Counter-Revolution | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 11, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Boer War

Gold had been mined since the early 1870s but was discovered on the Witwatersrand, in the Transvaal, in 1886. Thousands of white and black South Africans were employed on the mines by 1890.

South Africa became the single biggest gold producer in the world and this meant great growth for the independent Boer governments.

The Transvaal now also became more prominent in international finance because the importance of gold as an international monetary system. Britain was the center of industry and trade in the world at the time and needed a steady supply of gold to maintain this position.

There were various political leaders with opposing views in power in different parts of South Africa during the 1890s. Paul Kruger was president of the Transvaal or South African Republic (SAR) and Cecil John Rhodes became the premier of the Cape Colony in 1890.

Rhodes was from Britain and had made his fortune in South Africa by mining diamonds. He was also a supporter of the British imperial plan to unite South Africa under British rule. Kruger was a supporter of Boer independence and the two leaders were in direct conflict with each other. (South African History)

“The Boers were Dutch farmers of the Orange Free State in southern Africa. Incensed over British farmers moving into their land, the Boers declared war against Britain. … The British Empire, not to be trifled with, rushed half a million troops into the area. The Boers, never more than a few thousand in number, fought back using guerilla tactics.” (Star Bulletin, May 26, 1981)

“South African War (aka the Anglo-Boer War, or simply the Boer War) (October 11, 1899 – May 31, 1902) remains the most terrible and destructive modern armed conflict in South Africa’s history.”

“It was an event that in many ways shaped the history of 20th Century South Africa. The end of the war marked the end of the long process of British conquest of South African societies, both Black and White”. (Gilliomee and Mbenga )

Great Britain battled (and defeated) two Boer states in South Africa: the South African Republic (Republic of Transvaal) and the Orange Free State. Britain was aided by its Cape Colony, Colony of Natal and some native African allies.

Prince Kūhiō was with the British during the war in South Africa. … but, first, some background …

Prince Kūhiō studied under the late Alatau Atkinson in Honolulu, going from the Royal School to Punahou College and later attending St. Matthew’s College at San Mateo, Calif. He then went to England, studying at the Royal Agricultural College and taking business courses. (Orr; Nellist)

“As a young man Kalākaua wanted him to take up a military career and he was offered commissions in the British army, but his wishes ran to another way, he desired to study law and he achieved his desire. … His tastes were not militaristic, his trend was
toward law making and governing.” (Maui News, January 10, 1922)

In 1895, following the overthrow of Queen Lili‘uokalani, Kūhiō took part in a counterrevolution led by Robert Wilcox against the Republic of Hawai‘i. (DHHL)

The prince was charged with misprision of treason and served his sentence of one year in prison. During his imprisonment, a Kauai chiefess, Elizabeth Kahanu Ka‘auwai, visited him each day.

After his release, the two married on October 8, 1896. Kūhiō and Kahanu left Hawai‘i on a self-imposed exile and traveled extensively through Europe. (DHHL)

“They remained away two years, during which time they visited many interesting places” (Hawaiian Star, May 28, 1904), “vowing never to return to a Hawai‘i that appeared inhospitable to Hawaiians.” (Star Bulletin, March 26, 1996)

“They went to South Africa (where the) Prince was given an opportunity of enjoying some big game hunting. (Hawaiian Star, May 28, 1904)

“(T)he prince was anxious to see some of the fighting. But the authorities always managed to keep him away from the scene of the sklirmish although they saw bullets flying from a distance.” (Star Bulletin, February 20, 1932)

“(D)uring the Boer war … Prince Kūhiō had some exciting experiences with the British in their engagements with the Boer forces. The prince was on a train that was attacked by the Boers. He met the late Cecil Rhodes and was entertained by Sir J. Somers Vine.” (Hawaiian Star, May 28, 1904)

Kūhiō returned to the Islands and got into politics. In 1900, the Kanaka Maoli (aboriginal Hawaiians) had formed their own party, called the Home Rule Party, through merging two organizations, Hui Aloha ‘Āina and Hui Kālai‘āina, who had worked together to support Queen Lili‘uokalani and oppose annexation. (Silva)

That year, the Home Rulers elected Robert Wilcox as Hawaiʻi’s first delegate to the US Congress. (However, on July 10, 1902, Prince Kūhiō split from the Home Rule Party, joined the Republican Party and won the Congressional seat in the election on November 4, 1902.) (After a decade of election losses, the Home Rule Party was disbanded after the elections of 1912.)

Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana‘ole Piʻikoi died on January 7, 1922 of heart disease. He was given the last state funeral for an ali‘i; he is buried at Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum.

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Kawananakoa, David, 1868-1908 and his brothers Edward Keliiahonui (1869-1887) and Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole (1871-1922)-PP-97-17-008

Kalanianaole, Jonah Kuhio, 1871-1922, in his military uniform-PP-97-1-031

Kalanianaole, Jonah Kuhio, 1871-1922, in prison uniform (1895) PP-97-1-032

Kuhio Wearing his campaign hat and shirt-PP-97-2-017

Kalanianaole, Jonah Kuhio, 1871-1922-wearing_Order_of_Kamehameha regalia-(HSA)-PP-97-2-008

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U.S. Congressman Carter Glass, Lincoln Holstein (1865-1943), Kuhio, Congressman Phillip Campbell of Kansas, and Honolulu mayor John C. Lane (1872-1958)-PP-9

October 11, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

William Ansel Kinney

William Ansel Kinney was born October 16, 1860 in Honolulu. His parents were born in Canada, lived a while in Calais, Maine, then moved to Hawai‘i.

William first attended the Royal School at Honolulu, afterwards at O‘ahu College (Punahou – (1874–1877.)) During his boyhood, when out of school, he has been a clerk in a law office. He graduated from Michigan University Law School in 1883. (Michigan University)

He returned to the Islands; his first law partner was Arthur P Peterson. Then, in 1887 he became partners with William Owen Smith and Lorrin A. Thurston. (Kuykendall) From 1887-1888, he was a member of the House of Representatives, representing Hawai‘i Island.

Kinney was part of the team that drafted the 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i (‘Bayonet Constitution.’) Other reforms to the government included replacement of the Kings cabinet. (Forbes)

He moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, about 1890 and practiced law there. “After several visits to the states about 1891 (his mother) came to live for a time at Salt Lake with her second son William A Kinney, then and for several years after a well-known attorney of this city. (Salt Lake Herald, April 9, 1897)

Following the overthrow of the Hawai‘i constitutional monarchy, “William A. Kinney, now a lawyer in Salt Lake City, but a former resident of the Sandwich Islands and one of the leading participants in the revolution of 1887…”

“… met the members of the committee (seeking Hawai‘i annexation to the US) at Ogden for the purpose of renewing old acquaintance, and was induced to accompany the body to Washington in an unofficial capacity as legal adviser.” (NY Times, February 4, 1893)

Kinney moved back to the Islands in 1893 and on August 16, 1893 he married Alice Vaughan McBryde in Honolulu. McBryde was the daughter of Judge Duncan McBryde, who laid the foundation for what later was to become McBryde Sugar Company. Not a planter himself (but encouraged by Kinney and Dillingham,) McBryde hired a few men to obtain seed, plow the land and haul cane.

The original plantation lands extended from Kōloa to the Hanapepe River giving the newly formed McBryde Sugar Company access to a port. At first, the ʻEleʻele sugar mill was used to grind the cane, but within a couple of year, the Directors knew that another mill would have to be built.

As fortune would have it, McBryde bought the large Cuban type mill originally destined for Molokai’s American Sugar Company, whose plans for a plantation had to be abandoned. (HSPA)

Following Queen Lili‘uokalani’s arrest in 1895, “Mr William A. Kinney … Without military experience, he was commissioned a captain, and afterward charged with the duty of Judge Advocate in attacking me, and those of my people who sought liberty from the foreign oppressor.” (Lili‘uokalani)

While critical of Kinney related to the trials in 1895, in 1909, Lili‘uokalani retained Kinney and others in her claim to Crown Lands.

“Mr Kinney was judge advocate for the United States in the trial of Queen Lili‘uokalani and as he says ‘I tried her, prosecuted her, and convicted her, and I am now her attorney. Of course there was never anything personal in the matter.’” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 26, 1910)

Queen Lili‘uokalani made a claim to Crown Lands as her personal property. Noting, “Her cause of action is predicated upon an alleged ‘vested equitable life interest’ to certain lands described in the petition, known as ‘crown lands,’ of which interest she was divested by the defendants.”

However, the US Court of Claims noted, “It may not be unworthy of remark that it is very unusual, even in cases of conquest, for the conqueror to do more than to displace the sovereign and assume dominion over the country.”

