Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

HNL

John Rodgers, Commanding Officer of the Naval Air Station at Pearl Harbor from 1923 to 1925, left to command the Navy’s historical flight between the West Coast and Hawaiʻi.

On August 31, 1925, Rodgers and his crew left San Francisco to attempt the first flight across the Pacific Ocean from the Mainland US to Hawaiʻi.  The seaplane was forced to land in the ocean after running out of fuel, about 365 miles from Oʻahu.

After three days of waiting to be picked up, the crew crafted sails from the wings of the plane and sailed toward Hawaiʻi.  On the tenth day, they spotted Kauaʻi.  Ten miles off shore they met a submarine which towed them safely to shore.

(Rodgers lived only one year after the Hawaiian flight. While serving as the Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, he was killed in a single engine plane crash in the Delaware River near the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia on August 27, 1926.)

In response to the growing demand to accommodate aviation presence, the Territorial Legislature appropriated funds for the acquisition and improvement of an airport and/or landing field on the Island of Oʻahu, within a reasonable distance of Honolulu.

According to the Act, Territorial Treasury funds needed to be matched with private funding; the Chamber of Commerce raised the matching money from local businessmen.

From these funds, about 119-acres of fast (dry) land and 766-acres of submerged land were purchased from the SM Damon Estate as an airport site.

John Rodgers Airport (named in honor of Rodgers) was dedicated March 21, 1927 and placed under the jurisdiction of the Territorial Aeronautical Commission – then, construction began.

In 1929, a runway 250-300 feet wide and 2,050-feet long was completed as well as considerable clearing on the balance of the area.

Over the next few years, the facility faced various stages of expansion, on land and in the water – the layout included a  combined airport and Seadrome, with seaplane runways in Keʻehi Lagoon adjacent to John Rodgers Airport.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, all airports were taken over by the US armed forces.  The Army Corps of Engineers began to build four runways at John Rodgers Airport which would become Naval Air Station Honolulu (NAS 29) and home base for an Army and Navy Air Transport Command.

Dredged material from the seaplane runway was used to fill some of the submerged land and raise the elevation of the airport to about eight feet. The land area was increased from about 200-acres to more than 1,000-acres.  Over the years, the facilities expanded.

The Navy completed construction of a terminal building, control tower and maintenance hangars for land planes operated by the Naval Air Transport Services.  On the north side of the field, the Navy built the Naval Air Station Honolulu to support the Naval Air Transport operations and to house about 5,000-men.

The airport was officially designated as Naval Air Station Honolulu, with the primary mission of maintaining and operating a base for Naval Air Transport Units, Pacific Wing.  During the war years, John Rodgers Airport was also home base for the Naval Utility Flight Unit, Naval Air Transport Service, 1522d AAF Base Unit, 15th Air Service Squadron and 19th Troop Carrier Squadron.

Full scale operations commenced at US Naval Air Station Honolulu for both land and sea planes on April 1, 1944 (by the end of World War II the seaplane runways were obsolete.)

In 1946, John Rodgers Airport was one of the largest airports in the US and comprised over  4,000-acres.  It had four paved land plane runways, 200 feet wide and with lengths varying from 6,200 linear feet to 7,650 linear feet.  There were three seaplane runways, each 1,000 feet wide with an average length of approximately 2.7 miles.

Space for federal agencies was provided, including the CAA Control Tower, Airways Traffic Control and Communication Center.  Also US Customs, US Immigration, US Department of Agriculture, US Public Health and US Weather Bureau.

John Rodgers Airport was returned to the Territory on October 1, 1946; the following year the name changed from John Rodgers Airport and Keʻehi Lagoon Seaplane Harbor to Honolulu Airport.  In 1951, its name changed to Honolulu International Airport.

Recognizing the importance of making visitors welcome in Hawaiʻi, Lei Stands replaced cars and trucks, that previously had parked on the airport entry road.

Then, in 1953, Honolulu International Airport’s combine Hickam/Honolulu 13,097-foot runway was officially declared the longest runway in the world by the Airport Operators Council.

By 1959, most major airlines serving Hawaiʻi decided to purchase jet aircraft and have them in operation between Hawaiʻi and the mainland; the next expansion of the airport was timed to the schedules of the major airlines.

