Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Keōpūolani Baptism

On the arrival of the American missionaries in April 1820, all the chiefs were consulted respecting the expediency of their establishment in the islands. Some of the chiefs seemed to doubt; but Keōpūolani without hesitation approved their proposals. (Memoir)

Keōpūolani welcomed them. As the highest ranking ali‘i of her time, her embracing of Christianity set a crucial seal of approval on the missionaries and their god. (Langlas & Lyon)

Keōpūolani was the daughter of Kīwalaʻo. Kīwalaʻo was the son of Kalaniʻōpuʻu by Kalola (sister of Kahekili.) Her mother was Kekuiapoiwa Liliha, Kīwalaʻo sister. She was aliʻi kapu of nī‘aupi‘o (high-born – offspring of the marriage of a high-born brother and sister or half-brother and half-sister.)

Her ancestors on her mother’s side were ruling chiefs of Maui; her ancestors on her father’s side were the ruling chiefs of the island of Hawai‘i. Keōpūolani’s genealogy traced back to Ulu, who descended from Hulihonua and Keakahulilani, the first man and woman created by the gods.

In the year 1822, while at Honolulu, she was very ill, and her attention seems to have been then first drawn to the instructions of the missionaries. (Anderson)

In May 1823, Keōpūolani and her husband Hoapili expressed a desire to have an instructor connected with them. They selected Taua, a native teacher sent by the church at Huaheine, in company with the Rev. Mr. Ellis, to instruct them and their people in the first principles of the Gospel, and teach them to read and write.

The mission approved, and Taua resided until the death of Keōpūolani. He proved a faithful teacher, and by the blessing of God, we believe, he did much to establish her in the Christian faith. (Memoir)

Keōpūolani requested, as did the king and chiefs, that missionaries might accompany her. As Lahaina had been previously selected for a missionary station, the missionaries were happy to commence their labors there under such auspices. William Richards and Charles Samuel Stewart therefore accompanied her. (Memoir)

On the May 31, 1823, Keōpūolani arrived in Lahaina with Messrs. Richards and Stewart and their families. On their passage, she told them she would be their mother; and indeed she acted the part of a mother ever afterwards.

Immediately on their arrival, she requested them to commence teaching, and said, also, “It is very proper that my sons (meaning the missionaries) be present with me at morning and evening prayers.”

They were always present, sung a hymn in the native language, and when nothing special prevented, addressed through an interpreter the people who were present, when Taua, or the interpreter, concluded the service with prayer.

She spent a principal part of her time every day in learning how to read. and notwithstanding her age, numerous cares, constant company, and various other hindrances, made respectable proficiency.

She was indeed a diligent pupil, seldom weary with study; often spent hours over her little spelling book; and when her teachers rose to leave her, rarely laid it aside, but usually continued studying after they had retired.

She was apparently as diligent in searching for divine truth, as in learning to read, and evidently gave attention to her book, that she might know more of her duty to her Maker. (Memoir)

On the last week in August, Keōpūolani began to be seriously affected by a local indisposition, which soon seemed to relax her whole system, and in her view was a premonition of her approaching death.

On the first day of September, the chiefs began to collect in consequence of her illness. This was agreeable to their universal custom. Whenever a high chief is taken ill, although there may be nothing threatening in his illness, all the chiefs assemble from every part of the islands, and wait the result.

Thus, it was in Keōpūolani’s sickness. Vessels were dispatched to the different islands before there was any occasion for alarm. It was not many days, however, before it was seriously apprehended that the disease would prove fatal. (Memoir)

“They regarded her as a fit subject for baptism, but were unwilling to administer the ordinance without some means of communicating with her and with the people, so that there might be no danger of misunderstanding on so interesting an occasion.”

“They feared lest there should be erroneous impressions as to the place the ordinance held in the Christian system. Happily, Mr. Ellis arrived just in season, and the dying woman was thus publicly acknowledged as a member of the visible church.”

