Economy | Page 20 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

January 30, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Bathing Suit Law

“Shades of Stephen Desha! It seems that the bluest of blue laws, that nefarious ‘cover your knees’ bathing suit law is going to be inforced even on our own little island.”

“Haint you never heard of Stephen Desha? Don’t you know of the bathing suit law? Don’t you know that you are not supposed to have knees, or if you must have them that, you’ve got to keep ‘em covered.” (The Garden Island, April 25, 1922)

Stephen Langhern Desha Sr “was a colorful personality and was an outstanding leader of his people. Tracing back to New England and Kentucky as well as Polynesia, he combined the best qualities of both races in perpetuating their traditions and exemplifying traits that distinguish both the Polynesian and the Anglo-Saxon.”

“Mr Desha was born in Lahaina, Maui, on July 11, 1859, and spend the first years of his boyhood on the Island of Lanai. He later moved to Honolulu and in his adolescent years was an employee of the firm of C. Brewer & Company.”

“Being filled with the desire to preach the Gospel, he entered the North Pacific Missionary Institute and graduated in 1885. He became pastor of the Kealakekua Church in Nāpoʻopoʻo in that year and served in this, his first charge, for four years.”

“In 1889 he received a call to become pastor of the Haili Church in Hilo, and for forty-five years labored in the one parish which was to feel the strong influence of this great preacher and forceful personality.”

“Mr Desha was no ordinary preacher of the word. He had a remarkable gift of oratory in his native tongue, in which he was a master. He was saturated with the spirit of ancient mele, folklore, traditions and stories of the Hawaiian people, and this gave him considerable influence among his own people.”

“It was easy for him to make his point known by introducing some apt story or telling illustrations from Hawaiian history or mythology.”

“First and foremost. Mr. Desha will be remembered as a Christian minister. His work in the pulpit was outstanding and he was often called upon to make addresses and to give sermons not only in his own parish, but in various parts of the territory.”

“His intimate knowledge of the Scriptures increased his ability in proclaiming the Word. Mr. Desha was also a good pastor and vitally interested in the welfare of his flock as a good shepherd should be.”

“In his relationships with his fellow ministers, ‘Kiwini,’ as he was generally known by his associates, was always regarded as a friendly counsellor and loyal coworker. His interest in the island and territorial associations was genuine, and he was always present except when ill-health prevented his being with his associates.”

“We must not forget that Mr. Desha was also a journalist and for many years was editor of “Ka Hoku o Hawaii” (The Star of Hawaii), a weekly newspaper published in Hilo. This contained a good deal of church news as well as translations of stories from the English language and general items of interest to Hawaiian readers.”

“Stephen Desha was not only a Christian, but also a loyal patriot, and the Hawaiian people have never had a more zealous champion for their rights and privileges than ‘Kiwini.’ In association with the late Prince Kūhiō, Mr. Desha was a great advocate of the Hawaiian rehabilitation plan and did all within his power to preserve and perpetuate the Hawaiian race.”

“Mr. Desha fulfilled the definition of the true patriot – one who loves his country and zealously supports its authority and interests. He accepted the change from the monarchy to the provisional government, and later to that of the Republic of Hawaii and the subsequent transfer of authority to the United States of America.”

“It was most natural for him to become interested in politics, for he was not a mere theorist in matters of government. After serving a term as supervisor of the County of Hawaii, he became a senator and served five terms, with the total record of twenty years as a member of the senate of Hawaii.” (The Friend, August 1, 1934)

One year, when Desha “came to Honolulu for the biennial session of the territorial legislation after a considerable period of hibernation in his native habitat, the sights that he saw a the beach at Waikiki resulted in the enactment of a new law. And this is what he says:” (Washington Herald, May 30, 1921)

“Section I—No person over 14 years of age shall be or appear on any road or highway within the Honolulu District, City and County of Honolulu, in a bathing suit unless covered suitably by an outer garment reaching at least to the knees.”

Section 2. Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $50.00.

“The Desha law was designed to give pause to young and older mermaids who had been in the habit of dashing through the streets of the Waikiki district clad in bathing suits which made Mack Sennett’s girls look all dressed up. But it didn’t give them much pause.”

“The Waikiki beach beauties still fly along the highways and byways, en route to the surf, wearing suitable outer garments, but hardly covered by them, save around the neck, the rest of said garments fluttering in the breeze like the tail of a comet in a hurry to go somewhere, with most everything Senator Desha wanted to cover up still available for optical appraisal.”

