seback, and
so could carry small provisions; but in some way they pushed on deeper
and deeper into the mountains, until they got to the Bannack river,
where they were attacked by Indians and chased into a country none of
them knew. At last they got over east as far as the Soda Springs on the
Bear river, where they were on well-known ground. By this time, however,
their horses had given out, and their food was exhausted. They killed
their horses, made snowshoes with the hides, and sought to reach Fort
Hall. The party was now reduced to one of those awful starving marches
of the wilderness which are now and then chronicled in Western life.
This meant that the weak must perish where they fell.

The strength of Helm and one of the others, Burton, enabled them to push
on ahead, leaving their companions behind in the mountains. Almost
within reach of Fort Hall, Burton gave out and was left behind in an
abandoned cabin. Helm pushed on into the old stockade, but found it also
abandoned for the winter season, and he could get no food there. He then
went back to where he had left Burton, and, according to his own report,
he was trying to get wood for a fire when he heard a pistol-shot and
returned to find that Burton had killed himself. He stayed on at this
spot, and, like a hyena, preyed upon the dead body of his companion. He
ate one leg of the body, and then, wrapping up the other in a piece of
old shirt, threw it across his shoulder and started on further east. He
had, before this on the march, declared to the party that he had
practiced cannibalism at an earlier time, and proposed to do so again if
it became necessary on this trip across the mountains. His calm threat
was now verified. Helm was found at last at an Indian camp by John W.
Powell, who learned that he was as hard a character as he had ever run
across. None the less, he took care of Helm, gave him food and clothes,
and took him to the settlements around Salt Lake. Powell found that Helm
had a bag containing over fourteen hundred dollars in coin, which he had
carried across the divide with him through all his hardships. He would
take no pay from Helm, and the latter never even thanked him for his
kindness, but left him as soon as he reached the Mormon settlements.

Here the abandoned ruffian boasted of what he had done, and settled down
for a brief time to the customary enjoyments of the rough when in town.
He spent his money, hired out as a Danite, killed a coupl