“The king and ail the heads of the nation listened with profound attention to Mr. Ellis’s statement of the grounds on which baptism was administered to the queen …”

“… and when they saw that water was sprinkled on her in the name of God, they said, ‘Surely she is no longer ours. She has given herself to Jesus Christ. We believe she is his, and death will go to dwell with him.’ An hour afterwards, near the close of September 16, 1823, she died.” (Anderson)

Keōpūolani is said to have been the first convert of the missionaries in the islands and the first to receive a Protestant baptism. (Kalanimōku and Boki had previously (1819) been baptized by the French Catholics. Kalanimōku later (1825) joined the Protestant Church, at the same time as Ka‘ahumanu.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

David Douglas

“David Douglas was born at Scone, near Perth, in 1799, being the son of John Douglas and Jean Drummond, his wife. His father was a stone mason, possessed of good abilities and a store of general information, rarely surpassed by persons in his sphere of life.”

“His family consisted of three daughters and as many sons, of whom, the subject of this notice was the second. At about three years of age he was sent to a school in the village … At the parish school of Kinnoul, kept by Mr. Wilson, whither he was soon sent, David Douglas evinced a similar preference to fishing and bird-nesting over book leaning …”

“His boyish days were not remarkable for any particular incidents. Like others at his time of life he was lively and active, and never failed of playing his part in the usual sports of the village. A taste for rambling, and much fondness for objects of natural history being, however, very strongly evinced.”

“From his earliest years nothing, it is said, gave Douglas so much delight as conversing about travelers and foreign countries, and the books which pleased him best were Sinbad the Sailor and Robinson Crusoe.”

“In the gardens of the Earl of Mansfield, he served a seven years’ apprenticeship, during which time it is admitted by all who knew him, that no one could he more industrious and anxious to excell than he was …”

“… his whole heart and mind being devoted to the attainment of a thorough knowledge of his business … he acquired the taste for botanical pursuits which he so ardently followed in after life.”

“Having completed the customary term in the ornamental department, he was moved to the forcing and kitchen garden, in the affairs of which he appeared to take as lively an interest as he had previously done in those of the flower garden.”

“Lee’s Introduction to Botany and Don’s Catalogue, his former text books, if they may be so termed, were now laid aside, and Nicol’s Gardener’s Calendar taken in their stead.”

Douglas was recommended “to Joseph Sabine, Esq., the Honorary Secretary of the Horticultural Society, as a botanical collector; and to London he directed his course accordingly in the spring of 1823.”

“His first destination was China, but intelligence having about that time been received of a rupture between the British and Chinese, he was despatched in the latter end of May, to the United States, where he procured many fine plants, including a large number of specimens of various oaks, and greatly increased the society’s collection of fruit trees.”  (Sir William Jackson Hooker; Wilson)

“David Douglas has no rival as a collector of Northwest plants. He introduced thousands of them to Europe, some 215 of which were new, and many were named for him. He noted 7,032 in totaling his mileage for the two years of his first expedition, April 1825-April 1827, and another time mentioned adding some 7,000 distinct species of flowering plants to the collection—a plant a mile, it might be said.”

Of note, “He laid in specimens of pinus taxifolia (Douglas fir) with pine cones which were eventually distributed to nurserymen and to fellows of the Horticultural Society to plant on their estates. He even sent samples (two planks 20 feet long) of this durable, tough, straight-grained wood that is unsurpassed in the qualities that render lumber most valuable.”

“It has become on the one hand, the world’s greatest structural timber—the most important tree in the American lumber trade—and on the other, the favorite Christmas tree in millions of homes.”

“Upon his return to London, (1827-1829) Douglas was feted and honored, and made a fellow of several learned societies. He wrote a number of professional papers and was given a “handsome offer” by John Murray for a book of his travels; his portrait was painted by Sir Daniel Macnee and hung at Kew.”