The Court concluded, “The crown lands were the resourceful methods of income to sustain, in part at least, the dignity of the office to which they were inseparably attached. When the office ceased to exist they became as other lands of the Sovereignty and passed to the defendants as part and parcel of the public domain.”

The Court further noted, “The constitution of the Republic of Hawai‘i, as respects the crown lands, provided as follows: ‘That portion of the public domain heretofore known as crown land is hereby declared to have been heretofore, and now to be, the property of the Hawaiian Government …” (Lili‘uokalani v The United States, 1910)

Later, Kinney joined forces with Prince Kūhiō in fighting Governor Frear (and the Big 5’s hold on the Islands,) noting, “Simply that the plantations, finding Gov. Frear under fire on their account, have been trying to fix things up …”

“… for they do not propose to lose control of the governorship and the local Territorial government; and when they do, however justly, a determined cry will be raised by them for commission government.”

“(I)nsistent retention of medieval ideas on land and labor, is merely an illustration of the recognized principle that things are apt to move along the lines of least resistance.”

“When the plantations of Hawaii have either got to do the right thing in regard to homesteading or go to the wall, they will come to time, and they should be forced to that position, not by way of retaliation nor in a spirit of hostility but because it is right and just to Hawaii and to the mainland that this be done.” (Kinney, Testimony before US House of Representatives, 1912)

The matter related to appointment of the next Territorial Governor of Hawai‘i. Kinney wanted someone without ties to the Plantations.

Lucius Pinkham, from the mainland, but had prior Island business interests and noted by Kūhiō that the Hawaiians “are very fond of Pinkham and … believe he is their best friend,” got the appointment.

Kinney left the Islands shortly thereafter and lived in California, continuing with his legal profession; he died sometime after 1930 in California.

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William Ansel Kinney-(PP-51-9-001)-1895-400

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Hawaiian_Military_Commission-Alexander George Morison Robertson, William Ansel Kinney, and Alfred Wellington Carter-(PP-51-9-001)-1895

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Trial_of_1895_Counter-Revolution_in_Hawaii-Kinney at far right

Political cartoon depicting Kinney on the shoulder of a governor going after sugarcane plantation interests-1912

January 17, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Martial Law

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 lasted 110-minutes, from 7:55 am until 9:45 am. By 10:30 am, in co-operation with the Navy, the Army began to apply a tight censorship to prevent the transmission from Hawaiʻi of any unauthorized information about the attack or about the condition of Oʻahu’s defense forces after it was over.

Shortly after, Joseph Boyd Poindexter, Governor of the Territory of Hawaiʻi, by proclamation, invoked the powers granted him under the M-Day Act.

Titled ‘Hawaiian Defense Act 1941,’ the M-Day Act (M standing for mobilization) was first introduced in the legislature in April, 1941. It contemplated that in a maximum emergency, the Governor was authorized to declare a state of emergency in attempt to avoid the necessity of martial law. (Green)

At 11:30 am, December 7, 1941, Governor Poindexter exercised his powers and “declare(d) and proclaim(ed) a defense period to exist throughout the Territory of Hawaiʻi.”

However, at 3:30 pm of the same day, Poindexter issued a second proclamation where he placed the Territory of Hawaiʻi under martial law and authorized the “Commanding General, Hawaiian Department, during the present emergency and until the danger of invasion is removed, to exercise all the powers normally exercised by me as Governor”. He followed-up with a telegram to the President of the US.

“I have today declared martial law throughout the Territory of Hawaii and have suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. Your attention is called to section 67 of the Hawaiian Organic Act for your decision of my action.” (Governor Poindexter to President Roosevelt, December 7, 1941)

(Writ of habeas corpus (‘that you have the body’) is a process in the US system used to bring a party who has been criminally convicted in state court into federal court. Usually, writs of habeas corpus are used to review the legality of the party’s arrest, imprisonment or detention.) (Cornell Law School)

The President responded, “Your telegram of December 7th received and your action in suspending the writ of Habeas Corpus and placing the Territory of Hawaii under martial law in accordance with USC Title 48, Section 532 has my approval.” (President Roosevelt to Governor Poindexter, December 9, 1941)

The Army’s Commanding General of the Hawaiian Department (Lt General Short) became the Military Governor of Hawai’i, assuming comprehensive executive, legislative and judicial powers.

