show that the Donner members successfully hunted > deer, despite the approximately 30 feet of snow on the ground during the > winter of 1846-1847. The horses are thought to have come from relief parties > that arrived in February and could have left a few of their animals behind. > > The paper, which will be published in the July issue of the journal *American > Antiquity*, is also the first to prove the theory that the stranded > individuals ate their pet dog. > > "They were boiling hides, chewing on leather and trying desperately to > survive," project leader Gwen Robbins told Discovery News. "We can see that > the bones were processed so heavily -- boiled and crushed down in order to > extract any kind of nutrients from them." > > Robbins, an assistant professor of biological anthropology at Appalachian > State University, and her team produced thin sections from the hearth bones > and examined them under high magnification in order to measure each basic > structural unit and link the bones to particular animals. > > No human bones were identified. > > "What we have demonstrated is that there is no evidence for cannibalism," > said Robbins. "If the Donner Party did resort to cannibalism, the bones were > treated in a different way (such as buried), or they were placed on the > hearth last and could have since eroded." > > Victorian Era journalists, who embellished the accounts provided by the 47 > survivors, largely fueled the legend of the Donner Party cannibalism. The > survivors, 11 men and 36 women and children, fiercely denied the > allegations. Although one man, Louis Keseberg, filed and won a defamation > suit, he was still forever known as Keseberg the Cannibal. > > "Racism might have played a part," Robbins said. "Keseberg was an > immigrant, and negative sentiment existed toward some recent immigrants > then." > > The trash and debris left around the Donner Party hearth in the spring of > 1847 show that, in spite of their very difficult circumstances, the members > tried to maintain a sense of decorum and normalcy. > > "Slates suggest they had the children sitting and doing their lessons, > while shards of china indicate they were eating off of plates, retaining > some dignity and hoping for the future," Robbins explained. > > University of Montana anthropologist Kelly Dixon worked on the initial > study that first documented the hearth and bones. > > "The tale of the Donner Party has focused on the tragedy of survival > cannibalism," said Dixon, "yet the archaeological remains inspire us to > consider more significant implications, such as what it was like to be > human, doing whatever possible to survive in one of the snowbound camps." > > Robbins and her colleagues are currently writing a book about the Donner > Party for the University of Oklahoma Press. It is scheduled for release next > year. > >
