Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Presidents’ Day

Only two Americans have been honored with individual federal holidays. The original intent was to recognize them on their birthdays.

Washington’s birthday holiday came about seventy years after his death. Martin Luther King died in 1968; King’s birthday was approved as a federal holiday in 1983, and all 50 states made it a state government holiday by 2000.

George Washington, the country’s first president, was born February 22, 1732 (Gregorian). He served as president from April 30, 1789 to March 4, 1797.

On January 31, 1879, the US House and Senate enacted a law authorizing February 22 as a legal holiday within the District of Columbia.  In 1885, they made February 22 a paid holiday for federal workers.

Washington’s Birthday was celebrated on February 22 from 1879 until 1971.  By 1890, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday was observed as a paid holiday in 10 states (in 1940, 24 states and the District of Columbia observed Lincoln’s Birthday), however it never officially became a federal holiday.

In 1951, a Californian named Harold Stonebridge Fischer formed the President’s Day National Committee with the intention of creating a holiday that would honor the office of the presidency, but no particular president.

He lobbied Congress, proposing March 4, the original Inauguration Day, as the date for “Presidents’ Day,” but the bill to make it happen became stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee. (American Spectator)

Adopted in 1968 and effective January 1, 1971, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act that moved certain federal holidays dates – Washington’s Birthday was moved to the third Monday in February.

There was debate on changing the holiday name to ‘Presidents’ Day’.  An early draft of the enabling bill would have renamed the Washington’s Birthday holiday “Presidents’ Day” to honor both Washington and Lincoln, whose birthday is on February 12 and has never been a national holiday. (American Spectator)

Opponents were not convinced. It had been Illinois Representative Robert McClory – a representative from “the land of Lincoln” – who had attempted in committee to rename “Washington’s Birthday” as “President’s Day.” The bill stalled.

The Wall Street Journal reported: “To win more support, Mr. McClory and his allies dropped the earlier goal of renaming Washington’s Birthday [as] Presidents’ Day, [which] mollified some Virginia lawmakers. He also agreed to sweeten the package by including Columbus Day as a Federal holiday, a goal sought for years by Italian-American groups.”

“It was the collective judgment of the Committee on the Judiciary,” stated Mr. William Moore McCulloch (Ohio) “that this [naming the day “President’s Day”] would be unwise. Certainly, not all Presidents are held in the same high esteem as the Father of our Country.”

“There are many who are not inclined to pay their respects to certain Presidents. Moreover, it is probable that the members of one political party would not relish honoring a President from the other political party whether he was in office, no matter how outstanding history may find his leadership.” (Archives-gov)

President Richard Nixon did not, as a widely circulated Internet story claims, issue a proclamation changing the holiday’s name from Washington’s Birthday to Presidents’ Day. His Executive Order 115 on February 10, 1971, merely announced the new federal holiday calendar, as passed by Congress in 1968.  (Archives-gov)

According to Prologue, the magazine of the National Archives, it was a local department-store promotion that went national when retailers discovered that, mysteriously, generic Presidents clear more inventory than particular ones, even the Father of His Country. Now everybody thinks it’s official, but it’s not. (The New Yorker)

So, while we celebrate “Presidents’ Day.” it really isn’t officially called that (at least at the national legislative level).

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act is still in effect – and is officially (federally) “Washington’s Birthday.”  (Some States (including Hawai‘i) refer to it as “Presidents’ Day” and it is a State and Federal holiday.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaumālapaʻu

The total land area of Lānai is 89,305 acres, divided into 13 ahupua‘a (traditional land divisions.)  In the traditional system, respective konohiki served as land managers over each. These konohiki were subject to control by the ruling chiefs.

At the time of the Great Māhele (1848,) lands on Lānai were divided between lands claimed by King Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli) (40,665 acres,) which were known as the Crown Lands, and the lands to be claimed by the chiefs and people (48,640 acres,) which were called the Government Lands.