The martial law regime affected every resident of the Territory of Hawaiʻi, citizen and foreign alike. Never before or after in American history were US citizens kept under martial law in such numbers or for so long a time.

On the first day, December 7th, an advisory board was appointed consisting of informed local citizens. At 6:04 pm, the police radio broadcast: “From now on nobody allowed out of their homes.”

All saloons were closed, and a Provost Court and Military Commission were appointed for the enforcement of the orders of the Military Governor. (Green)

In his first proclamation as Military Governor on December 7, 1941, Lt General Short stated that: “I shall therefore shortly publish ordinances governing the conduct of the people of the Territory with respect to the showing of lights, circulation, meetings, censorship, possession of arms, ammunition, and explosives, the sale of intoxicating liquors and other subjects.”

“In order to assist in repelling the threatened invasion of our island home, good citizens will cheerfully obey this proclamation and the ordinances to be published; others will be required to do so. Offenders will be severely punished by military tribunals or will be held in custody until such time that the civil courts are able to function.”

Martial law suspended constitutional rights, turned the civilian courts over to the military, imposed blackout and curfew, rationing of food and gasoline, censorship of mail and news media, temporary prohibition, realigned business hours, froze wages, and regulated currency.

All civilians over six years of age were required to be fingerprinted. Except for taxes, General Orders, issued by the Military Governor, regulated every facet of civilian life, from traffic control to garbage collection. Violations were punished summarily by provost courts or military tribunals; there was no right of appeal. (Hawaiʻi Army Museum)

Under martial law, military officers assumed all legislative, executive and judicial powers.

The two houses of the Hawaiʻi legislature, as well as judges of all courts, Territorial and federal, were not on the organizational chart as part of the martial law government. Under the martial law regime, there was no room for legislation, other than decrees by the military.

While members of the legislature and many emergency committees met daily in the halls of the legislature in ʻIolani Palace, the military governor did not recognize the legislature as a source of legislative power. Likewise, since law enforcement was concentrated in the military commissions and provost courts, the local courts held no position. (Anthony)

The courts of the Territory were closed as of December 8, 1941 by order of the military. On January 27, 1942, the Military Governor stated that the courts were restored to their full jurisdiction “as agents of the Military Governor.”

On the criminal side, however, the courts could not under the order summons a grand jury; on the criminal or civil side they could not grant a jury trial, or at any time grant a writ of habeas corpus. (US District Court, 1944)

Japanese Americans were incarcerated in at least eight locations on Hawaiʻi. These sites that include Honouliuli Gulch, Sand Island, and the U.S. Immigration Station on Oahu, the Kilauea Military Camp on the Big Island, Haiku Camp and Wailuku County Jail on Maui, and the Kalaheo Stockade and Waialua County Jail on Kauaʻi.

In all, between 1,200 and 1,400 local Japanese were interned, along with about 1,000 family members. The number of Japanese in Hawai‘i who were detained was small relative to the total Japanese population here, less than 1%.

Beginning in July 1942 the powers of government were gradually restored to civilian authority, but some degree of martial law continued.

On February 8, 1943, power was restored to the Governor, the courts and the legislature. The commanding general proclaimed, “Full jurisdiction and authority are hereby relinquished by the Commanding General to the Governor and other officers of the Territory of Hawaiʻi”. (Anthony)

This did not extinguish all of the military control; the title and office of the Military Governor’ were retained. In July, 1944, the office was renamed Office of Internal Security. On October 24, 1944, President Roosevelt terminated martial law and restored the writ of habeas corpus. (Anthony)

Military Generals having control of the Islands and their terms included: Walter C Short (December 7, 1941 – December 17, 1941,) Delos C Emmons (December 17, 1941 – June 1, 1943) and Robert C Richardson, Jr (June 1, 1943 – October 24, 1944.)

This was not the first proclamation of martial law in the Islands. On January 17, 1893, martial law was declared by the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands.

Then, on January 7, 1895, Republic of Hawaiʻi President Sanford B Dole declared martial law following Kaua Kūloko (Civil War 1895) when forces attempted to return Queen Liliʻuokalani to the throne following the overthrow of constitutional monarchy. Martial law, then, lasted until March 18, 1895.