“The spirit, not the letter of the law is observed, but thus far no arrests have been made in an effort to make the word ‘covered’ in the law mean something. The sight at Waikiki still exercises a strange fascination for elderly tourists.” (Washington Herald, May 30, 1921)

“Honolulu policemen are reported to have taken the Desha Law onto the beach at Waikiki. The general impression has been that it applied only to streets and alleys and that the bather could discard the superfluous covering after reaching the beach. If sun baths are to be taken only in robes and mackintoshes, the remaining popularity of the much sung of strand will still further wane.” (Maui News. April 21, 1922)

The law met with opposition, across the Islands, “Honolulu’s Bathing Suit law is still regarded as a joke where it is regarded at all, is the word coming from the capital city. The Desha Bill was a joke when introduced and has never been able to outgrow it.” (Maui News, July 15, 1921)

The Maui News cynically followed up with, “Honolulu has a curfew law and a Desha bathing suit law that appear to be enforced to an equal extent.” (Maui News, March 7, 1922)

“(T)he Desha Bathing Suit Law so unpopular in Honolulu that it can be repealed at the next legislative session.” (Maui News, April 21, 1922)

Not regularly enforced, and ignored by many, it wasn’t until 1949 that the law was eventually repealed. “I don’t think many Hawaiians know about the law. The only reason I learned about it is that someone dug it out of the mothballs the other day and is working the territorial legislature to repeal it.”

“The repealer passed the senate and is now before the lower house. If it passes there, as seems absolutely certain, we can all go around the way we’ve been going – but legally, yet. … But it’s nice to know it’s going to be repealed. As a law-abiding citizen it goes against the grain for me to leer illegally.” (Dixon, The Independent, April 15, 1949)

Bathing_Suit_Law-Andre de la Varre with Waldron Sisters at the Outrigger Canoe Club Waikiki Beach, 1923

January 26, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sailamokus

There is historical evidence suggesting that Hawaiians began moving to the US mainland as early as the late-1700s for economic survival.

As early as 1811, Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) had already hired twelve Hawaiians on three year contracts to work for them in the Pacific Northwest. By 1824, HBC employed thirty-five Hawaiians west of the Rocky Mountains.

When British and American ships, lured by the fur trade, entered into the Pacific in the wake of Captain Cook at the close of the eighteenth century, young Hawaiian men were regularly recruited off the Islands as deckhands. Thousands of shipped out as seamen, called “sailamokus”.

“Hawaiian men proved to be valuable sailors who were at home in the seas and their excellent swimming skills had a variety of uses, such as repairing hulls underwater and dislodging stuck anchors.” (Brown)

The whaling industry had a major effect upon Hawaiian commerce and trade. As the Northwest fur trade decreased and sandalwood supplies and values dropped, the whaling industry began to fill the economic void. Hawaiians took to the sea and sailors traveled all over the world.

Thousands of Hawaiians shipped out as seamen aboard the whaling ships, so many that the crews were often half Hawaiian. (NPS) “Sandwich Island crew … are complete water-dogs, therefore very good in boating. It is for this reason that there are so many of them on the coast of California; they being very good hands in the surf.”

“They are also quick and active in the rigging, and good hands in warm weather; but those who have been with them round Cape Horn, and in high latitudes, say that they are useless in cold weather. In their dress they are precisely like our sailors.”

“In addition to these Islanders, the vessel had two English sailors, who acted as boatswains over the Islanders, and took care of the rigging.” (Dana, 1840)

Historians suggest “that young Hawaiian males left Hawai’i as workers on whaling ships and traveled to China, Europe, Mexico, and the U.S. mainland. In addition, many ventured into the Pacific Northwest territory, worked in the fur trade, and ended up settling in those areas.” (pbs-org)

“Hawaiian sailors were known for their seamanship and swimming abilities and made desirable recruits for the whaling captains, so much so that the Hawaiian government began to regulate this recruitment and passed laws requiring bonds to ensure the sailors’ return to the islands as early as the 1830s.”

“The demographic decline due to foreign diseases (an additional import of the early western whalers) made it all the more important to ensure the return of local sailors to Hawai‘i. Nonetheless, the role of Kānaka maoli in the American whaling fleet continued to increase. By 1871, Kanaka sailors made up almost half of the entire whaling crews in Alaska.” (Van Tilburg, NOAA)

Other Native Hawaiians landed in Nantucket, New Bedford, and nearby ports. By the 1830s, Nantucket whalers employed about fourteen hundred seamen, including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Four or five hundred men arrived or departed annually.