“For a time he enjoyed being a celebrity and the distinguished plant hunter, Mr. David Douglas. One of his great pleasures was to walk about the gardens of the Horticultural Society and see his flourishing seedlings.”

“But Douglas was soon impatient to be back at work, so the summer of 1830 he spent once more botanizing along the Columbia. The Indians these days were surly and becoming more war-like as they realized the white men had come to take their thousand-year-old homeland from them.”

“In December, Douglas went on to California, where he remained for 19 months. But in spite of much travel he had to note, ‘my whole collection this year (1830) in California was about 500 species, a little more or less. This is vexatiously small.’” (Gould; Vassar)

“It was while he was at Monterey that he acquired the title ‘Doctor.’ A boy had been injured, and there was no medical person in the area. Douglas was able to set the boy’s broken arm and so earned the title ‘Doctor.’” (Greenwell)

“In the summer of 1833 he went with a brigade to the Fraser River country and there had a disaster which seriously affected his eyes and his health. He had in mind a trip across Russia, botanizing byway of Sitka, but returning to Fort Vancouver he had an accident.”

“At the Stoney Islands (now Fort George Canyon) on the Fraser, his canoe was dashed to pieces while shooting the rapids. Douglas was in the whirlpool an hour and forty minutes before being washed unconscious onto the rocky shore.”

“He lost everything—notes—specimens and equipment. Sick and discouraged he took a ship via California for Hawaii.” (Gould) “In Hawai‘i, he was called kauka, the Hawaiian word for doctor.” (Greenwell)

“As Douglas recuperated from his rheumatism and eye troubles in Hawaii, he botanized again. In 10 days he had a ‘truly splendid collection’ of some 50 species. The giant ferns especially awakened his admiring comment.  In the crater of a volcano he found the Silver Sword plant which is named for him.”

“In his enthusiasm for Hawaii he wrote, ‘One day here is worth a year of common existence.’ It was while waiting for a ship to take him to England that Douglas met the Rev. John Diell. They enjoyed climbing and botanizing together and early in July agreed to meet in Hilo on the Island of Hawaii.”

“The morning of July 12, 1834, he was crossing the north side of Manna Kea, when about six in the morning he appeared at the hut of Ned Gurney who was an English runaway convict from Botany Bay.”

“After breakfast, Douglas walked for about three quarters of an hour along the path. Gurney claimed he had warned Douglas to watch out for three bull pits ahead.”

“It was a native custom to trap the wild long-horned Spanish cattle by digging pits and covering them with brush. Douglas passed safely by the three pits, then retraced his steps to the third pit. When some natives came by later in the morning, they first saw the feet of a man sticking out of a mass of rubbish and stones.”

“A bull was already entrapped in the pit and the angry beast was standing on the chest of the young plant-hunter. … A suspicion of murder became so strong that it was eventually decided to pack the body in salt and take it to Consul Charlton at Honolulu, on Oahu. There was considerable evidence. The horns of the bullock were blunt and could not make such deep gashes.”

“Thus ended 9 years of botanical adventure along the Pacific for David Douglas. His death at 35 is one of the tragedies of botanical history. But in his short span of life, as one scientist wrote …

“‘No other explorer personally made more discoveries, or described more genera or species. No other collector of rare plants ever reaped such a harvest or associated his name with so many economically useful and beautiful plants as David Douglas.’” (Gould; Vassar)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Camp Harold Randolph Erdman

Camping became a cornerstone of YMCA programming in 1885 with the start of Camp Dudley in New York, America’s first known continuously running summer camp program. Since then, generations of kids, teens, young adults, and families have experienced the magic of camp—gaining confidence, building character, and making friends and lifelong memories. (YMCA)

“The YMCA has recently [1926] acquired [a] Mokuleia site on a ten year lease.  It is owned by the Dillinghams who have given the lease practically free of charge. The Association is developing the site into a permanent camp.” It was called Camp Mokuleia (other unrelated camps in the area also used that name).