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US Army M3 Stuart light tanks in maneuvers, Beretania Street in the Honolulu business district, Hawaii, 30 August 1942

Waikiki Beach behind barbed wire fence, during martial law

Waikiki barbed wire

U.S. soldiers surround Iolani Palace with barbed wire during the rule of martial law in 1942

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Iolani Palace barbed wire (bishopmuseum)

Air Raid Shelter_(Star-bulletin)

Air Raid Shelter-(Star-bulletin)

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Lt Gen Delos C Emmons, Commanding General, Hawaiian Dept – Brig Gen Thomas H Green, Military Governor-Mar. 30, 1943

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Stainback, Ingram M., Governor of Hawaii, 1883-1961 – restoration of civil authority-March 10, 1943-PP-36-12-004

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August 29, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Greek Artillery

Ua makaukau pono ʻo Liliʻu
Ma na poka ʻAhi Helene. …
Noho hou o Liliʻu i ke Kalaunu.

Liliʻu is readily prepared
With her Greek artillery fire. …
Return again Liliʻu to the throne.
(Hawaiʻi Holomua, February 11, 1893; Chapin)

Greek sailors found their way to the Islands on whalers and trading vessels after 1830. Beginning in the late 1870s, some forty men from the small Mediterranean country migrated and settled on the Big Island and O‘ahu.

They set up produce-growing and shipping operations, cafés, bars, rooming houses, and hotels. (Greek Festival Hawaiʻi)

In 1883, Peter Camarinos, originally from Sparta, opened the California Fruit Market on King Street, near Alakea, in Honolulu, and in 1891, established the Pearl City Fruit Company with other Hawaiian-based businessmen, inspiring relatives and others to venture here. (Lucas)

They were pioneers in exporting pineapples and bananas and other exotic fruits to California markets. He installed refrigeration containers on ships that can hold up to 2,000 lbs. of fruit. Camarinos transported their own goods to market and allowed other businesses to use their refrigeration containers for a fee. (Lucas)

George Lycurgus, known as Uncle George, was a cousin of Camarinos who came to Hawaiʻi in 1887 and played an important role in the development of the San Souci, Hilo Hotel and Kilauea Volcano House. (Gonser)

Migration from Greece in the last third of the 19th Century was primarily due to crop failures and a surplus population that caused wide-spread poverty. A Western technological revolution of cheap and fast steamship and rail travel, along with rapid industrialization, made feasible large scale emigration to America and, on a smaller scale, to Hawaiʻi.

The Greeks came into direct conflict with that small but powerful group of American businessmen who effectively weakened Kalakaua’s government by means of the ‘Bayonet Constitution’ of 1887.

Later, there was a revolution against Queen Liliʻuokalani’s constitutional monarchy and in 1895 a subsequent counter-revolution that attempted to restore her to the throne.

From January 6 to January 9, 1895, patriots of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the forces that had overthrown the constitutional Hawaiian monarchy were engaged in a war that consisted of three battles on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi.

This has frequently been referred to as the “Counter-revolution”. It has also been called the Second Wilcox Rebellion of 1895, the Revolution of 1895, the Hawaiian Counter-revolution of 1895, the 1895 Uprising in Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Civil War, the 1895 Uprising Against the Provisional Government or the Uprising of 1895.

In their attempt to return Queen Liliʻuokalani to the throne, it was the last major military operation by royalists who opposed the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. The goal of the rebellion failed.

It turns out several of the Greek businessmen were royalists and were implicated in getting guns past customs officials, notably, Lycurgus at the San Souci in Waikiki.

Lycurgus was a royalist and was implicated with other counter-revolutionists in supplying arms (1895.) He was arrested, thirteen counts of treason were filed against him and he was held at ‘The Reef’ (Oʻahu Prison) for 52-days. (Chapin)

The beginning chant in this post appeared in Hawaii Holomua shortly after Queen Lili’uokalani’s removal in early 1893; it expressed a strong desire that she regain her throne.

“Greek artillery fire” was a classical and heroic allusion by the poet, but it was also, as events turned out, appropriate in that Greek men in Hawaiʻi during the Revolution and Counterrevolution were loyal to her.

During those years, a dozen or so natives of Greece who were Hawaiʻi residents were involved in the prolonged and ultimately futile struggle to preserve the monarchy. Seven men were active participants, and the rest were royalist sympathizers. (Chapin)

Take part in the Hawaiʻi Greek experience – food, entertainment and marketplace. The 34th annual Greek Festival happens noon to 9 pm, August 29 & 30, 2015 at the McCoy Pavilion, Ala Moana Park; General Admission $3; Children 11 and under and active military free.