On February 5, 1959, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to mark construction to accommodate “jet age facility (that was) the first of our major public improvements when Hawaiʻi becomes a state” and “a facility which Hawaiʻi will be proud of.” (Governor William F Quinn)  The first jet service from the mainland US and Hawaiʻi started later that year.

In 1962, Hawaiʻi Visitors Information Program was established to welcome passengers at Honolulu International Airport and Honolulu Harbor, to encourage travel to the Neighbor Islands, and to provide information and other help to airport and harbor visitors.

A Joint Use Agreement between Hickam AFB and Honolulu International Airport was signed in 1963.  It specified that for the purpose of overall aerial and ground operation, Hickam AFB and HNL comprised a single airport complex.

Construction of the first phase of the long-awaited Reef Runway over the fringe reef began in 1972; the runway was completed and dedicated for use on October 14, 1977.

HNL (identifying Honolulu International Airport) is part of the 3-letter airport and 2-letter airline codes administered by the Montreal-based International Air Transport Association (IATA.)  It was patterned after the National Weather Service 2-letter identification system, giving a seemingly endless 17,576-different combinations.

Honolulu got HNL; to ease the transition for existing airports, an X was placed after the 2-letter weather station code (i.e. Los Angeles became LAX, Portland became PDX and so on.) At the historic sand dune in Kitty Hawk, where the first flight occurred, the US National Parks Service maintains a tiny airstrip called FFA—First Flight Airport.

With little fanfare, Honolulu International Airport was renamed the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, honoring the state’s former US senator, effective April 27, 2017.   (Lots of info here is from hawaii-gov.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

1836

Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821 following 11 years of conflict. With independence achieved, Mexico struggled to find its own independent identity, first establishing a monarchy then a constitutional republic.

The need to protect the northern frontier prompted the government to establish colonization laws that allowed colonists into Texas. Large groups of people moved to Texas, with the attraction of land and an opportunity to start over.

People, such as Stephen F. Austin, helped to facilitate the arrival of immigrants to Texas by ways of colonies and land grants. Many of these colonists, along with the native population, enjoyed a semi-autonomous way of life far from the capital in Mexico.

This autonomy would be challenged with the election of Antonio López de Santa Anna as president in 1833. His political views would change from federalism to centralism causing Mexico to fall into a civil war and Texas to seek its own independence.

On October 2, 1835, the Texas Revolution began as tension boiled over and shots were fired in the town of Gonzales. The Texans fired a shot at the Mexican Army, leading to the start of the Texas Revolution. The Mexican Army realized they were outnumbered and retreated.

An army of Texan volunteers arrived in Mexican-occupied San Antonio de Bexár in late October, and began to lay siege to the town as a result of the Battle of Gonzales.

By mid-October, the volunteers had amassed to over 400, with individuals such as James Bowie, James Fannin, and Juan Seguin arriving on the outskirts of town. These men were under the command of Stephen F. Austin.

On October 28, 1835, as the Texan Army lay siege to San Antonio, a group of Texans and the Mexican Army clashed, at Mission Concepción. During the skirmish, Bowie and Fannin led a group of Texans to victory over a detachment of 275 Mexican Army troops led by General Martín Perfecto de Cos. Once again the Mexican Army was defeated.

On November 26, 1835, the Texan Army once again defeated the Mexican Army in the Grass Fight.  Later, General Santa Anna’s Army were marching north towards Texas, unbeknownst to the Texans. Their plan was to take back the town of Bexár and end the Texas Revolution once and for all.

Established in 1718 as Mission San Antonio de Valero, what is now referred to as the Alamo was a religious outpost of the Spanish empire. The mission was founded as a Spanish foothold in a territory that Spain rarely entered, with the intent to convert indigenous peoples to Catholicism and instruct them to become Spanish citizens.

Beginning in the early 1800s, Spanish military troops were stationed in the abandoned chapel of the former mission. Because it stood in a grove of cottonwood trees, the soldiers called their new fort “El Alamo” after the Spanish word for cottonwood and in honor of Alamo de Parras, their hometown in Mexico.

Santa Anna’s Army began to arrive in San Antonio de Bexár on February 23, 1836.  Their arrival prompted members of the Texan Army to enter the Alamo, which was by now heavily fortified.   The Alamo had 18 serviceable cannons and approximately 150 men at the start of the siege.

On February 24, 1836, with the garrison surrounded and the Texan Army at the Alamo outnumbered, one of the most famous letters in American history was written by William B. Travis.

