The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-09-15

The steamer w. G. Hall has brought
intelligence of the most shocking de-
velopments in the case of the previously
reported mysterious disappearance of
Mr.. Kapahee in the District of Kau,
Hawaii. Mr.. A. P. Peterson, Deputy
Acknowledgement, gives the particulars
related below, of one of the most brutal
murders that ever stained the soil of
Hawaii.
On Monday forenoon, Sd inst, while
Kapahee was on his way to Captain
Eldart, Deputy SherifFs, he was waylaid
| and brutally murdered. His body was
found on Wednesday afternoon about
mile from where it proved he had been
killed. ltwas damned in crack among
the rocks, and covered with stones.
The head was terribly mangled as if
with stones held in the murderous hands,
while the hands of the victim were fear
fully lacerated with similar crude wea-
pons. Part of the mutilation of the
mans head was probably caused by
contact with the rocks and stones in the
operation of concealment. The BODY
had been stripped of the trousers, and
any cash that might have been in the
pockets would have gone with that gar
ment.
A Chinaman named All Hop, sus-
pected of having share in the crime,
was arrested In Puma on the next Thurs
day, by an ex-poliCeman who detained
him until an officer took him off his
hands and lodged him in Hilo Jail. The
supposed principal, Chinaman named
Aseu, was arrested by a Kau policeman
near Pahala, on Saturday of last week,
and taken to the Waiohinu lookup.
The morning after his arrest, Sunday,
Aseu escaped from the officer having
him in charge, and on being surrounded
with no chance of escape he got down
on the ground and tried to butt his
brains out on the stones. He was
stopped in this desperate purpose, how
ever, and taken back to jail, where
another attempt at self-destruction was
foiled. The prisoner had ripped his
blanket up and twisted it into a rope,
one end of which he fastened to the
window grating all ready for s+rangling
himself. When this plan was defeated
Aseu made a statement cOnfessing his
implication in the tragedy, but trying to
fasten a portion of the guilt on native
preacher named Kumoku, a witness for
Kapahee in a lawsuit pending between
of the statement has received no cred
ence from the authorities, but being
made will be investigated thoroughly as
a matter of Justice to all concerned.
On Wednesday Aseu was arraigned
before Judge McCully of the Supreme
Court as committing magistrate, who
upon examination committed the pris-
oner for trial at the November Term Of
the Third Circuit at Waimea. Aseu was
kept in Jail over night and on Thursday
morning was taken, in custody of an
officer, on board the steamer w. G. Hall
at Honuapo, to be brought to Honolulu
for safe keeping in Oahu Prison until his
trial. Just before getting on board the
steamer the prisoner began acting
strangely, and he died about an hour
and half after the steamer sailed. DR..
Oliver, who was with him, did every
thing that could be done to save Aseu's
life without avail. 1t was the impress
sion of the doctor and everybody else
who knew anything about the case that
the man had taken poison and so killed
himself.
The body of the suicide was taken to
Kaawaloa, where DR.. Oliver removed
the stomach. This organ was brought
on to Honolulu, while the body was
buried at KaawalOa. The contents of
the stomach will be analysed by Mr..
Geo. w. Smith for the sverifcatiOn or
otherwise Of the poisoning theory, and
in case it is poison the man who gave it
to Aseu will be pursued.
The motive attributed to Aseu for the
terrible crime with which he was charged
is found in an incidental reference above
to a pending suit between him and the
victim which was to have been heard at
the late Waiohinu Term. 1t is believed
that he took such a diabolical means OF
being rid of an opposing htlgant. An
Hop, the suspected accOmplice, would
be examined for commitment to the
Waimea Term this week. The first re-
port regarding the disappearance of the
victim represented him as a school |
teacher named D. Kapahee, who had
drawn his salary from the school agent |
at Waiohinu the day he was last seen
alive, and the suppOsition was that he |
was murdered for the pittance OF money |
he carried. Mr.. Peterson, however, had |
not heard of the murdered man as hav- |
ing been a school teacher, but was only |
informed in his investigations OF the |
lawsuit aforementioned as the probable |
motive for the crime. Mr.. Atkinson, |
Inspector- General of Schools, on being !
applied to for light on the subject, states
that teacher on the list as " ID. Kappa |
hu" had been in the service OF the Board |
of Education for twenty-five years, and |
that the same man was also police
man. The evidence appears to be |
against this being the man who has |
been so shockingly murdered.