Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Insane Asylum

The first hospital service for mentally afflicted persons in America was established at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia in the year 1752. (Kimmich)

Later, across the US, interest was growing in caring for the mentally ill; asylums are opened in East Coast US cities. Kamehameha V expanded his interest in medical facilities.

The 1863 law passed by the Hawaiian legislature states: “A building is to be erected for the reception of insane persons. This facility will furnish restraint till the person becomes of sane mind or is discharged.”

“There shall be in Honolulu, at such places as the superintendent of public works shall direct, a suitable building for the reception of all insane persons, to be styled an insane asylum … The board of health shall have the management and control of the insane asylum.” (1862, Revised Laws, 1915)

“It shall be the duty of (the) district magistrate or circuit judge to examine all persons brought before them on said warrants as to their sanity.”

It was difficult to obtain the funds for this purpose, however, and the hospital was not constructed until 1866. Its first location was at the corner of School and Lanakila Streets.

The hospital was completed in 1866, and the first six patients were transferred to the hospital from the jails at which the mentally ill had previously been kept. By 1867, there were 62 patients. (Cultural Surveys)

The annual report of 1867 mentions a total of 62 admissions, an average age of 40 years, and goes on to state that 17 of the 62 admissions were discharged as “recovered.” (Kimmich)

The patients, with the exception of those most violent, were allowed to wander about the extensive grounds, assisting in the care of the lawns and flowers, and in light manual labor of various kinds.

The Hawaiians have ample allowances of their much loved poi, likewise, there were large luau, held there once or twice during each year.

These were attended by many of the residents and visitors to Honolulu, who chose these occasions to satisfy their curiosities. The inmates of the Hospital are of all nationalities, the aggregate number, in proportion of the Islands, being small. (Ellsworth)

The Legislature increased the Maintenance Appropriation from $40,000.00 to $45,000.00 under the title “Insane Asylum And Infirmary” in response to the representations of the President of the Board relative to the necessity of a place of detention and care of those whose cases properly require observation before a charge of insanity should be lodged against them.

“Many of these cases are the result of indulgence in liquor and drugs and in short time their normal mental balance becomes restored.”

“We have already taken steps to erect a building that will shelter forty patients and so relieve the buildings at the entrance of the grounds: they can be turned into the Infirmary and accommodate some twenty patients.”

“A visit to the Insane Asylum will show many improvements. Nothing is more conducive to the bodily health and mental condition of the physically able insane than employment to a moderate degree.”

“During the past twelve months the inmates have quarried stone, made curbing and macadam, filled in ground where necessary and generally improved the Asylum grounds. They practically rebuilt one building for men, repaired several cottages, and have done general renovating and painting.”

“They have built quite a large addition to the woman’s building and are now completing a cottage of four special rooms with a separate lanai for each, that patients may be isolated where the case requires, or friends desire by special arrangement.” (Report of President of the Board of Health, 1907)

“All inmates, if physically able, are taken out of doors every day … .During the year the female employees and patients made a considerable amount of clothing for use in the institution.”

“The principal articles for food were bread, beef, fresh fish, salmon, codfish, beans, poi, rice, potatoes, cabbages, carrots, prunes, canned fruits, eggs, milk, ham, bacon, fresh vegetables, tea and coffee, and fresh milk.” (Report of Governor of Hawaii, 1921)

“No institution extant is better, more cleanly and more orderly kept, resources considered, than the Oahu Insane Asylum. The Asylum is regularly, professionally and officially inspected each two weeks by the two medical members of the Board of Health. The President of the Board visits the Insane Asylum at least once each week.” (Report of President of the Board of Health, 1907)

From 1903 to 1928, a new site was looked for, a final decision on the present location in Kāneʻohe being made in late 1928. (Kimmich)

In 1930, all 549 patients in the then-named Territorial Hospital were transferred to the new Territorial Hospital in Kāne‘ohe, O‘ahu.