It was addressed, “To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World.”  This letter was a passionate plea for aid for the Alamo garrison.  He ended the letter “Victory or Death” – the only outcome this battle could have.

On March 1, 1836, 32 men from the town of Gonzales arrived to aid the Alamo. This brought the number of defenders up to almost 200 men.  On March 2, 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico. 

On March 3, 1836, courier James Butler Bonham arrived at the Alamo with word from Robert Williamson informing Travis help was on the way.  Unfortunately it would not arrive in time.

On March 5, 1836, Santa Anna held a council of war, setting forth this plan for a four pronged attack of the garrison. At dawn on March 6, 1836, the 13th day of the siege, the Battle of the Alamo commenced.

Fighting lasted roughly 90 minutes, and by daybreak all the Defenders had perished, including a former congressman from Tennessee, David Crockett. The loss of the garrison was felt all over Texas, and even the world.

The Defenders were from many different countries, including some Defenders who were native-born Mexicans. Following the battle, Santa Anna ordered the Defender’s remains burned.  (TheAlamo)

From March to May, Mexican forces once again occupied the Alamo. For the Texans, the Battle of the Alamo became a symbol of heroic resistance and a rallying cry in their struggle for independence.

On April 21, 1836, Sam Houston and some 800 Texans defeated Santa Anna’s Mexican force of 1,500 men at San Jacinto (near the site of present-day Houston), shouting “Remember the Alamo!” as they attacked.

The victory ensured the success of Texan independence: Santa Anna, who had been taken prisoner, came to terms with Houston to end the war.  (History)

At this same time, in the Islands …

First Commercial Sugar

The first commercially‐viable sugar plantation, Ladd and Co., was started in the Islands at Kōloa on Kauai. On July 29, 1835, Ladd & Company obtained a 50‐year lease on nearly 1,000‐acres of land and established a plantation and mill site in Kōloa.

It was to change the face of Kauai (and Hawai‘i) forever, launching an entire economy, lifestyle and practice of mono-cropping that lasted for over a century. A tribute to this venture is found at the Kōloa Sugar Memorial in Old Kōloa Town.

On September 7, 1835, the Diana arrived 92 days from Canton via Bonin Islands. … Brig full of miscellaneous cargo … the principal of the balance to the Chinamen in French’s employ….”

“There were in the brig four Chinese sugar manufacturers with a stone mill and 400 to 600 pots for cloying and 5 cast Iron boilers. They are under control of Atti (Ahtai who was employed by William French) and hopefully can be obtained on fair terms.”  (William Hooper, Ladd & Company; Kai)

Hilo Boarding School Founded

Reverend David Belden Lyman (1803-1884) and his wife, Sarah Joiner Lyman (1806-1885,) arrived in Hawaii in 1832, members of the fifth company of missionaries sent to the Islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and were assigned the mission in Hilo.

In 1835, they constructed the Hilo Boarding School as part of an overall system of schools (with a girls boarding school in Wailuku and boarding at Lahainaluna.)  The Mission then established ‘feeder schools’ that would transmit to their students’ fundamental reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and religious training, before admission to the Lahainaluna.

On January 6, 1835 “our children’s school commenced, eighty children present, sixty knew their letters. A number of the more forward children are employed as monitors to assist the less forward. (ie advanced)” (Sarah Lyman)

In October 1836, two thatch houses were constructed near Lyman’s house and on October 3 the school opened with eight boarders, but the number soon increased to twelve.

The school was operated to an extent on a manual labor program and the boys cultivated the land to produce their own food. (The boys’ ages ranged from seven to fourteen.)

More than one-third of the boys who had attended the school eventually became teachers in the common schools of the kingdom. In 1850 the Minister of Public Instruction, Richard Armstrong, reported that Hilo Boarding School “is one of our most important schools. It is the very life and soul of our common school on that large island.”

Anthony Allen

Anthony D. Allen was born a slave on the German Flats, in New York, in 1774. In 1800, he made a flight for freedom from Schenectady, NY, and made his way to Boston.  He spent the next few years a free man  sailing across the globe – Boston, France, Haiti, Havana China, Northwest US and eventually, in 1811, Hawaiʻi.