By 1907, more than half the island of Lānai was in the hands of native Hawaiians. Just 14 years later, in 1921, only 208.25 acres of land remained in native Hawaiian ownership. By 1875 Walter Gibson had control, either through lease or direct ownership, of nine‐tenths of Lānai’s lands. (Lānai Community Plan)

When James Dole bought Lānai, ranching was a thriving business under the control of George Munro. Shortly after the purchase, Dole got Munro working at removing cattle from potential pineapple lands. As soon as cattle were fattened they were sold. Ranching operations became a secondary priority to pineapple development.

During 1923, the company embarked on making major improvements to the island of Lānai.  At first, Dole wanted to name the town Pine City, but the post office department objected because there were too many “pine” post offices in the mainland United States.  So the plantation town was called Lānai City.

Dole hired Mr. Root, an engineer, to lay out and plan the town. Root arrived at Mānele Bay to begin his work. He designed the central park with a symmetrical grid of residential streets, which remains the configuration of Lānai City today.” (Lānai Community Plan)

Between 1922 and 1992, pineapple plantation operations provided the people of Lānai with a way of life.  James Doles’ Hawaiian Pineapple Company evolved and many of the innovations in cultivation, equipment design, harvesting, irrigation and labor relations developed on the Lānai plantation, and came to be used around the world. (Lānai Culture & Heritage Center)

Mānele Bay was the main port of entry for Lānai; its primary purpose was to ship pineapple off the island. On the eastern side of the island, remnants of Halepalaoa Landing can be seen; this was used primarily to ship cattle. It’s also reported that in the late 1800s, a steamer landing was located on the western shore of Lānai Island and served as a docking grounds.

A new harbor was needed.  In 1923 to 1926, Kaumālapaʻu Bay, a natural, sheltered cove on the southwest side of Lānai, was developed into the main shipping harbor from which pineapple and all major supplies for Lānai were shipped and received.

“… we learned that the breakwater is composed of 116,000-tons of rock blasted from the cliffs and dropped into the water.  The Kaumalapau harbor entrance is 65-feet deep, and the minimum depth of the harbor is 27-feet.  The wharf is 400-feet long and the boat landing is 80-feet in length.”  (Lanai “The Pineapple Kingdom, 1926)

Bins filled with pineapple were unloaded from the trucks (steam cranes were still used through the 1960s), and placed on the barges for shipping to the cannery at Iwilei, Honolulu, Oʻahu. Tug boats were used to haul the barges – empty bins and supplies to Lānai, and filled pineapple bins to the cannery.

Because of the demands of work at Kaumālapaʻu, Lānai’s “second city” was developed, and known as “Harbor Camp.” The Harbor Camp included around 20 homes and support buildings, and sat perched on the cliffs above Kaumālapaʻu Bay.  (Lānai Culture & Heritage Center)

Surmising from the vast archaeological features on the cliffs above Kaumālapaʻu Gulch, Kaumālapaʻu Harbor was probably a very important settlement (seasonal and/or permanent) for native Hawaiians. (Social Research Pacific)

Access to fishing, whether by boat or off the shoreline, is easily attained at Kaumālapaʻu.  One of the sites immediately mauka of the harbor is called “Fisherman’s Trail.” In the 1862 letter requesting settlement and use of Lānai, even Gibson indicated the importance of fishing as the primary source of subsistence for the island’s inhabitants.

The village of Kaunolu, just to the south of Kaumālapaʻu was known as a “fishing village”. Given its proximity to Kaumālapaʻu, it is highly likely that neighboring Kaumālapaʻu also offered good fishing grounds to Hawaiians. The Kaumālapaʻu Trail extends from Lānai City down to Kaumālapaʻu.   (Social Research Pacific)

In the Māhele, the ahupuaʻa of Kamoku and Kalulu (which adjoin the existing Kaumālapaʻu Harbor) were retained by the King (Kamehameha III), though the ‘ili of Kaumālapaʻu 1 & 2 were given by the King to the Government.