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Mother Road – Route 66

On January 29, 1886, Carl Benz applied for a patent for his “vehicle powered by a gas engine.” The patent – number 37435 – may be regarded as the birth certificate of the automobile. (Daimler)

In 1903, Henry Ford officially opened the Ford Motor Company and five years later released the first Model T.  In 1907, Henry Ford announced his goal for the Ford Motor Company: to create “a motor car for the great multitude.”  (pbs)

“[T]he automobile constituted a personalized urban mass transit system, allowing the owner to travel whenever or wherever he desired.” (Davies, NPS)

Moreover, it provided a personal means of escape from the congestion of metropolitan America and reduced cross-country travel from an adventure of the affluent and stouthearted to a relatively inexpensive and common occurrence. (NPS)

Into the 1920s named trails were the way to navigate around the country. The trails were a product of the pioneer days of auto travel when government took little interest in interstate roads.  Named trail associations had served an important purpose in the 1910s when many States lacked a highway department or had an ineffective one.  (Weingroff)

Long trips often meant using a variety of different roadways, each one with its own standard for road quality and signage. Typically referred to as “trails” and run by “trail associations,” boosters would stitch together these routes with already existing roads (of varied quality), give it a name (like “Dixie Highway” or “Lincoln Highway”), and promote it.

Businesses along these routes typically paid dues to the trail associations, which meant routes weren’t always laid out to give drivers the quickest route, but instead to collect the most dues. There were over 250 such routes established by the mid-1920s. (Bloomberg)

With the growing number of vehicles on the roads, the associations helped focus attention on their condition, identified interstate roads for use of motorists, and sought increased funding for good roads projects.

However, by the early 1920s, State and Federal highway officials realized that the named trail associations had outlived their usefulness. (FHWA)  In 1925, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHO) asked the Secretary of Agriculture to work with states to replace all trail names with a unified highway numbering system.

On November 11, 1926, the newly established United States Numbered Highway System changed the way U.S. drivers navigate the country.  For the most part, north-south routes got odd numbers (numbers ending in 1 or 5 for principal routes), and east-west routes even numbers (multiples of 10 for principal routes).

Officially, the Chicago-to-Los Angeles route received the numerical designation of Route 66. That designation acknowledged the route as one of the nation’s principal east-west arteries. Mostly, U.S. 66 was just an assignment of a number to an already existing network of State-managed roads, most of which were in poor condition.

US Route 66 or US Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is made up of several existing auto trails and regional roads, most notably the National Old Trails Road (or Ocean-to-Ocean Highway). Other key contributing trails included the Ozark Trail System in Missouri/Kansas and the Lone Star Route.

The 2,448-mile highway runs from-to Chicago (at Grant Park at the intersection of Jackson and Michigan Avenues) to Santa Monica (near the Santa Monica Pier at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Ocean Avenue).

It didn’t receive signs until 1927 and wasn’t completely paved until 1938. The highway passes through Illinois. Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

Its diagonal course linked hundreds of rural communities from Chicago to Kansas and on to Los Angeles, enabling farmers to transport grain and produce. By the 1930s the trucking industry was using Route 66. The truckers enjoyed the easier drive across the prairie lands and milder climates than the northern routes offered. (FHWA)

To further the popularity of Route 66, John Steinbeck proclaimed Route 66 the Mother Road in his 1939 book The Grapes of Wrath. (FHWA) “Highway 66 is the main migrant road, 66 – the long concrete path across the country …”

“… waving gently up and down on the map, from the Mississippi to Bakersfield – over the red lands and the gray lands, twisting up into the mountains, crossing the Divide and down into the bright and terrible desert, and across the desert to the mountains again, and into the rich California valleys …”  (Steinbeck)

“… 66 is the path of a people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land, from the thunder, of tractors and shrinking ownership, from the desert’s slow northward invasion, from the twisting winds that howl up out of Texas, from the floods that bring no richness to the land and steal what little richness is there.”