At least six sailor boarding houses operated during the 1820 to 1860 period when Native Hawaiian seamen frequented Nantucket.

At least one house, near Pleasant Street in Nantucket’s New Guinea section, primarily or exclusively boarded Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, and a sign identified William Whippy’s establishment as the “William Whippy Canacka Boarding-House.”

These whalers, on countless other New England voyages with Hawaiian crews, contributed to the economic and social history there. They shared their cultural traditions, languages, skills and knowledge with New England’s citizens and with each other aboard the whaleships. (Lebo)

“Hawaiians also migrated to Yolo County, California to participate in the Gold Rush and created their own Kanaka Village. There is evidence that Hawaiians settled across California in the late-1800s and even intermarried with Native Americans.”

“Many scholars speculate that Hawaiians migrated to the mainland in order to gain more economic opportunity and to flee from the dramatic Westernization that was changing the face of Hawai’i.” (pbs-org)

The American Civil War, the discovery of petroleum, and the decimation of the whales ended the reign of the whalers in the Pacific by about 1876. Whaling had been ‘an economic force of awesome proportions in these Islands for more than forty years’. (NPS)

Of course, this summary only highlights some of the early outmigration of Hawaiians from Hawaiʻi. Recent decades have seen a flurry of movement of Hawaiians (and others) from Hawaiʻi to the continent. (Some areas on the continent show over 100% increases decade-by-decade in the number of Hawaiians living there.)

January 24, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“Some Kind of Mettle”

After a brief stay in the Islands, in 1839, John Augustus Sutter, a Swiss seeking his fortune in America, brought a small group of native Hawaiians with him to California.

They worked for him and eventually intermarried with local native American families. They settled in the area of Vernon, which is now called Verona, where the Feather River flows into the Sacramento River in South Sutter County. (co-sutter-ca-us)

At the time of Sutter’s arrival in California, the territory had a population of only 1,000 Europeans, in contrast with 30,000 Native Americans. At the time, it was part of Mexico and the governor, Juan Bautista Alvarado, granted him permission to settle.

In order to qualify for a land grant, Sutter became a Mexican citizen in 1840; the following year, he received title to about 49,000-acres and named his settlement New Helvetia, or “New Switzerland.” He called his compound Sutter’s Fort.

In his memoirs, Sutter recalled the Hawaiians, using a name then-common to describe Hawaiian workers, “I could not have settled the country without the aid of these Kanakas.” They built the first settlers’ homes in Sacramento – hale pili (grass shacks) made with California willow and bamboo.

Sutter later ordered that a sawmill be built in the Coloma Valley on the South Fork of the American River, about 50-miles from the fort. In the process of deepening the millrace (the channel of water where the flow of current causes the mill wheel to turn,) James Marshall made an important discovery that changed things, a lot.

On January 24, 1848, a young Virginian named Henry William Bigler recorded in his diary: “This day some kind of mettle was found in the tail race that looks like gold first discovered by James Martial, the boss of the Mill.” (csun)

Marshall and Sutter tried their best to keep the discovery of gold quiet until the construction of Sutter’s mill was completed; the news leaked out, and the stampede began. Some 300,000-people came to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.

“Forty-Niner” has become the collective label for those who participated in the famous California Gold Rush. Quite a few people arrived in 1848, and many came after 1849; however, it was the year 1849 which witnessed the large wave of gold-seekers. (Hinckley)

The first large group of Americans to arrive were several thousand Oregonians who came down the Siskiyou Trail. News reached Hawaiʻi on June 24 on a boat that had departed San Francisco on May 24.

A large proportion of the Americans and Europeans residing in the Islands, along with many native Hawaiians, headed east; as many ships as were available were outfitted for the journey to the Pacific Coast.

When news of the Gold Rush reached Canton in 1848, thousands of young Chinese mortgaged their futures and boarded boats to “Gum Shan,” or “Gold Mountain,” as California became named. (By 1852, 25,000 Chinese had reached Gold Mountain.)

New Zealanders received the news in November 1848 when an American whaler put into port with several newspapers from Hawaiʻi, and Australians learned about the discoveries a month later.

