Mention of the Donner Party reminded me of the famous Republican cannibal Alferd Packer. At Packer’s sentencing, the judge reportedly said,

Stand up you voracious man-eatin’ sonofabitch and receive your sentence. When you came to Hinsdale County, there was seven Democrats. But you, you ate five of ‘em, goddam you. I sentence you to be hanged by the neck until your’re dead, dead, dead, as a warning against reducing the Democratic population of this county. Packer, you Republican cannibal, I would sentence you to hell but the statutes forbid it.

Alas, the quote is apparently not accurate, but it is a fact that there are still very few Democrats in Hinsdale County.