By 1820, Allen owned a dozen houses, “within the enclosure were his dwelling, eating and cooking houses, with many more for a numerous train of dependents. There was also a well, a garden containing principally squashes, and in one part, a sheepfold in which was one cow, several sheep, and three hundred goats.”  (Sybil Bingham Journal)

Allen may have operated the first commercial dairy in Hawaiʻi. In addition to his farming, Allen provided overnight accommodations – one of the earliest known hotel uses in Waikīkī.

Allen’s six-acres and home were about two miles from downtown at Pawaʻa, between what we now call Waikīkī and Mānoa at what is now the corner of Punahou and King Streets.  This is where Washington Intermediate School is now situated.  Allen, the former slave, died of a stroke on December 31, 1835, leaving behind a considerable fortune to his children.

Sandwich Island Gazette and Journal of Commerce

In 1836, two years after Hawaiian language newspapers took hold, the Sandwich Island Gazette and Journal of Commerce, the first English language paper (and the oldest West of the Rocky Mountains) was born.

It was aimed at the foreigners living in Hawai‘i. It was the first newspaper to contain advertising. It published old news from world newspapers, local shipping notices, and contributions from its readers. It advocated freedom of the press, discussed the declining native population, and supported freedom of religion for Roman Catholics in Hawai‘i.

Sybil Bingham Plants Night-blooming Cereus at Punahou

In 1836, Sybil Bingham (wife of Protestant missionary leader Hiram Bingham) planted a night-blooming cereus hedge from a few branches of the vine she received from a traveler from Mexico.  Today, that famed cacti, known as Panini o Kapunahou, continues to cover the Punahou walls; it was noted to have “world-wide reputation and interest”.  (The Friend)

In addition, the main part of the Kapunahou property was planted with sugarcane by Sybil, with the aid of the female church-members; the plan was to support his family from the profits of the cane field, selling the cane to the sugar mills, one of which was in Honolulu.

Royal Hawaiian Band Formed

In 1836, King Kamehameha III created the “King’s Band.” The band, presently called the “Royal Hawaiian Band,” continues to entertain audiences in Hawaii and around the world today.

Queen Emma is Born

Emma Naʻea Rooke was born January 2, 1836, the daughter of High Chief George Naʻea and High Chiefess Fanny Kekelaokalani Young and hānai to by her childless maternal aunt, chiefess Grace Kamaʻikuʻi Young Rooke, and her husband, Dr. Thomas CB Rooke.

On June 19, 1856, Emma married Alexander Liholiho and became Queen Emma.  They had one child Prince Albert.  In 1859, King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma founded Queen’s Hospital.

Fifteen of the Highest Ranking Chiefs Ask the Missionaries to Send More Teachers

On August 23, 1836, King Kamehameha III and 14 of the highest ranking chiefs in the Islands wrote a letter to the American missionaries asking that more American teachers be sent by the missionaries to the Islands.

The chiefs noted, “If you agree and send these teachers when we will protect them when they arrive, provide the necessities to make their professions viable and give our support those needed endeavours.”

In response, shortly after, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) sent the largest company of missionaries to the Islands, that included a large number of teachers. The Eighth Company left Boston December 14, 1836 and arrived at Honolulu, April 9, 1837 on the Mary Frasier from Boston.

King Kalākaua is Born

David Laʻamea Kamanakapuʻu Mahinulani Nalaiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua was born in Honolulu to High Chief Kahana Kapaʻahea and the High Chiefess Analea Keohokālole, on November 16, 1836.

Per the custom of the times, he was hānai (adopted) by the chiefess Haʻaheo Kaniu, who took him to Maui, where the court of King Kamehameha III was located. When Kalākaua was four, he returned to Oʻahu to begin his education at the Royal School (it was started in 1839).

Kalākaua became king in 1874. Under Kalākaua’s direction, the cornerstone for ʻIolani Palace was laid on December 31, 1879.  Construction was completed in 1882; in December of that year Kalākaua moved into his palace with his wife, Queen Kapi’olani, the granddaughter of King Kaumuali’i of Kauai.  He died on January 20, 1891.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hanapēpē Massacre

In Hawaiʻi, shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge.  Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

Of the large level of plantation worker immigration, the Chinese were the first (1850,) followed by the Japanese (1885.)  After the turn of the century, the plantations started bringing in Filipinos.  Over the years in successive waves of immigration, the Sugar Planters (HSPA_)brought to Hawaiʻi 46,000-Chinese, 180,000-Japanese, 126,000-Filipinos, as well as Portuguese, Puerto Ricans and other ethnic groups.