“From all of these the people are in flight, and they come into 66 from the tributary side roads, from the wagon tracks and the rutted country roads. 66 is the mother road, the road of flight….”  (Steinbeck)

“The people in flight streamed out on 66, sometimes a single car, sometimes a little caravan. All day they rolled slowly

along the road, and at night they stopped near water.”

“In the day ancient leaky radiators sent up columns of steam, loose connecting rods hammered and pounded. And the men driving the trucks and the overloaded cars listened apprehensively. How far between towns? It is a terror between towns.” (Steinbeck)

“Merchants in small and large towns along the highway looked to Route 66 as an opportunity for attracting new revenue to their often rural and isolated communities. As the highway became busier, the roadbed received improvements, and the infrastructure of support businesses — especially those offering fuel, lodging, and food that lined its right of way — expanded.”

“Even with tough times, the Depression that worked its baleful consequences on the nation produced an ironic effect along Route 66. The vast migration of destitute people fleeing their former homes actually increased traffic along the highway, providing commercial opportunities to a multitude of low capital, mom-and-pop businesses.” (NPS)

“The romance of Route 66 was created, in part, by marketing the Hollywood version of American Indians. Travelers were given the stereotypical images they were accustomed to seeing in films to lure them into [Trading Posts and] buying postcards and souvenirs, taking photos with wooden Indians, staying the night in a “wigwam” and spending a little extra time and money on their journey west.” (American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association)

“In 1956, President Eisenhower, who had witnessed the military advantages of the German Autobahn during World War II, supported the passage of a law to construct a new system of high-speed, limited-access, four-lane divided highways – today’s interstates.”

“Five new interstates (I-55, I-44, I-40, I-15, and I-10) incrementally replaced US 66 over the next three decades. Interstate construction coincided with the powerful forces of economic consolidation as evidenced by the growth of branded gasoline stations, motels, and restaurant chains.”

“The 1984 bypassing of the last section of U.S. 66 by I-40 led to the official decommissioning of the highway in 1985, impacting countless businesses and communities along the road.” (NPS)

The National Trust for Historic Places listed Route 66 on their America’s Most Endangered List and designated the road a National Treasure.

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The 5th Gate

The cornerstone for ‘Iolani Palace was laid on December 31, 1879 with full Masonic rites. Construction was completed in 1882; in December of that year King Kalākaua and Queen Kapi‘olani took up residence in their new home.

The first floor consists of the public reception areas – the Grand Hall, State Dining Room, Blue Room and the Throne Room.

The second floor consists of the private suites – the King’s and Queen’s suites, Music Room, King’s Library, and the Imprisonment Room, where Queen Lili‘uokalani was held under house arrest for eight months in 1895, following a counter-revolution by royalists seeking to restore the Queen to power after the overthrow of 1893.

The Palace area was originally enclosed by an eight-foot high coral block wall with wooden gates. In 1887, work was requested to alter the Mauka, Makai and Richards Street Gateways of the wall surrounding the Royal Palace would be curved at the respective gates with double iron door (similar to the Likelike gate.)

Also intended were 2-story wooden guardhouses on each side of the four main gates. However, those were not built (the contract to construct them was cancelled in July 1887).

Then, Robert Wilcox and other revolutionaries broke into the grounds, set themselves up in the Palace Bungalow, and using the walls surrounding the grounds fired at approaching loyal troops.

After this, it was felt that the Palace no longer served as a bastion against invasion, and a decision was made to tear down the wall surrounding the grounds. In 1889, it was lowered to 3’6″. In 1892, it was topped with the present painted iron fence.

“Early this morning a gang of prisoners commenced to take down the Palace wall. Up to one o’clock this afternoon they had it down from the front gate on King Street to the corner of King and Richards Streets.”