The Kaumālapaʻu Harbor breakwater was in disrepair for many years following several hurricanes and seasonal storms.  Completed in 2007, 40,000-tons of new stone was added to the reshaped breakwater, 800 concrete Core-Locs (each weighing 35 tons) were put in place and a 5-foot- thick concrete cap was cast on top of the breakwater to complete the project.  (Traylor)

Today, as in the early 1920s, Kaumālapaʻu Harbor is the main commercial seaport and Lānai’s lifeline to the outside world, with Young Brothers’ barge and other commercial activity in and out of Lānai.

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Martin Pence

“It has always been my theory that naturally, ‘As the Twig is bent, so the tree is inclined,’ but in nearly every person’s life, if they’ve lived a full life and moved around and changed, that it’s divided up into the childhood and whatever those influences were–and that includes the education they got.”

“And then, all of a sudden, school is all finished and that was just preparation. And the next thing is–what do you do with what you have? What do you do with what you are?”

“And from there on, the developments which take place may come from you, but oh, how they’re influenced by the slings and arrows of outrageous and wonderful fortune. And luck, luck, luck – if you don’t have that, no matter how good you are, you can go down into failure.”

“On the other hand, as Iacocca showed, if you have the luck with you, all of a sudden you’re the greatest person in the world.”

“But you must have, as you know – you’ve seen it in your own life – you must have the ability to be able to utilize whatever your capacities are and to help that luck.”

“The tide taken at full, and so forth, you can go out to sea and your ship goes right ahead. So that you have to have all of the aspects; ability, integrity and luck in order to succeed in any area.” (Martin Pence; Watumull Foundation)

 “My father was a farmer in Kansas. His father came from Indiana in the 1860s to Kansas to homestead 160 acres. At that time a person who had 160 acres could live and raise a family on it”.

“I remember reading, ‘If you only go through high school, your increased pay will be so much, and if you go through college, you’ll be able to earn so much more.’ Imagine. I remember seeing that tacked up in the old post office in the little old town of Sterling, Kansas – population then 2,000; population today 2,200.”

As a young farm boy in Kansas Martin Pence decided he would be an attorney.  “I always went down that road. And then – so through with school – take the bar in 1928 in California – passed the bar and I’m a lawyer.” He started working in San Francisco.

“And just because luck – I had a friend in one of the insurance company’s claims departments that the Home Insurance Company reinsured their insurance through, and he calls me up there in June, 1930 and says, ‘Do you want to go to Hawaii?’ And I said, ‘Oh sure, when do we start?’ ‘No,’ he said, ‘seriously, the president of this company’s down looking for someone. Come on over and meet him.’”

“About three weeks later, my friend there called me up and said that Clark wanted to see me again. This time he said, ‘I’ve interviewed fifty-four other persons, and here I make you this offer.’ Well, this offer was $225 a month plus a one-year contract and a round trip ticket to Hawaii.”

“[T]hat was an offer you couldn’t refuse … I hesitated though … because in San Francisco I had a lot of contacts. But then what’s a year in the life of a young man aged twenty-five?  So I accepted.”

“I got off the Malolo (August 6, 1930) and we were going out this old road … I remember looking up at the greenery of these hills in August – there was something about the blue of the sky and the white fleecy clouds, the air and all – and saying, ‘I’m never going to leave here.’ And that was final. I knew that I was never going to leave here. So it came to pass.”

“It was during 1931 that I met my first wife. She was a student at the University of Hawaii. At that time I think she was a senior. I remember her well because the first time I met her I said, ‘This girl’s dangerous – she’s too damn marriageable.’”

“She was the one woman I knew who was smarter than I was. And she was. But we dated off and on for eight years. Lucy Elizabeth Powell. An only child. … I married Lucy [Lu] Elizabeth Powell, in 1938, November 19.”