Upon arrival in Hawaiʻi, Filipino contract laborers were assigned to the HSPA-affiliated plantations throughout the territory. Their lives would now come under the dictates of the plantation bosses. They had no choice as to which plantation or island they would be assigned. Men from the same families, the same towns or provinces were often broken up and separated.  (Alegado)

Between 1906 and 1930, the HSPA brought in approximately 126,000-Filipinos to Hawaiʻi, dramatically altering the territory’s ethnic demographics.   Comprising only 19-percent of the plantation workforce in 1917, the Filipinos jumped to 70-percent by 1930, replacing the Japanese, who had dwindled to 19-percent as the 1930s approached.  (Aquino)

The end of World War I was a time of crisis for labor in general – the economy had to accommodate two-million soldiers seeking civilian jobs – and, the US Supreme Court issued rulings which were unfavorable to labor.  Never-the-less, “There seems to be some sort of strike in every city, town and hamlet in the country.” (Poindexter, Advertiser, October 28, 1919; Alcantara)

In Hawaiʻi, the Japanese abandoned unionism altogether with the failure of the 1920 strike; Filipinos, led by Pablo Manlapit, continued to organize and also form the Higher Wages Movement.

The Movement petitioned the Sugar Planters in 1923 for a $2-a-day, 40-hour work week and an end to abuses.  Then, in April 1924, Filipino plantation workers went on strike.  Rather than a unified Filipino effort, it turned into a Visayan versus Ilocano conflict (the plantations brought Ilocanos in as strike breakers.)  (Alegado)

The strike of 1924 occurred over a period of approximately five months from April through September. It consisted of loosely coordinated strike actions on Oʻahu, Kauai, Maui and the Big Island under the general direction of the Executive Committee of the Higher Wages Movement involving a few thousand strikers at 23 of Hawai‘i’s 45 plantations, with just four of Kaua‘i’s 11 plantations represented: McBryde, Makaweli, Makee and Līhuʻe.  (Kerkvliet)

On September 8, 1924, two Ilocano Filipinos, Marcelo Lusiano and Alipio Ramel (each about 18-years old from the Makaweli plantation,) rode into Hanapēpē on their bicycles to buy a pair of $4 shoes. (Hill)

Filipino laborers earned approximately $20 to $25 a month, and would spend about one-fourth of their wages on food and an additional $2 to wash their clothes. They sent much of the remaining money to relatives in the Philippines.  

On their way back to the plantation, Lusiano and Ramel passed the strike headquarters, where they were apparently attacked by Visayan strikers and held inside the schoolhouse against their will. When friends of the young men realized they were missing, they reported them to the Kauai sheriffs. (Hill)

“(T)he men were kidnaped by strikers and held prisoner at a Japanese school house at Hanapēpē. They said they were attacked by strikers and intimidated into declaring that they would join the strikers.”  (Honolulu Times, September 12, 1924)

The next day, strikers and police clashed at a strike camp in Hanapēpē. About 40-armed police had gone to pick up the two Ilocanos at the strike camp, believing them to be prisoners of the strikers.   (hawaii-edu)

The two men were released and were leaving the school grounds with Deputy Sheriff William Crowell when some strikers began following and taunting them, waving their cane knives in the air threateningly. The sharpshooters fired upon the strikers when they saw the men try to attack Crowell. (Hill)

“The policemen drew out their revolvers and I heard one saying that they should be quiet otherwise they would be pacified with their revolvers to which strikers answered that they should go ahead.”

“Later on we heard a shot quite far from us. I cannot ascertain whose shot it was, if it came from the police side or the striker’s side, but I was sure it was quite far from us behind.”  (Lusiano; Honolulu Times, September 12 ,1924)

In the end, 16 strikers were shot dead; four sheriffs suffered casualties as a result of stab wounds and 25 were reported wounded. (Hill)

“When I heard the shooting, I began to run … I didn’t even have a knife. I had nothing to defend myself with. There were others who had guns, but they only had two bullets. They were courageous, they were acting tough … They’re the ones who died. I’m a coward. Those who ran away, they didn’t die.” (Bakiano; hawaii-edu)

The incident has been referred to the Hanapēpē Massacre; it was the bloodiest incident in the history of labor in Hawaiʻi.  (Alegado)

Most of the strikers were arrested; seventy-six were indicted on riot charges, 60 received 4-year sentences.  Some returned to work afterward; some were deported back to the Philippines.  Nobody was charged with murder.   (Hill, Alegado)

Manlapit was convicted of conspiracy and received a two- to 10-year sentence at O‘ahu Prison, but was paroled in 1927 on the condition he leave the Islands. He moved to California, but returned to Hawai‘i in 1933 and returned to the Philippines in 1934.  (Soboleski)

In 2006, a plaque was placed in the Hanapēpē Town Park to commemorate the Hanapepe Massacre of 1924.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

House Without a Key

“The koa-wood key has reached me and it is a lovely thing – but that was to be expected, since it came from Hawaii.”

