When his name was called, he made no answer until
some one said to him: 'Stark, won't you vote?' Stark, during all this
proceeding of calling the roll, had stood apart from his companions with
bowed head and folded arms. When he was thus directly appealed to, he
answered quickly and decidedly: "No, gentlemen, I will not abandon these
people. I am here on a mission of mercy, and I will not half do the
work. You can all go if you want to, but I shall stay by these people
while they and I live."
It was nobly said. If the Breens had been left at Starved Camp, even
until the return of Foster, Eddy, Miller, and Thompson from the lake,
none would have ever reached the settlements. In continuation of the
above narration, the following is taken from the manuscript of John
Breen: "Stark was finally left alone. To his great bodily strength, and
unexcelled courage, myself and others owe our lives. There was probably
no other man in California at that time, who had the intelligence,
determination, and what was absolutely necessary in that emergency, the
immense physical powers of John Stark. He was as strong as two ordinary
men. On his broad shoulders, he carried the provisions, most of the
blankets, and most of the time some of the weaker children. In regard to
this, he would laughingly say that he could carry them all, if there was
room on his back, because they were so light from starvation.
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