“It is being taken down to within three feet six inches of the ground. The King suggested that an iron fence take its place, and that will be done. It is understood that the government has already sent for designs of ornamental fencing, and as soon as a design is selected the fence will be ordered. There is no doubt that the taking down of the wall will be a great improvement.” (Daily Bulletin, August 9, 1889)

Removal of this wall was met with great approval. In prior years newspapers had often recommended that the prison-like stone wall be removed. In tearing down the wall it was also felt that the grounds, being opened to public view, would be improved and would become the most beautiful in the city. (Fairfax)

New gate arrangements were made, as well. The gates before this time had been flush with the wall, but as part of the improvements, curved walls were built, recessing the gateways into the grounds. (Fairfax)

The four principal gates each display the Coat of Arms of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and have a distinctive name and purpose:
• Kauikeaouli – was named in honor of King Kamehameha III and used for ceremonial occasions (fronting King Street)
• Kīna’u – was named after the mother of Kings Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V and used by tradesmen (fronting Richards Street)
• Hakaleleponi – was named for Queen Kalama, consort of Kamehameha III and used by servants and retainers of the royal household (mauka – facing Capitol)
• Likelike – was given the name of Princess Likelike, sister to King Kalakaua and Queen Lili‘uokalani and reserved for private use by the royal family (facing State Library)

But those are not the only gates onto the Palace grounds – a smaller 5th gate is located on the mauka-Ewa wall (fronting on Palace Walk, just mauka of the Barracks. While other gates had general ‘assignments’ of who would enter, the 5th gate was initially made for a single person.

“On my accession to the throne my husband (John Owen Dominis) had been made prince consort, and after my brother’s burial I had proposed to him that he should move to the palace …”

“… but in his feeble health he dreaded the long stairs there, which he would be obliged to climb, so I proposed to have the bungalow put in repair, and that the entire house should be placed at his service.”

“With this proposition he was much pleased, and hopefully looked forward to the time when, recovering from his illness, he would be able to take possession of his new home.”

“He asked that there might be a small gate opened near the bungalow, so that he might easily come and go without being obliged to go through the form of offering to the sentry the password required for entrance by the front gate.”

“His wish was immediately granted, and instructions given to the Minister of the Interior to that effect. The bungalow was handsomely fitted up, and all things were made ready for his occupation; but owing to his continued and increasing ill-health he never moved into it.” (Lili‘uokalani) (There is another gate at the corner of King and Richards.)

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Benjamin Franklin Dillingham

Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Dillingham was the son of Benjamin Clark Dillingham, a shipmaster, and Lydia Sears (Hows) Dillingham, born on September 4, 1844 in West Brewster, Massachusetts.

He left school at 14 and shipped on his uncle’s vessel for a voyage around the Horn to San Francisco. During the Civil War, on June 6, 1863, he was nineteen-year-old third mate on the clipper ship Southern Cross bound for New York with a cargo of ‘log wood.’

‘Florida’ was flying the British ensign, though as she steamed closer, she ran up the rebels’ ‘stars and bars.’ A squad of armed Confederate sailors boarded and took Dillingham and the rest of the clipper’s small crew prisoner.

Then, as the new prisoners watched from the deck of their captor, the Southern Cross was set ablaze and sunk. Eventually they were put ashore at Rio de Janeiro and worked their way back to the war-torn United States.

Dillingham headed west, determined to take up residence in San Francisco and find work ashore. An unsuccessful hunt for employment led him back to the sea, and in 1865 he was hired by Captain John Paty as first mate on the bark Whistler, on the San Francisco/Honolulu run.

“A brief sojourn in the city enabled me to realize that I had no training in any other vocation, save that of the sea, and learning that Capt. Paty of the bark Whistler plying between the coast and Honolulu was in need of officers, I applied and obtained the position of first mate without delay.” (Dillingham; Chiddix & Simpson))

Dillingham wrote that he felt at home the first time he came ashore in Honolulu: “After my tempstuous experiences in rounding Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, the trip seemed to me like a pleasure excursion.”

“It felt as if I had anchored in a home port; the cordiality I experienced from all those whom I met removed at once the feeling of being in a foreign land though the streets were filled with several nationalities. The luxuriant foliage, the balmy breezes, the tropical fruits, all afforded such delights that I felt sure I should return.”