“I found that I did have an aptitude for trial work and I found that a lot of people on the [Big] Island over there heard about me as a lawyer, but I wanted more exposure. The reason I went over there was because, very frankly, they had such wonderful hunting, one of the reasons.”

“But I wanted more exposure as a lawyer. So I decided in 1938 that I would run for office. I debated at first as to what office I would run for. House of Representatives? No, it would have to be county attorney because that was my field.”

“I won. … it paid $4,400 a year, but you were allowed to take private practice. And so one always has to have breaks and I got some breaks – publicity. I used to say my business was the Woolworth Five and Ten – meaning it was of the ordinary people with low income”.

“The people had problems. I had the knack that I could talk to any race, on any problem, and so forth, and they didn’t go broke when they came in to see me. And the result was that I steadily built up a practice of little people. That’s really what it was.”

Later, “Judge Metzger immediately told me that I ought to become the circuit judge of the Third Circuit over there. It paid, I think, about $9,000 a year and with private practice I was making more than that as county attorney. And I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be a circuit judge.”

“ I really didn’t feel that I wanted to become a circuit judge, but Metzger knew me and knew where to touch and he said, ‘Martin, you have to take it. It would make your father so proud.’  My father back there in Kansas, in his seventies, and I knew it would. So I said, ‘All right.’”

“[I]t came to pass that in October of 1945 I received a certificate from Washington, DC that said, ‘In view of and so forth, relying upon the honesty, et cetera, I have here appointed Martin Pence a United States Circuit Judge, Third Circuit, Territory of Hawaii.’ Now in one sense I was a United States circuit judge, but actually it should have been just simply circuit judge”.

Unfortunately, the pay of the circuit judge didn’t move an inch, $9,000. And as time went on I grew poorer and poorer because prices went higher and higher. At that time the appointment was for four years, but my four years came along and there was no action out of Washington, so I decided I was through.”

“So I wrote to the president saying that I wished to resign as soon as someone was appointed to take over. That was in March and I heard nothing, not even an answer back. So in April I wrote that I’m resigning on June 30, 1950. And so I resigned and went into private practice back in Hilo.”

“And then John Ushijima … came back from Georgetown and I took him in as an associate first, and eventually made him a partner. Then Roy Nakamoto came back from Harvard and I made him an associate because business was just booming all the time. I wound up with six secretaries instead of one or two”.

Then, “Hawaii had become a state … So it happened that on June 13, 1961, I got a call from Washington, DC, an attorney friend of mine there, saying, ‘Penny, your friend McLaughlin has just been notified this morning that he is not going to be appointed to be United States district judge.’”

“’He’s out. There are only three names now being considered by the Department of Justice; John Wiig; Bert Kobayashi, then attorney general of Hawaii; and Martin Pence.’”

“It wasn’t until the following March when I was at the school for judges at Monterey – the second school that they had for federal judges – now every year when a new batch of judges comes in they have a school for them- but that was the second time it was tried – educating you on the problems of handling federal cases the best way”.

“So I [became] a United States district judge. I had then to shift to Honolulu. Lu and I had built a house in 1955. It cost us a heck of a lot more than that first house and here it was 1961 and we had to give it up. We’d built it especially for us.”

“I hated to leave Hilo. I had twenty-five years – my roots – I could say in all sincerity that there was no one on the Island of any mature age who didn’t know me.”

Pence, “married [Eleanor Talcott Fisher, “Her mother had been a Wilcox, a niece of George Wilcox, famous of Kauai”] on April 12, 1975, not quite a year and a half after Lu died.”

Judge Pence was a hunter.  “I loved, always having loved, still do love, not only sheep hunting, but bird hunting in the fall, and Parker Ranch had great areas over there”.

Several decades ago, I had the opportunity to go bird hunting with Judge Pence on Parker Ranch land in Kohala, with the Parker Ranch Business Manager.  Martin Pence died May 29, 2000. (All here is from an oral history interview with Martin Pence through the Watumull Foundation.)

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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)

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

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.

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