All of these groups predated Americans arriving from the US East Coast, who had to wait until trading ships from Asia who had stopped in San Francisco or Hawaiʻi either rounded the tip of South America or reached the Isthmus of Panama and crossed it with the news.

Kanaka colonies sprang up throughout the gold country, and California’s first “Good Humor” man, Charlie O’Kaaina, supposedly sold ice cream from his ice wagon in the Sierra foothills. (Magagnini)

Place names like Kanaka Creek in Sierra County and Kanaka Bar in Trinity County tell us of the growing presence of Hawaiians in gold country. “Hawaiians also migrated to Yolo County, California to participate in the Gold Rush and created their own Kanaka Village.”

“There is evidence that Hawaiians settled across California in the late-1800s and even intermarried with Native Americans. Many scholars speculate that Hawaiians migrated to the mainland in order to gain more economic opportunity and to flee from the dramatic Westernization that was changing the face of Hawaiʻi.” (pbs-org)

The California Gold Rush drawing Hawaiians to the continent was not its only effect on the Islands; the Hawaiian economy was affected in several ways – good and not-so-good.

Prior to the Gold Rush, supporting the Pacific whaling and trading fleets and trade between the West Coast and Hawaiʻi was the scale of the Hawaiʻi participation. The scale of that significantly changed with the Gold Rush.

Hawaiʻi was only three to five weeks away, and with the growing population drawn to the gold fields, in addition to provisioning ships, Hawaiʻi farmers were feeding the gold seekers on the continent.

There were some down sides; this also brought a marked increase in the prices of consumer goods, especially food, caused by the great increase in agricultural exports to California, which offered very profitable new markets. (Rawls)

Likewise, the exodus to the continent created a critical labor shortage in Hawaiʻi, where a sizeable number of sugar plantation workers migrated to the California gold fields.

The parting of workers from the plantations between 1848 and 1853 was so large, Hawaiʻi sugar producers began to seek Chinese immigrants to fill the gap. (Rawls)

As the California Gold Rush demonstrates, the success of the Island’s economy was largely tied to events that occurred outside the Islands, especially on the continent. The American Civil War’s influence on Hawaiʻi’s fledgling sugar industry is another example of that, starting in 1861.

The Civil War virtually shut down Louisiana sugar production during the 1860s, enabling Hawai‘i to fill part of the void left by the absence of then-blockaded southern exports – at elevated prices.

Hawaiian-grown sugar soon replaced much of this southern sugar through the duration of the conflict. By the end of the war, over thirty extremely prosperous plantations were in operation and expanded to new levels previously unheard of before the war’s commencement.

January 23, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Koholālele Landing

“The slopes of Mauna Kea Volcano steepen near the town of Ookala and the entire coast between Koholalele Landing and Niu Village is lined by steep sea cliffs ranging 50-300 ft high. Only a few foot trails enable access to the shoreline from the headland bluffs above.”

“Periodically the cliffs become saturated with heavy rainfall and may develop landslides. Several streams cut across the Ookala coastal plain creating deep gulches, beautiful waterfalls, and boulder beaches at their terminus. This region receives moderate to high wave energy from north swell and trade wind waves, limiting reef development.” (USGS)

The sugar companies began clearing the fertile lowlands of Koholālele, like much of Hāmākua, in the mid to late-1800s, to make way for the expansion of sugarcane production on the island of Hawai‘i. (Peralto) (Koholālele (leaping whale) is a land division and landing, Hāmākua and Mauna Kea, and a former steamer landing for sugar plantations.)

“The entire coast line, excepting where the big gulches break through is sheer cliff of varying height up to 400 ft and behind the land, which is cut by frequent gulches, rises with gentle even slope to the mountain: every available bit of land, from the actual cliff edge to the timber line, is cane covered.”

“A fringe of evergreens will be seen along cliff edge in places. These were planted to protect the cane from the NE trade. No off lying dangers were found in the steamer track: they generally pass close in. The landings however should be approached with caution”. (Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1913)

“At one time there were 26 sugar plantations along the [Hamakua Coast]”. (LA Times) “Over the Big Island, with Hawaiian Air Lines – ‘You’re now flying over the Hamakua coast … said our purser. ‘Below us is the most productive soil in the world. As much as 300,000 pounds of sugar cane have been grown per acre on these plantations.’”