“For this year, a permanent kitchen was built and equipped, also a shower and washroom and a latrine. Plans for the development of the camp have been worked by Furer and Potter, architects, and call for a screened dining hall, a small headquarters building containing office, doctor’s office and library, 14 small bungalows to house 8 boys each, baseball field and two tennis courts.” (Advertiser, June 27, 1926)

On Christmas morning, 1932, the YMCA received an unexpected gift – the donation of the camp by sisters Marion (Dillingham) Erdman and Mary (Dillingham) Frear – daughters of Benjamin Franklin Dillingham and Emma Louise (Smith) Dillingham. Instead of being leased to by the family, Camp Mokulē‘ia would now belong to the Y.

The gift was made in memory of Mrs. Erdman’s 26-year-old son who had been killed in a polo accident. Their gift included a request that Camp Mokulē‘ia be renamed Camp Harold R. Erdman to ensure “his spirit of contribution to the happiness of others, carries on.” (YMCA)

Harold Randolph Erdman was the son of missionaries John Erdman and Marion (Dillingham) Erdman.  John Erdman had been appointed in 1904 to go with his wife to Japan as a missionary to serve during the Russo-Japanese conflict, a war aggravated by Russian expansionism into the far reaches of Asia.

In the conflict, the Empire of Japan prevailed against the European power to gain control of the Manchurian and Korean territories. It was during the couple’s stay in Kobe, Japan, that the Reverend and Mrs. Erdman had a son, Harold Randolph Erdman. (McGhee) The Erdmans returned to Hawaii in 1907.

On September 11, 1929, Harold (grandson of Benjamin F Dillingham) married Mary Chickering.  “The young couple returned to Honolulu and began construction of their dream home on the slopes of Diamond Head, an area subdivided by Harold Erdman’s uncle, Walter Dillingham, just mauka of Dillingham’s fabled home La Pietra.”

“The following June, the young couple had a daughter [Louise], born at the Kapiolani Maternity Home.  Just over a year later, in July 1931, Harold Erdman, a graduate of Punahou and Princeton, was fatally injured in a polo match at Kapi‘olani Field when his horse fell and rolled over him. He died after remaining in a coma for a month.” (Advertiser, Dec 6, 2022)

“Camp Erdman has made remarkable progress since the Dillingham-Erdman families made a gift of the property Christmas, 1931. It was named in memory of Harold [Randolph] Erdman, well known in Honolulu as a boy and young man.”

“The gift of the land prompted many other gifts, notable among which were the erection of a roomy lodge and dining room as a gift of the Honolulu Rotary club, and a health building and just last year a director’s cabin, both of which were the gift of Mr. and Mrs FC Atherton.” (Star Bulletin, May 20, 1935)

Other gifts from the Rotary Club, the Erdman’s, the Dillingham’s, the Castle’s, the Westervelts’, and many other families and organizations came pouring in to help develop and construct the camp from Army tents with dirt floors to fully-constructed cabins, a dining room and kitchen, activity buildings, a chapel, and a memorial gate and swimming raft. (DLNR)

It wasn’t just a boys’ camp. “A family camp where father and mother, and brother and sister, and even an aunt, uncle or a grandparent, may enjoy camp life in  the sunshine of the Mokuleia coast is being offered to the people of Honolulu by the Honolulu YMCA.”

“This is made more attractive this year through the new equipment which has been erected at the camp site known as Camp Harold [Randolph] Erdman.”

