The Hawaiian gazette., 1884-03-19

early in the morning. No investigation
was held that day. March Sth the ten
lepers who had been engaged in the attack
were shipped off to Molokai. 1t was not
till Tucsddg. March 18th. that the President
of the Board of Health thought fit to hold
his socalled investigation. the fifth day
after the occurrence. On the face OF it
this seems most lax: but when we look
more closely into the matter we will see
that the laxness on the surface Is repeated
throughout
The investigation is held. and what wit
nesses are calledl As far as can be judged
from the very garbled report which has
been published. they are all on one side
The side of the steward IS heard. but not
that of the unfortunates who were sum
marily shipped off without chance Of
giving their version of the affair. But
even the evidence that has been gwen
shows an extraordinary condition of affairs
The charge which the leper patients made
witness. Moikcha. saws that ~he went to
assist in the row because he was told tlfst
Van Geisen was committing fornication.'
Further on in his evidence, he says Il WIS
told to 20 and join the crowd and capture
Van Geisen." Kaiapa, an outside police
man stated that Kailikapu the ringleader
in the assault on the steward, said to him
we want to have him Wan Geisen) ar
rested for adultery" This then Is the
charge rightly or wrongly that these men
made. This was the ostensible reason for
the attack. They broke into the house
hoping TO catch Van GeisOn in .fdgr1Efs
Here Is certainly a reason given. and they
should have been examined to see whether
they could substantiatc their charge Now
we come to the other part Of the evidence,
Van Geiscn says he slept on the bed with
his clothes on two young women slept on
the floor: one Of these Young women, ac-
corlin- tp the evidence OF the policeman
j. - ar - wears Of age This is certainly
suSpiciuu~ to -ny the least Of IT, ltwpuld
require a very high moral character iudccd
which would not I've open to suspicion nm
der such circumstances. Ii must bc r.
meniber,-h also that these witnesses all 20
one WAY Had those ten men been quc~
toned they might have thrown consider
able light on the matter They have not
been questioned. The only person they
could properly have been questioned be
fore was the Police Justice of Honolulu.
We denounce this investigation as trans
parent sham. 1t Is no investigation, and
consists Of three or four n -parts statements.
nothing more It has been held in a cor
ner: the only account of it is furnished by
a dependent of the President Of the Board
of Health; and even that gentleman, we
believe has said that it is garbled. When
such an investigation was eldrepreseuta
tives from the newspaper press OF Homo
lulu should have been present The pub
lie cannot be satisfied that this Star Cham
ber business Of the Premier's was fair and
aboveboard. unless there Is perfectly free
access to the evidence by members Of the
Independent press
We do not assume for an instant that
Van Geisen Is guilty of the charge: we
only say that from his own evidence the
are suspicious. 1t seems
as if an attempt was being made to per
suade the public that the attack on Van
Geisen was made because those ten men
had been ordered to Molokai, and that
their motive was revenge. while really the
men had far different motive. that of TX
posing the steward. Letu have an inves
tigation we can put faith in. and not this
hole and corner affair.
Viewed calmly from the position Of an
the whole matter has an aspect of
a bit Of Jedwood justice; T. T. first the exc
cution nest the sentence and then the trial
if there Is time for it.