He did return, and ultimately stayed after an unfortunate encounter between his horse and a carriage; “The first officer of the bark Whistler, Mr. Dillingham, whose leg was broken last Friday night, by being thrown from a horse, in collision with a carriage, on the valley road …”

“(Dillingham) is now at the American Marine Hospital, where he receives every care and attention, and is in favorable condition for recover.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 29, 1865) Unfortunately for him, the Whistler left him in Honolulu and sailed away.

He accepted a job as a clerk in a hardware store called H. Dimond & Son for $40 per month. The store was owned by Henry Dimond, formerly a bookbinder in the 7th Missionary Company. In 1850 Dimond had been released from his duties at the Mission and had gone into business with his son.

Dillingham later bought the company with partner Alfred Castle (son of Samuel Northrup Castle, who was in the 8th Company of missionaries and ran the Mission business office;) they called the company Dillingham & Co (it was later known as Pacific Hardware, Co.)

On April 26, 1869, Dillingham married Emma Smith, daughter of 6th Company missionaries Reverend Lowell and Abigail Smith.

But hard times came on Dillingham with the collapse of whaling and the rise of sugar. Large suppliers pulled Dillingham’s credit lines, and his accounts were paid late. Then Dillingham was given the opportunity to buy the James Campbell lands in Ewa.

While he couldn’t raise the money to buy it, Campbell leased the land for 50-years. Dillingham realized that to be successful, he needed reliable transportation.

On September 4, 1888, Frank Dillingham’s 44th birthday, the legislature gave Dillingham an exclusive franchise “for construction and operation on the Island of O‘ahu a steam railroad … for the carriage of passengers and freight.”

Dillingham formed O‘ahu Railway and Land Company (OR&L,) a narrow gauge rail, whose economic being was founded on the belief that O‘ahu would soon host a major sugar industry.

“Among the most important works now in process of rapid construction, is the Oahu railway to Pearl Harbor, which is already approaching completion, so far as grading is concerned. Eleven miles of this line will have the grading completed in two weeks; and of this length ten miles are already finished.”

“The depot itself will be of imposing size and made as ornamental in appearance as convenience and traffic requirements will allow. … The progress of this important work has been so rapid during the month of July that we give it first place among the works in progress during the past month.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 27, 1889)

“Mr BF Dillingham, promoter of the Oahu Railway and Land Company, on his birthday a year previous, was accosted by an acquaintance with the remark: ‘Well, Mr. Dillingham, you have got your franchise: when are you going to give us the railway?’”

“Mr. Dillingham replied that on his next birthday, that day one year, he hoped to treat his friends to a railway ride. … with a strong company now at his back, the originator of the enterprise, having taken the contract to build the road, resolutely pushed operations to their present advanced stage.”

“When the appointed day arrived Mr Dillingham was ready to celebrate. His engine had been set up some days. Two third class cars, the best passenger accommodation as yet on the ground, were put together. … With a shrill blast from the whistle and the bell clanging, the engine moved easily off with its load. Three rousing cheers were given by the passengers, and crowds assembled at the starting point responded.” (Daily Bulletin, September 5, 1889)

Ultimately OR&L sublet land, partnered on several sugar operations and/or hauled cane from Ewa Plantation Company, Honolulu Sugar Company in ‘Aiea, O‘ahu Sugar in Waipahu, Waianae Sugar Company, Waialua Agriculture Company and Kahuku Plantation Company, as well as pineapples for Dole.

By the early-1900s, the expanded railway cut across the island, serving several sugar and pineapple plantations, and the popular Haleʻiwa Hotel. They even included a “Kodak Camera Train” (associated with the Hula Show) for Sunday trips to Hale‘iwa for picture-taking.

When the hotel opened on August 5, 1899, guests were conveyed from the railway terminal over the Anahulu stream to fourteen luxurious suites, each had a bath with hot-and-cold running water.