“The Rotary dining hall with its splendid kitchen and equipment, the new cottages – eight in all, as well as showers and modem toilet conveniences, together with a new hospital unit soon to be under construction, will be of interest to Honolulu mothers or fathers who would like to spend a few days on the beach with their children.” (Advertiser, July 2, 1932)

In 1941, the bombing of Pearl Harbor and American involvement in World War II had temporarily ended camping at Camp Erdman. The Army Engineers immediately placed 100 workmen at the camp and didn’t leave until 1943. Soon after, the camp was leased to the 14th Naval District as an officers’ rest camp. (DLNR)

The Navy gave up the camp in spring of 1946 and the YMCA was able to buy the improvements that were made at a fraction of the cost. Camping started back up immediately and attendance records were broken that first summer and increased every year since. (DLNR)

Today, Camp Erdman offers a range of programs for kids and teens throughout the summer and year-round for school groups and retreats, as well as healing camps for children of prison inmates, youth with disabilities, and more.  (YMCA)

For some, it’s the first time they’ve ventured beyond their community, eaten three meals a day, or slept in a bed—not to mention, climbed, sang or gone swimming. Through financial aid, the Y ensures life-changing experiences for all children across O‘ahu. (YMCA)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mystery on the Mauna

It started like any other day … post the latest summary, check comments on the website and Facebook, and review emails.  As is also typical, emails came in asking about the identity of a photo, map, or just a general history question.

Then, an interesting issue was raised about a post I did on rock walls. The question was, do I have any “knowledge about a structure at 11,000’ on Mauna Kea’s SW aspect. It’s a roughly rectangular wall, about five feet high with a perimeter of 3,300 feet.”

“I think of it as an exclosure because it has no openings. A single cedar tree stands near its upper corner – I believe it’s higher than any other on the mountain.”

That led to a frustrating series of inquiries with others trying to identify the “Rock Wall” (that was labeled as such on several old maps).  It is situated above the tree line.

It was a structure that I had never seen before and was not aware of.  And, the options of the who, what and why started to expand in the process – with no clear indication of an answer to any of those.

I reached out to several archaeologists and others who prepare cultural impact assessments for help.  My first response was from a notable archaeologist who said, “I know nothing specifically … there were at least some bottles/bottle fragments inside the enclosure.  Generally, there are several upland corral-like enclosures”.

Another early response from another archaeologist stated, “This feature is quite intriguing. Regrettably we have no information to provide, although the presence of the tree at the site suggests there may be a spring in that location. Springs are present around this elevation on other parts of the mountain.”

Corral, water … that led me to look into springs and ranching activities on the mountain.  I looked through some reports and found …

“Ka-houpo-o-Kāne (literally, The-bosom-of Kāne), is the sacred region of Mauna Kea (between the 10,000 – 11,000 foot elevation), in which are found the springs fed by Ka-wai-hū-a-Kāne; by a rivulet from Waiau to the head of Pōhakuloa Gulch.”  (Maly)

Ka Houpo o Kāne represents the springs of the island of Hawaii. (Vredenburg)  “The area identified as Ka-houpo-o-Kāne is situated below Waiau, on the southwestern slopes of Mauna Kea, in the land of Ka‘ohe.” (Maly)

Another study addressing the springs at Houpo O Kāne noted, “One section of the valley is isolated by the steep walls of thick lava flows, above and below which are stone walls built many years ago as a trap in, which to impound wild cattle that frequented the spring area. The last of the wild cattle have been killed, but a few skulls were to be seen in 1939.”

According to another study, “there is reason to believe that [the cattle trap] probably dates to the same period of time (ca. 1820 – 1850).”

To help us understand the early cattle experience on the mountain, William Ellis wrote, “[Goodrich] saw at a distance several herds of wild cattle, which are very numerous in the mountains and inland parts of the island, and are the produce of those taken there, and presented to the king, by Captain Vancouver.”

“They were, at his request, tabued for ten years, during which time they resorted to the mountains, and became so wild and ferocious, that the natives are afraid to go near them.”

“Although there are immense herds of them, they do not attempt to tame any; and the only advantage they derive is by employing persons, principally foreigners, to shoot them, salt the meat in the mountains, and bring it down to the shore for the purpose of provisioning the native vessels.”

