The Hawaiian gazette., 1869-07-07
CIRCUIT COURT. HAWAII.


and am Sheriff of Hawaii. l was present
on the 25th Of last October, at Lehuula, in
| North Kona, when the body of R. b. Neville,
and body supposed 10 be that Of kamai,
were dug up / have no very distinct recol-
I lection about the body; think it Was nearly
I dug up before / got there; the body was, /
think, two or three feet under ground. Mr.
I Parke, DR.. Lee, Moses Barrett, Kamalo, and
Others, were present at the time. / did not
( particularly inspect the body; it WAS Slcollea
and smelling badly; face and head considerably
1 bruised.
! Cross-examination = The lanai was the
nearest building I'd the grave; distant from
/ 100 to l50 feet; rather over that distance !;
can't be very positive. Disinterment had
mostly taken place when got there. Med
! ical examination was held in my presence by
( Drs. Lee and GulicL1 The body was partially
stripped; did not particularly examine the
| head.
Dr. Lee, sworn, deposed: ! reside in La
! haina, Maui; am medical officer of the Board
/ OF Health; am practicing physician; have
| been practicing medicine sixteen years; was
/ educated at Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Physical
and Medical College of Ohio. | have had
! the usual experience in examining dead
/ bodies, besides experience in the army. l
was present on the 25th of last October, at
! the disinterment of the body of native, on
Kona, Island Of Hawaii; it was said TO be
Lehuula, but don't know. 1t was on Sun
day morning Mr.. COney, Marshal Parke,
| Governor Dominis and others, were present.
Do not know the person kamalo by name;
great many other natives whose names do
not know; could point them ont. We re-
moved the earth and stones from the body;
found it two and a-half feet below the sur
face, lying on left side; right leg under him;
hands crossed ON his breast, his body hound
with wiihps of bark; no coffin or mats; ap
parently thrown in without preparation;
clothed in dark pants and flannel shirt of
purple and black colors. Ii was rather u
stout person, but not very tall; hair cut
rather short, more so than common; his
face so beaten / could not have discovered
who it was. "a woman present said it was
her husband, Kamai.) After we had dug
away the earth, turned the body over, and
had sight of his face. The nose was beaten
fiat eyes beaten out of the sockets, and fiat
with the face; head was beaten, every bone
in the skull so soft that it moved like soft
mass; cuticle was beaten of back portion OF
the head and forehead. The body was con-
sidcrably swollen; smelt very badly, as
though it had been buried week or there
abouts left ear was partly cut of, hanging
on the neck. Upon stripping down the
shirt, there was very large confusion on the
breast. / examined the body professionally,
TO find out the cause of death. The wounds
were evidently caused by blunt weapons,
during life. From the fact that the skin was
so little torn, except as it was beaten off it
is evident that the instrument employed WIS
heavy one, and used with great force. Every
portion of the head was beaten; every por-
tion of the skull was struck, and smashed
into small pieces, like a mass OF jelly; also
the portion of the face about the nose and
eyes was beaten, the same as the back of the
head and skull / do not think it was with
a club, or it would have left the skull in
larger pieces; / do not think il was stone,
or it would have cut and torn the skin more,
and left ragged edges; think it was an instru-
ment that crushed at every blow, and left the
parts evenly mashed. 1t was an iron instru-
ment, with square edges. / do not think
any other instrument could have done IL SO
evenly, unless great time and care were used
to do it. The body had been dead not over
ten days, nor under five days The cause of
death was the wounds on the head; it is my
opinion that the party died from those
wounds
oss-examination-The nose was cut by
smashing, not with anything sharp. The
only portion of the head that seemed TO be
cut was the ear. 1t certainly was not a knife
that cut the nose, which was more ragged
than any other portion of the body. a small
stone must have been used with great deal
of force; | do not think it was a stone; 1t
was a heavy instrument. / do not think it
was gun-stock; a gun-stOck would lave
broken much sooner than the skull. There
WAS mark around the neck, as though made
by cord no cut on the neck; nothing re-
markable, only a slight confusion. OF the
fractures, there was nothing that could be
called such; all smashed; no continuity;
did not hold together; the top of the head
fell back like a bladder The flesh did not
come off, but the cuticle came off the back
of the head and hands. / do not think l
could have recognized him from his head ;
perhaps | could from other parts Of the body.
/ do not think those wounds could have been
inflicted after death, for there is toughness
in live flesh which does not exist after death.
There is very little flesh on the skull. think
the same force used on a dead body would
have torn the scalp clear into the bone. This
was not the case; scalp was not torn to the
bone. said the upper skin was beaten off
If those wounds had been given to the body
after it was cold and lifeless, it would
have had different aspect. If the wounds
had been inflicted ten minutes after the
breath and pulse had ceased, there would
have been but little difference; the flesh
would not have lost the toughness of life.
Alona, sworn, deposeth: l am Alona, and
live at Kona, Hawaii. | was present at the
disluterment of the dead bodies at Lehuula;
it was on Sabbath that the body of Kamai
was disinterred; went with the wife of the
deceased; we went first, and Mr.. Coney and
party came afterwards; DIR. Lee came with
them; it was the 25th Of Oct, 1865; when /
got there, dug up The dody Of Kamai; ii was
buried about an arms length underground; /
recognized the body as being that of Kamai
had on a red and black striped palaka (shirt)
and blue wooden pants; in the pants were
three dollars. The body was lying on its
right side, witness showing the position);
when we had disinterred the body, DR.. Lee
came and searched for wounds; was present
when he examined the body, and saw the
wounds as well as he did. One wound was
in the neck, and the nose was cut; the bead
was all soft; the forehead was broken, the
same as a soft bat. did go there on the 18th
of Oct; went with Kamai, TO buy hides.
''Were you there the day Neville was kill |
ed ;' This question was objected to by the
counsel for defense, and the Court ruled that
the witness need not answer.
Witness continued: / did go there on the |
morning of The day of the disturbance; went
with Kamai, the man who is now dead; l |
only went once with Kamai; We were to- |
gether when the disturbance commenced;
we went to buy hides. When We got to Ka- !
wanui, We sold our hides TO the Cinnamon;
after selling them, we heard that Neville was
going to ka0na's camp, and then We went TO |
Wrgiht's, where the men were assembled, |
and stood with them. AS We stopped there, |
We heard that certain persons were going TO |
be taken by palapala hoopiis, warrants of
arrest).
The counsel for defense objected to any
testimony relating TO Neville's death being |
admitted, as 1t was no part whatever, Of the |
res gesfe-i. e., the murder of Neville. The |
Court did not see how it was the part |
of res geste, but if proved that it tended TO-
n a rds shouinU my motive Or indncemenf nm |