“I am proud of the friends I have made in the Islands and prouder of this key than of anything that has happened to me in 20 years of writing.  I was eager to draw a true picture of Hawaii, but was not entirely confident of success. “

“I was only a malihini, a stranger, and what would the thousands who had known and loved the islands for many years think of the story?  That I did not entirely fail, this gift is proof, and that is only one of the reasons why I shall always prize it highly.”

“I should add at once that my long delay in writing you was due to the fact that the key was only just reached me, having traveled to New York, and thence back to the coast.”

“Most people who have been to Hawaii long to return, and in the future I shall long a bit more ardently than most. I hope before many months I shall be able to do so.”

“In the meantime I want all those who had anything to do with the key to know that their thought of me has touched my heart.  Please than them all for me.”

“Their unexpected, graceful gift is characteristic of Hawaii, and just another proof that he who has friends in the islands is rich indeed.”  (Star-Bulletin, June 19, 1925)

The thank you letter above was written by Earl Derr Biggers and sent to the Hawaii Tourist Bureau in 1925.

On January 24, 1925, ‘The Saturday Evening Post’ began its serialization of the book that would make Earl Derr Biggers famous: The House Without a Key, the first of the Charlie Chan series.

The principal character in the story was Charlie Chan, the celebrated Chinese detective.  Chan was modeled after Chang Apana.  In 1897, Helen Kīna‘u Wilder was given the authority to enforce animal cruelty laws.  She was appointed a special constable by the Marshall of the Republic of Hawai‘i.

She and her friends pooled their resources to pay a salary to hire Chang Apana, the first officer to investigate animal crimes, who inspired author Earl der Biggers’ popular Charlie Chan series of detective novels. (Hawaiian Humane Society)

Born Ah Ping Chang on December 26, 1871 in Waipiʻo, Oʻahu; he eventually became known as Chang Apana (the Hawaiianized version of the Chinese name Ah Ping.)  In 1898, Chang joined the Honolulu Police Department and the “shrewd and meticulous investigator” rose through the ranks to become detective in 1916.

Biggers was an early guest at the Halekūlani Hotel in Waikiki. Biggers’ book title was based on his discovery that no one locked their doors there.  In memory of the author and his novel, the Halekūlani named its seaside bar and lanai “House Without a Key.”

“’The House Without a Key’ is the story of a very rich man who has many enemies. He wants a certain locked chest in San Francisco cast into the sea – until it is beyond the reach of man he will know no peace.”

“He commissions his nephew to do the deed. But before the nephew reaches Honolulu the man is dead – murdered by an unknown assailant.”

“The secret of the chest. By mystery of the murder and the enmity that existed between the dead man and his brother furnish a lively plot”. (Stockton Independent, December 4, 1926)

The ”Decision to present the key to Biggers was made at a recent meeting of the tourist bureau, and arrangements for having it made were left to WH Hussman, Hawaii representative of the bureau.”

The key measures 25 inches in length and is six inches in width at both ends.  It was made at the Hilo Boarding School manual training shop. (Star Bulletin, April 6, 1925)

“The present of the Hawaii Tourist Bureau was for a time displayed in Benson, Smith & Co.’s window, where it attracted much interest.” (Star-Bulletin, April 15, 1925)

Bigger’s book and subsequent movies helped to put Hawaii and one of its iconic hotels on the map.

The key had an inscription, “Hawaii is still the ‘House without a Key’: you have it.  Use it often.”  True to his word, Biggers would soon return to the Islands.

Earl Derr Biggers was born in 1884 in Warren, Ohio. He graduated from Harvard University in 1907 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After college, Biggers went to work at The Boston Traveler, where he wrote a humorous column, and then reviews, until 1911.