“But this is attended with great labour and expense. They first carry all the salt to the mountains. When they have killed the animals, the flesh is cut off their bones, salted immediately, and afterwards put into small barrels, which are brought on men’s shoulders ten or fifteen miles to the sea-shore.” (Ellis, 1820s)

Back then, wild cattle (bullocks) were captured in pits (typically one at a time) or shot at with rifles (that then scared the rest away).  It was pretty inefficient.  Kamehameha III had Spanish vaqueros brought to the islands to teach the Hawaiians the skills of herding and handling cattle.

So, if this applied to the “Rock Wall,” I did more research into Hawai‘i’s early ranching efforts  … The vaqueros found the Hawaiians to be capable students, and by the 1870s, the Hawaiian cowboys came to be known as the “paniola” for the Espanola (Spanish) vaqueros who had been brought to the islands (though today, the Hawaiian cowboy is more commonly called “paniolo”).  (Maly)

“One of the most important contributions of the vaqueros was their introduction of the rawhide lasso.”  A report stated, “‘The use of the rawhide lasso drastically changed the movement of cattle closer to market and into confinement for eventual domestication.’”

“‘The Spanish method replaced the labor-intensive system of packing salt to the mountain and hauling kegs of salted beef (i‘a kōpī or pipi miko) back to the shoreline communities. As part of the method, the bullock was roped in the remote range, snubbed to a tree, and tethered snugly over a night or two for a cooling-off period. This process is called po‘owaiū by the paniolo.’”

“‘At the appropriate time, usually at daybreak, the bullock was shorn of his horn tips (‘oki hau), and then led (alaka‘i) by a single head rope or two to a central corral. These corrals were often located at a rudimentary camp or village (kauhale).’” (Bergin; Cultural Surveys)

As part of an oral history project, some of the ‘old time’ Parker Ranch employees were interviewed; one stated, “When you’re looking from here it’s all mountain, but when you get up there it’s nice big flats and hollows, it’s cinders. The old people used to make traps, Pāloa, and they used to drive, mainly horses. Hit the sand and it goes right down to the corrals.”

More corral reference … was this one of those corrals?

Throughout this investigation, I had in the back of my mind the CCC.  My oldest map noting the “Rock Wall” was dated 1937.  That meant there was a possibility that the wall could be associated with Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

After a decade of national prosperity in the Roaring Twenties, Americans faced a national crisis after the Crash of 1929. The Great Depression saw an unemployment rate of more than twenty-five percent in the early 1930s.  (pbs)

To make work, Franklin D Roosevelt proposed in his New Deal (1933) the creation of “a Civilian Conservation Corps, to be used in simple work, not interfering with normal employment, and confining itself to forestry, the prevention of soil erosion, flood control and similar projects.”


It was estimated that 8 to 10 percent of Hawaiʻi’s young men were enrolled by the Civilian Conservation Corps during its tenure from 1934 to 1942. There were CCC camps on Oʻahu, Maui, Kauai, the island of Hawaiʻi and Molokai. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, NPS)

One of those project sites was at Pōhakuloa. Seven cabins were built around the base of the mountain at the present location of Gilbert Kahele Recreation Area run by the County (formerly, the Mauna Kea State Park.)

In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) undertook fencing, road building and visitor facilities on Mauna Kea.  The CCC built a stone cabin at Hale Pōhaku, which gained its name (house of stone) from that structure. The cabin at Hale Pōhaku provided a shelter for overnight hikers, hunters and snow players.

This fit in with the timeline, based on the mapping I had … however, this alternative was soon dropped, as I found a 1926 USGS ‘Ahumoa’ mapping that showed the “Rock Wall,” (suggesting it was probably not part of a Civilian Conservation Corps project).  But that did not explain the who, what and why.