“He could have added that from an 18-mile square area, slightly larger than that of New York City, Hawaii produces over a 1,000,000 tons of sugar, manufactured in the US,’ pointed out my fellow passenger, Roy Leffingwell, of the Hawaii Sugar Plantations association. ‘It’s Hawaii’s main industry ….’” (Burns; Medford Mail Tribune)

Francis (Nelson) Frazier assembled some ‘Notes’ that her father, Richard Nelson, wrote; they were reminiscences of his years at sea and on the inter-island steamers. “The following excerpt describes the method used to transfer cargo and people ashore along the Hamakua Coast, noted for its steep cliffs.”

“I spent three very happy years on the SS Hawaii with Hilo as the home port, learning how to handle the steamers and the wire at the wire landings. Our duty in those years was to act as tenders to the Matson sailing ships.”

“There were two steamers, the Hawaii and the Kaiulani, in this trade, and our work was to tow the sailing ships in and out of Hilo Bay and to place them at their moorings under the direction of the Pilot.”

“We then came alongside the sailing ships and took their cargo on board for the various ‘outside’ plantations and then brought sugar in from those plantations and delivered it to the ships to take to San Francisco.”

“Most of the places we went to had wire landings, but there were a few derrick landings, which were mostly disliked by the Captain and crews of the steamers as they were more dangerous in rough weather than the wire landings, which could be worked in most any kind of weather except when the wind was from the north, when even they were unsafe.”

“The coast of Hawaii known as the Hamakua Coast was a stretch of about 50 miles running north from Hilo to {Kukuihaele]. The shore was a continuous bluff from 100 to 400 feet above sea level.”

“All the plantations were on the top of the bluff, and the reason for the wire landings was that the shore line was so rough and dangerous for boat work most of the time that some means had to be found to enable the loading to be carried on in all kinds of weather.”

“The idea of loading by wire was imported from the Pacific Coast when lumber from the redwood forests had been shipped that way for many years. As the trade winds blow almost constantly from the east north east all the landings and moorings were laid out so that the steamer would lay head to the wind and sea.”

“There were four (4) mooring buoys with heavy anchors and chains to them at all wire landings, and a small buoy with a light chain only a few feet longer than the depth of water was fastened to the end of the sea wire, which lay on the sea bottom all the time when there was no steamer using it.”

“There was also a permanent wire from the top of the bluff leading down to an anchor not very far from the shore. This wire was used when first getting the hauling rope from shore. A weight was slid down this wire with the end of the hauling rope attached to it.”

“The ship’s boat would go in to this wire and pick up the end of the hauling rope that came down from the top of the bluff. This end they took back to the ship, and this way the connection with the landing was established.”

“In coming to a wire landing, the steamer was taken in between the two head buoys and one or two anchors let go and enough chain payed out to allow the ship to turn around head to the wind, with the small ‘wire buoy’ alongside the off shore side of the ship near the fore hatch.”

“The ship was then approximately in the right position but not yet secured, so the two boats with the stern lines already coiled in them were lowered, and the stern lines (2) run to the buoys and secured there. When all was connected up and ready the work began.”

“If we had cargo, that was first hoisted up out of the hold and landed on deck or on the half of the hatch cover that was always left on for the crew to stand on. “

“After all the cargo was ashore, the process was reversed and the [bagged] sugar was sent down on the carriage and landed on the ship’s hatch and then tumbled down for the rest of the crew to stow away in the hold.” ((Nelson) Frazier)

“There is an excellent landing at Koholalele Landing, small boats lie at the derrick pier and have a lee from the NE trade. This is an excellent place for getting ashore since the inclined c.r. cut offers easy access to top of cliffs. One mooring buoy, red can.”

“There is a rumor that this landing will be abandoned, because the railroad is going to handle all freight. The Hilo Railroad traverses entire sheet.”

“Paauilo is the terminus. there is no present intention of extending it farther, one reason being that the plantations beyond could give no business, having contracts with the Inter Island SS Co for several years ahead.” (Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1913)

The old Koholālele Landing on the Hāmākua was once considered for use as an emergency airplane landing field. This land, owned by the Hāmākua Mill Company, was not particularly good cane land and that Company was agreeable to exchanging it for other territorially-owned property. (Territorial Aviation Commission, March 4, 1931)

January 21, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mānoa Valley Inn

The first subdivision in Mānoa was the Seaview tract, in Lower Mānoa near Seaview Street, which was laid out in 1886 (this area in the valley became known as the “Chinese Beverly Hills” due to the high percentage of people of that ethnic group buying into the neighborhood (1950s.)) (DeLeon)

In 1888, the animal-powered tramcar service of Hawaiian Tramways ran track from downtown to Waikīkī. In 1900, the Tramway was taken over by the Honolulu Rapid Transit & Land Co (HRT.)