Biggers ultimately wrote six Charlie Chan mystery novels: The House Without A Key, The Chinese Parrot, Behind That Curtain, The Black Camel, Charlie Chan Carries On, and Keeper of the Keys.

The Charlie Chan movies were one of the most successful screen series in history, with over 40 movies based on the character. There were also numerous Chan radio adaptations and comic strips, as well as attempts to bring the character to television. Earl Biggers died in Pasadena, California, in April of 1933 at the age of 48, from a heart attack.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Blue Men

“Captain James Cook, who had been sent into the Pacific on a voyage of exploration by the King of England, discovered several islands which he named in honor of the Earl of Sandwich.”

“He later sailed northward and in March of the next year sighted the American coast in the neighborhood of the present Yaquina Bay. He thus became the first to make a contact between the Oregon country and Hawaii.”

“Cook was followed within a few years by vessels that engaged in trading furs from the Indians along the northwest coast of America which they sold in China. The captains of such ships were quick to learn the value of the Hawaiian Islands as a resting place and provisioning station.”

“Their custom was to stop there on the northward voyage, spend a season in trade, return to the islands for the winter, and afterwards sail back to the American coast to complete their cargo of furs before going to Canton.  (Clark)

“King Kamehameha, claiming the throne in 1810 after an internal power struggle, attempted to forge a united kingdom out of competing groups.. He decided upon. an outward-looking policy to cushion his country against foreigners by absorbing the European’s economy and Christianity.”

“The heart of this policy was to send out young men to learn western techniques and values through practical experience.  One place they migrated to was the Oregon Country, where Hawaiians had been in the crews of merchant vessels as early as 1788.”  (Dodds)

When the Americans entered the fur trade of the Pacific in 1788 they, like the British, stopped at the Hawaiian Islands.  (Clark)  The Hawaiians soon became a vital labor supply in the fur trade.  (Dodds)

“Loyal and docile, asking only food and clothing for compensation, the Hawaiians on one occasion saved Donald McKenzie from a surprise attack at Fort Walla Walla at the hands of his discontented Indian trappers.”

“The Hudson’s Bay Company and Nathaniel Wyeth also found the Kanakas most valuable as laborers, canoe men, sailors, gardeners, herders, and domestic servants, among other pursuits.”

“The missionaries, too, admired the islanders. The Methodists used them as blacksmiths, farm laborers, and kitchen help, and the Lees at one time proposed to import Hawaiian Christians as missionaries to their countrymen.”

“At the Whitman mission the Kanakas were also well received; and they worked in a variety of pursuits.  Both Methodist and American board workers found the Kanakas to be in an respects preferable to their Indian charges.”

“The Indians, in missionary eyes, were slow in emulating American agriculture and domestic science, but the Hawaiians were adaptable and hard working.” (Dodds)

In the nineteenth century the Hawaiians were known as Kanakas or ‘Blue Men.’  One theory for the ‘Blue Men’ name  is because of traditional tattooing, which appears blue in color. (Rogers)  Others suggest it was because they turned that color in the winter drizzles of the Pacific Northwest.  (Dodds)

The growing population of Hawaiian into the Oregon Country resulted in growing concerns.  Then, in 1845, the Oregon legislature addressed a bill designed to reduce the flow – it was called the Sandwich Islander Tax.

The intent was later disclosed, “For the taxation of the Sandwich Islanders, employed almost exclusively as servants and laborers, by the HB Company, and intended merely to annoy and embarass the gentlemen in charge of the said company.”  (Oregon Historical Quarterly, 1909)

However, on October 15, 1862, Oregon Governor Addison C Gibbs approved the law that had passed the House of Representations (October 8, 1862) and Senate (October 13, 1862) that stated:

“Employers of Hawaiian labor were taxed three dollars for those islanders already residents and five dollars for those who were to be introduced in the future.  After the organic law of 1848 created the territory of Oregon, Kanakas on several occasions applied for American citizenship.”  (Dodds)

“The final blow came in the passage of the Oregon Donation Land Act of 1850, which gave to the emigrants 160 to 320 acres of free land (depending on their time of arrival), but which … excluded from its term blacks and Hawaiians, although not part-Indians.”

“After this rebuff most of the Kanakas returned to the Islands. more fortunate than other ethnic minorities, who had no place to go. In the end, in spite of the Hawaiians efforts to accommodate, racism had conquered assimilation.”  (Dodds)

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