I literally shot-gunned my request for information – I sent out lots of email requests, seeking information. I followed up on every recommended reference. No clear indication came up, until …

Mystery solved … the Hawai‘i District Manager from DLNR-DOFAW responded in an email saying, “I reached out to some of our retired foresters, Charlie Wakida, Ernest Pung and Libert Landgraf. “

“Charlie and Ernie thought it was for experimental plantings.  Libert did as well, and said that LW Bryan had the exclosure made in the late 20’s or early 30’s to exclude feral sheep and plant different trees.  He said Bryan had experimental plantings at various locations on Mauna Kea.” (Hawaii Branch Manager, DLNR-DOFAW)

Leicester Winthrop ‘Bill’ Bryan, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, reached Hawaii’s shores shortly after World War I; he was a forester on the Island of Hawai‘i.

“He supervised planting of more than 10 million trees island-wide, preservation of scores of endangered plants, introduction of hundreds of exotic plant species, establishment of arboreta. He helped develop the island’s network of weather stations, its parks.” (UPI)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“Kidnap and Rape” – “Kidnap and Murder”

On the night of Saturday, September 12, 1931, Navy Lt. Tommie and Thalia Massie went with some of their friends to the Ala Wai Inn, a restaurant overlooking the drainage canal that marked the boundary of the Waikīkī resort area.

“The truth of what transpired on the night of September 12, 1931, at the Ala Wai Inn on the way to Waikīkī or on the Ala Moana Road (which paralleled the shore on the way to downtown Honolulu) will probably never be known.”  (Hunter)

Two dramatic criminal trials, one for rape and one for murder and both involving multiple defendants, called attention to race relations and politics.  No trials ever had a more significant effect on a state’s history than those that shocked and shook Hawaiʻi in 1931 and 1932.  (Linder)

They are:
Territory of Hawaiʻi v. Ben Ahakuelo, Horace Ida, Joseph Kahahawai, Henry Chang and David Takai; 1931 (Rape trial) (also known as the “Ala Moana trial;” the name of the street where the assault allegedly took place)
Territory of Hawaiʻi v. Grace Fortescue, Thomas Massie, Edward Lord and Deacon Jones; 1932 (Murder trial)

“That the wife of Lieutenant Thomas Massie, United States Navy, was beaten, was evident; that she was raped was not clearly shown; that the five Hawaiian youths indicted for rape were not guilty was probable; and that she had asked for trouble the evidence shows.”   (Hunter)

Back to the night of September 12 at Waikīkī … Thalia left her husband behind and walked out of the Ala Wai Inn, and when she returned home early the next morning … “Something terrible has happened.” (She claimed she had been abducted and raped by five young Hawaiian men.)

The case for the prosecution was shaky.  Neither Mrs Massie’s body or her clothes showed that she had been raped.  Likewise, after a thorough physical examination of their bodies and the clothes they were wearing that night when they were arrested, the defendants showed no sign that they had had sexual intercourse.

The jury stayed out from the afternoon of Wednesday, December 2, until the afternoon of Saturday, December 5.  It was a hung jury (seven for not guilty and five for guilty;) the judge declared a mistrial December 6, 1931.  It was the longest jury deliberation in Hawaiʻi’s history.  (Hannon) The defendants were released to await a second trial.

The aftermath of the Ala Moana trial reverberated throughout Honolulu and the mainland. The mistrial outraged Navy personnel, the business community and white citizens in Hawaiʻi and government officials throughout the US.  (Hannon)

Instead of sticking to the facts, the white press in Hawaiʻi and the mainland press played the race card, which only served to further anger whites. Numerous newspapers and magazines added to the misinformation, hysteria and racial atmosphere surrounding the situation in Hawaiʻi.

Time Magazine reported in an article titled ‘Lust in Paradise’ a few weeks after the mistrial:  “Honolulu, paradisaic melting pot of East & West, was tense with trouble last week. Yellow men’s lust for white women had broken bounds. … A tremor of apprehension ran through Hawaiʻi’s motley population…”  (Hannon)

Joseph Kahahawai had been released; while out on bail the defendant was required to report in court every morning about nine o’clock.