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July 30, 2013 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ka Liona Hae O Ka Pakipika

A busy life … Teacher, Noble, Legislator, Newspaper Publisher, Italian Military Trainee, Surveyor, Revolutionist, Royalist, Counter-Revolutionist, Prisoner, Home Rule Candidate, Hawaiʻi’s First Congressional Delegate … he died October 23, 1903, at the age of 48.

He was born February 15, 1855 on the island of Maui. Hapa – his father was a native of Newport, Rhode Island; his mother, a native of Maui, a descendant of royalty.

He first went to school at Wailuku at the age of 8 years. When he was 10 years old his mother died, then his father moved to ranching at Makawao. There was no English school at Makawao until 1869.

That year, the Board of Education established the Haleakalā Boarding School; he was one of the first students at that school. Upon completion of his studies, he became a teacher at ʻUlupalakua.

In 1880, he was elected to the Islands’ legislature; he represented the citizens of Wailuku and its neighboring Maui community.

Nicknamed Ka Liona Hae O Ka Pakipika, or “The Roaring Lion of the Pacific,” Robert William Wilcox was a revolutionary soldier and politician – he was also referred to as the “Iron Duke of Hawaiʻi.”

King Kalākaua sent Wilcox to Italy to receive military training at the Royal Military of Turin, at the expense of the Hawaiian government.

In 1885, he graduated from the academy and was promoted to sub-lieutenant of the artillery; he then entered in the Italian Royal Application School for Engineer and Artillery Officers. (Several of the old photos of Wilcox show him in his Italian uniform.)

There, he married the first of his two wives, Signorina di Sobrero, an Italian.

Wilcox stayed in Italy until 1887; he returned to the Islands that year, because of the constitutional changes that had happened at that time (Bayonet Constitution.)

Later, he and his wife moved to San Francisco in 1888 and he worked as a surveyor for the Spring Valley Water Works Co. Wilcox came back to the Islands in 1889 and his wife returned to Italy.

On July 30, 1889, Wilcox led a rebellion to restore the rights of the monarchy, two years after the Bayonet Constitution of 1887 left King Kalākaua a mere ﬁgurehead.

By the evening, he became a prisoner and charged with high treason by the government. He was tried for treason, but was acquitted by the jury.

In 1890, he was elected to the Legislature in the Islands.

Following the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893, the Committee of Safety established the Provisional Government of Hawaiʻi as a temporary government until annexation by the United States.

The Provisional Government convened a constitutional convention and established the Republic of Hawaiʻi on July 4, 1894. The Republic continued to govern the Islands.

From January 6 to January 9, 1895, in a “Counter-Revolution,” patriots of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the forces that had overthrown the constitutional Hawaiian monarchy were engaged in a war that consisted of battles on the island of Oʻahu.

It has also been called the Second Wilcox Rebellion of 1895, the Revolution of 1895, the Hawaiian Counter-revolution of 1895, the 1895 Uprising in Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Civil War, the 1895 Uprising Against the Provisional Government or the Uprising of 1895.

Wilcox was court-martialed and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to thirty-five years. While in prison in 1895, Pope Leo XIII granted an annulment of their marriage. The Italian Consul and the Catholic Bishop at Honolulu confirmed this action.

In January, 1896, he was given a conditional pardon and became a free man; later that year, Wilcox married again, this time to Mrs. Theresa Cartwright. In 1898, President Dole gave him a full pardon.

With the establishment of Territorial status in the Islands, Hawaiʻi was eligible to have a non-voting delegate in the US House of Representatives.

Wilcox and others formed the Independent “Home Rule” Party and Wilcox ran as a candidate for the Delegate position (against Republican Samuel Parker and Democrat Prince David Kawānanakoa.) Wilcox won, and served as the first delegate and representative of Hawaiʻi in the US Congress.

He ran for re-election, but lost to Republican Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Piʻikoi (Prince Kūhiō served from 1903 until his death in 1922.)

Wilcox returned to Washington to finish out his term (November 6, 1900 to March 3, 1903,) but was very ill. He came back to Hawaiʻi in 1903, and died October 26, 1903. He is buried in the Catholic cemetery on King Street.

The image shows a statue of Robert Wilcox at Fort Street Mall and King Street in downtown Honolulu. In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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