Thrum’s ‘Hawaiian Annual’ (1900,) noted, “In providing so tempting an inn as an adjunct and special attraction for travel by the Oahu Railway – also of his (Dillingham’s) creation – the old maxim of ‘what is worth doing is worth doing well’ has been well observed, everything About the hotel is first class…”

The weekend getaway from Honolulu to the Haleʻiwa Hotel became hugely popular with the city affluent who enjoyed a retreat in ‘the country.’

In addition, OR&L (using another of its “land” components,) got into land development. It developed Hawai‘i’s first planned suburban development and held a contest, through the newspaper, to name this new city. The winner selected was “Pearl City” (the public also named the main street, Lehua.)

The railway owned 2,200-acres in fee simple in the peninsula. First they laid-out and constructed the improvements, then invited the public on a free ride to see the new residential community. The marketing went so well; ultimately, lots were auctioned off to the highest bidder.

“Mr. Dillingham, besides creating the O‘ahu Railway, a line for which he struggled twenty-seven years against a public prejudice that would not see its financial possibilities, established Olaʻa plantation on the Island of Hawai‘i and McBryde plantation on Kauai.”

“He retained active management of the Oahu Railway & Land Company until 1915, when he relinquished it to George P. Denison.” (Sugar, May 1918) Dillingham died April 7, 1918 (aged 73.) (Information in this post taken, in part, from ‘Next Stop Honolulu.’)

The Dillingham Transportation Building was built in 1929 for Walter F Dillingham of Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, who founded the Hawaiian Dredging Company (later Dillingham Construction) and ran the Oahu Railway and Land Company founded by his father, Benjamin Franklin Dillingham.

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Flying the American Flag

“Twenty-eight members of the crew of the American armed steamer Aztec, 3,808 tons, which was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine are missing …”  (Mercury, April 5, 1917)

Before we expand on this, let’s look back – both in Hawaiʻi and elsewhere.

Captain John Dominis was an Italian-American ship captain and merchant from New York who had been trading in the Pacific since the 1820s.  In the 1840s, he purchased property on Beretania Street; he built a home for his family, Mary Lambert Dominis (his wife) and John Owen Dominis (his son.)

In 1847, on a voyage to China, Captain Dominis was lost at sea. To make ends meet, the widowed Mary then rented spare bedrooms; one of her tenants was American Commissioner Anthony Ten Eyck.  Impressed with the white manor and grand columns out front, Ten Eyck said it reminded him of Mount Vernon (George Washington’s mansion) and that it should be named “Washington Place.”

King Kamehameha III, who concurred, Proclaimed as ‘Official Notice,’ “It has pleased His Majesty the King to approve of the name of Washington Place given this day by the Commissioner of the United States, to the House and Premises of Mrs. Dominis and to command that they retain that name in all time coming.”  (February 22, 1848)

In 1862, John Owen Dominis married Lydia Kamakaʻeha (also known as Lydia Kamakaʻeha Pākī.)  Lydia Dominis described Washington Place “as comfortable in its appointments as it is inviting in its aspect.”  Reportedly, the American flag flew at the residence until Mary Dominis’s death, when Liliuokalani had it removed.  (Mary Dominis died on April 25, 1889, and the premises went to her son, John Owen Dominis, Governor of Oʻahu.)

Lydia was eventually titled Princess, and later became Queen Liliʻuokalani, in 1891.  John Owen Dominis died shortly after becoming Prince consort (making Liliʻuokalani the second widow of the mansion;) title to the home then passed to Queen Liliʻuokalani.

On the continent, former Princeton University president and governor of New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson was elected President in 1912; under him, the US proclaimed its neutrality from the beginning of World War I (in the summer of 1914.)

After the German sinking of the British passenger ship Lusitania in May 1915 (which killed 1,201 people, including 128 Americans,) Wilson sent a strongly worded warning to Germany.  After attempts to broker peace, then sinking of the American cargo ship Housatonic, Wilson broke off diplomatic relations with Germany.