In addition to service to the core Honolulu communities, HRT expanded to serve other opportunities. In the fall of 1901, a line was sent up into central Mānoa. The new Mānoa trolley opened the valley to development and rushed it into the expansive new century.

Originally numerous large, well-designed houses lined Vancouver Drive; however with the passing of the years many of these dwellings have disappeared. One of approximately a half dozen remnants of the earlier time which are scattered in the area is the subject of this summary.

The lot and house had been previously owned by Benjamin Dillingham, founder of the Oahu Railway and Land Company; Richard Bickerton, Supreme Court Justice and Privy Council Member under Queen Liliʻuokalani; Grace Merrill, sister of Architect Charles Dickey, and wife of Arthur Merrill, principal of Mid Pacific Institute. (NPS)

The John Guild House, now known as Mānoa Valley Inn at 2001 Vancouver Drive, was purchased in 1919 by John Guild, a Honolulu businessman. It had been built four years earlier by Iowa lumber dealer Milton Moore and has been refurbished and restored several times over its lifespan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

Predating Hawaiʻi zoning laws by some fifty years, the Seaview area was one of the first areas to impose restrictive covenants for design and view planes. It is likely that this is the reason that John Guild remodeled an earlier house on this site, rather than rebuilding a new house.

Prior to the 1919 major remodeling, the Guild residence was a large two-story bungalow style house which featured brown shingles. Guild added the large brackets, outset square projections, porte cochere and inset centered porch.

The house was purchased in the 1980s by Honolulu businessman Rick Ralston (the founder of Crazy Shirts), who restored it in 1982 for use as a bed and breakfast under the name John Guild Inn, later Mānoa Valley Inn. Several other transactions followed.

It’s now a 4,424-square-foot, three-story gabled cottage near the campus of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, operating as a bed and breakfast with six bedrooms, a suite and a small cottage and a broad, sheltered lanai with a view over the city on the sea side of the house. The rooms are furnished with fine antiques.

Let’s go back to the home’s original namesake, John Guild.

Guild was born May 11, 1869, in Edinburgh, Scotland; he was son of James (a merchant of Edinburgh) and Mary (Scott) Guild. After leaving school he went to join relatives interested in the sugarcane industry in the West Indies. He married Mary Knox there on August 20, 1891; they had four children, Dorothy, Marjorie, Douglas Scott and Winifred.

He came to Hawaii 1897 and for short time was employed on Makaweli plantation; he later joined Alexander & Baldwin, then a co-partnership (incorporated 1900) and worked his way to being a Director and Secretary of A&B and in all the companies they represented. He had quite a share in the development of the concern.

Guild’s prominent presence came to an abrupt end.

A New York Times headline tells the story: “ADMITS $750,000 Shortage; John Guild Manipulated Surplus Cash of Honolulu Firm”

“John Guild, formerly secretary and director of Alexander & Baldwin and honored member of the business and social communities of Honolulu is now No. E-512 in the Oahu penitentiary. He is employed in garden work…” (Maui News, August 29, 1922)

“(T)he grand jury found two true bills of indictment against him, one for embezzling bonds from the Episcopal Church and the other for embezzling $37,000 from Alexander & Baldwin in 1917.”

“On Saturday morning Guild was taken before Judge Banks and pleaded guilty to both indictments. He was sentenced to serve in the Oahu penitentiary at hard labor two terms of not less than five nor more than ten years, to run consecutively.”

“This would mean that with allowance for good behavior he may be released in between seven and eight years, if he lives to finish his sentence.” (Maui News, August 29, 1922)

Only two indictments were issued, “though more than a hundred might have been more were claimed.” It was reported that the A&B books showed that Guild’s embezzlement was in excess of a million dollars.

The house was sold to the company for $1 and Guild was sent to prison where he died in 1927. In 1925, merchant Arthur J Spitzer and his wife Selma purchased the house. They lived here until 1970.

The house later fell on hard times and was used as a student rooming house. The building was scheduled for demolition in 1978, when it was bought and renovated by Ralston and continues to be a very active bed and breakfast.