Fortescue (Thalia’s mother) had a plan … with help, she would pick up Kahahawai at the courthouse after he had reported in and take him to a cottage, about 2-miles away.  She wanted to get a confession.  She let Tommie in on the plan, as well as a couple Sailors.

Lieutenant Massie, Fortescue and two non-commissioned sailors, Albert ‘Deacon’ Jones and Edward Lord, collaborated on the scheme.   Fortescue faked a subpoena addressed to Kahahawai, commanding him to appear before the high sheriff of the island of Oʻahu.

January 8, 1932, Massie and Lord drove to the Judiciary Building in a rented Buick; Fortescue and Jones followed in Massie’s roadster. When Kahahawai came out of the courthouse, Jones waved the fake summons at him, pushed him into the Buick, and they drove off.

In the back of Mānoa Valley, they threatened Kahahawai if he did not admit to the rape.  The pistol they brought went off and Kahahawai later died with a gunshot through the chest.

The four were put on trial for murder.

The most notorious trial in the history of Hawaiʻi began on April 4, 1932 and was titled Territory of Hawaiʻi vs. Grace Fortescue, et al., Crim. No. 11891. The trial would be presided over by forty-two year old Judge Charles “Skinner” Davis.  (Honnon)

Noted criminal trial lawyer, Clarence Darrow, was hired by the defense.  The defense argued the killing was justified under the “unwritten law” – a defense usually used by a husband who kills a man immediately after catching him having relations with his wife or raping her.  (Hannon)

The courtroom was jammed with anxious listeners, day after day, many waiting outside all night so they would be sure to get in when the case opened in the morning. The Honolulu papers carried a full stenographic report of the case, and the daily press on the mainland gave almost as full an account.

The main interest of the trial was the testimony of Lieutenant Massie and that of his wife; each of these witnesses was on the stand for two days.   No others who were at the cottage testified.

Massie told the jury of his emotions when the man had ravished his wife sat there in front of him, how it called all the anxiety and trouble he and his wife had through for two or three months, and that he proposed to have the matter settled now.  (Darrow)

Darrow gave his closing argument on Wednesday, April 27, 1932. The last major courtroom argument of his career, it was heard live on radio stations across the country. Anxious to hear Darrow speak, many people waited in line the night before and some places in line were bought and sold.  (Hannon)

The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter, leniency recommended.

The guilty verdicts inflamed the already caustic political atmosphere. Mainland politicians saw it as continued miscarriage of justice in the whole sordid case. They were already angry that Hawaiʻi’s justice system had failed to convict in the Thalia Massie case.  The White House was flooded with telegrams protesting the verdict and asking President Hoover to issue immediate pardons. (Hannon)

All four were sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Amid a storm of protest, the Governor of Hawaiʻi, Lawrence Judd, immediately commuted their sentences to one hour in the sheriff’s office.

Thalia and Tommie, along with Mrs. Fortescue, left Hawaiʻi at once and returned to the mainland. (The couple found no peace; they were divorced soon after the trial.)

A couple of years later, Thalia in an unsuccessful attempt at suicide, slashed her wrists during a transatlantic cruise. Tommie left the Navy, took a second wife, and established a career in business. Thalia married a second time, and on July 2, 1963, she died in West Palm Beach from an overdose of barbiturates.  (Riccio)

The surviving four Hawaiians defendants in the Thalia Massie rape case (the Ala Moana trial) were never retried.

“Many times I have been asked why I went to Honolulu. I was not sure then, and am not sure now. I had never been to that part of the Pacific … But the more I thought of those islands in the Pacific that I had so long wanted to see, and the more I investigated the strange and puzzling case, the more I felt that I had better go.”  (Clarence Darrow)

“The old man (Darrow) came down to the Islands believing his personal presence and his known tolerance and understanding of human suffering would help smooth over any racial problems that might exist. When he left the Islands two months later the racial issues were more deeply graven than ever.”  (Theon Wight, Rape in Paradise)  (Lots of information here from Darrow and Hannon.)

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