With German submarine warfare continuing unabated, the final straw came on April 1, 1917, when the armed merchant ship Aztec was sunk off the northwest coast of France by U-boat 46 under the command of Leo Hillebrand. The Aztec was on its way from New York to Le Havre, France with a cargo of timber, copper, steel, chemicals and machinery.

All twenty eight members of the crew were killed, including Boatswain’s Mate First Class John I Eopolucci, a Naval Armed Guard – the first US Navy sailor killed in action in World War I.  The attack on the Aztec was the final straw and led to America’s intervention into World War I.

On April 2, 1917, President Wilson appeared before Congress to deliver his historic war message and asked for a declaration of war against Germany.  (history-com)  Then as Congress convened, two more ships were sunk, the large freighter Missourian and the schooner Marguerite, with no casualties aboard either ship.  On April 6, 1917, after twenty-nine months of official neutrality, the US declared war on Germany, formally entering World War I.

The passage of the war resolution by Congress, April 5, 1917, and the issuance of the President’s proclamation the next day declaring that “a state of war exists between the United States and the Imperial German Government,” was the signal for Hawaiʻi once more to declare its loyalty and pledge its unfaltering support of the nation’s cause. Appropriate resolutions were adopted by the legislature and by numerous clubs and organizations.  (Kuykendall)

On the very day on which President Wilson delivered his memorable war message to Congress, the ground for his indictment of the German government was brought home to the people of this territory by news that five youths from Hawaiʻi had lost their lives in the sinking of the Aztec.  (Kuykendall)

When the American steamer Aztec was sunk a few days ago by a German submarine, five Hawaiians … lost their lives …. Two of these Hawaiians were residents of Honolulu, the other three of Hawaiʻi.  (Hawaiian Gazette, April 3, 1917).

The five Hawaiian merchant marines that were part of the Aztec crew were: John Davis, Charles Kanai, Eleka Kaohi, Julian R Macomber and Henry Rice (they were all civilians.)

Support grew for an event to mourn the loss of Hawaiʻi’s first war dead.  In a memorial service for the five, held April 22, 1917, “The dead were eulogized as heroes who lost their lives while maintaining the right of the principle that the seas are free to all.  About a pavilion platform that was decorated with the Star Spangled Banner and the flag of Hawaiʻi … more than 2000 gathered …”

“That the Hawaiians died in the service of their country in upholding American right of legitimate commerce at sea was emphasized by the presence on the platform of the heads of the military and naval service in Hawaiʻi, and there was a solemn martial atmosphere to the gathering to remind even casual spectators that this was a memorial service in war time.”  (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, April 23, 1917)

“Senator HL Desha speaking in Hawaiian delivered an oration appropriate to the occasion. He spoke of the five brave men who died doing their duty and declared that for all we know on this earth, these men might have sacrificed their lives for the peace of the whole world.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, April 24, 1917)

Lorrin Andrews delivered an oration on what the American flag represents, “There is a Flag floating over this building which symbolizes to all of us that which we hold most dear. It was conceived in a struggle for liberty against oppression. It presided over the birth of the greatest republic that the world has ever seen, and it has always represented honor, freedom and justice.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, April 24, 1917)

Not long before her death in 1917, Queen Liliuokalani nobly expressed support of the United States in World War I by ordering that the American flag be flown over Washington Place.  (hawaii-gov)

“For the first time in its long and picturesque history, Washington Place, home of Queen Liliʻuokalani, was decorated today with an American flag.”

“It was the occasion of the visit of the legislators to pay their respects to the aged queen and in view of the extraordinary crisis in international affairs and the prospect of patriotic war action by congress …”

“… the queen allowed the flag to be flown in honor of the government which years ago was responsible for her loss of a monarchy.”  (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, April 3, 1917)  (Reportedly, the American flag continued to fly over Washington Place.)

Liliʻuokalani continued to occupy Washington Place until her death later that year (November 11, 1917.)

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