Daily Honolulu press. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1886, 1886-05-25

manslaughter case was compromised
by plea of guilty of assault and bat
terry, followed by sentence of three
months imprisonment defendants
having been in Jail nine months await
ing triaD; several burglary cases we're
''quashed" by verdicts of not guilty.
and the only convictions we're in tllt
Kekoa election frauds case, and that Of
a Portuguese stabbing affair at Laupa-
hoehoe. The latter was a case of a
stable employe SO seriously cutting his
luna--a Scotchman--as almost to dis
embowel him. But the injured man
recovered, his assailant was convicted
Of an assault with a deadly weapon.
and received sentence of five years
Imprisonment
THE KEKOA CASE.
The Kekoa case is already fairly un-
derstood by the public. The defense
therein was, that the statute under
which the charge was laid was merely
directory in its scope, and that no pen
atty attached to a non-p performance Of
its behests This point was'overruled
by the Court--the parties ventilated
the facts of the case during an all day
trial; the jury convicted the twain of
defendants, and the Court imposed a
fine of $50 upon each of them--having
first expressed the opinion, however, in
the charge to the jury, that conyic,
ton Of the ofense charged, would re-
affect Kekoa's right to occupy his Sea
in the Legislature, as the statutory de
privation of the right to hold office
does not apply to the holding of a
seat in the Legislature, which body,
independently of the Courts, is, by the
Constitution, made sole judge of the
qualifications Of its members. Should
this view be upheld, it will reduce the
apparent triumph of Kekoa's perse-
cutors into barren victory. But as
the defendants have taken exceptions
from the rulings at Circuit to the
Supreme Court in Banco, the most
interesting feature Of the case is yet
pending decision, viz; whether the
defendants, by ignoring the statutory
mode of conducting the preparations
for the election incurred any penalty
TWO MURDER CASES.
One of tine murder cases, was the
same that startled the Hilo district
about seven months ago, wherein an
old native was slain in the dusk of
Sabbath evening, at the door Of his
own house, and surrounded by his
family and friends, several of whom
were intoxicated. The charge fell upon
a son-in-law of the murdered man, but
the Crown utterly failed to substantiate
the accusation, or in any way identify
the guilty party, and all owing to the
worthlessness of the local police force,
and the consequent lack of intelligent
investigation of the crime and its at
tendant circumstances. The prisoner,
Umiloi, was defended by Messrs. D.
H. Hitchcock and w A. Kinney.
The other murder case was one
wherein an Irish lad of twenty years,
named Thomas Curley, was accused of
killing Chinese cook, at Hawi planta-
tion, Kohala, on the night of Christ
mas last This case was invested with
especial interest and importance from
the peculiar circumstances attending it
including the youth of the defendant
the undisputed fact of the homicide
committed by him--the irreconcilable
theories of the prosecution and the de-
fense respectively, and the fact that the
former was supported exclusively by
pagan, and the latter by Christian res
dence. The facts will bear brief
recital.
The defendant, on Christmas night,
near midnight, wantonly, and without
excuse, as the Crown claimed, went to
the door Of the room occupied by two
sleeping Cinnamon, raped them up,
held brief parley with the one who
opened the door, and, absolutely with
out provocation, struck the Chinaman
with knife, above the left ear, sever
ing an artery and puncturing the brain,
of which the victim died in a few
hours, without having afterwards been
conscious or spoken. AS he fell irto
his room from where he stood at ~
door, his room. mate called for he -
Two Chinese laborers whose room W.
but a few feet distant, and opened
upon the same verandah, at once re-
sponded in person, and there saw
defendant still standing and surveying
the result of his blow, and with /
knife in his hand--but he then ran
away, upon the appearance of other
parties. Thus, the fatal blow was seen
by one witness, and the culprit, with
the weapon in hand, was seen by two
others, Immediately after, upon the
spot where the killing occurred.
The defense, however, proved by the
defendant and friend who was wi'1
him, that the Chinese where the aggrep
Isors, one of them having assaulted the
defendant, and chased him around be
hind the house where the row com
menced, when he was knocked down
and generally belabored and maltreated
by mob of furious pagans, who had
gathered in response to call from the
first assailant.
That while thus surrounded and
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