The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1890-05-17
HONOKAA MURDER CASE.
On Trial Before the Chief Justice at
the Hilo Term Of Court.
The steamer Kilauea HOu Arrives from
Hilo with the Proceedings Up to
Saturday Evening-A Number
of Japanese Examined. -


of Japanese Examined. -
~(Concluded.)
Dr.. R. B. Williams sworn, stated
am q physician and graduated in Nov
ember, 1887, in California. have been
practising here on these Islands since
December 10, 1888. first practised on
Maui in the district of Hama as Govern
ment physician, came to Hilo about 10th
October, 1889. Last October was sent
for to 20 to Honokaa. l left here at half
after A. NJ. and arrived there at P. NJ.
of the same day. / was sent for by the
Sheriff of Hawaii to hold an autopsy on
the dead body OF Japanese. I held the
autopsy. got there in the evening and
found. the body in the court house OF
Honokaa. I found the body lying on q
wide board and everything ready for me
to go to work. All the clothes were on
the body, rope was around the neck and
body appeared as when taken down
from pole. Hands were tied behind tie
back. examined the body at the time,
and commenced work about Is minutes
after got there. Everything was ready
| for me to 90 right on with my work. In
the first place I viewed the face of the
man and then next felt OF the scalp to
| look for fracture of the skull, then I
loosened rope so that could see the
neck. Then rope was taken off, the
body then turned over and the next
thing the clothes were taken off. no
ticed the way the ropes were tied /;
the clothes were all taken of
the body, and body left perfectly
nude. The face was swollen and slightly
bruised on the forehead. That is about all
| about the face. The face had every ap-
pearance of suffocation and had a livid
| appearance. There was no fracture of
| the skull. There were marks on the
neck. Two spots where the skin was
broken, and there were more or less
marks all around the neck. These were
] marks on either side of larynx that l
thought rope made at first. Bruises
were to the opposite side of abrasions.
The tongue was not protruding but
blood was oozing from the nostrils. Eyes
had staring appearance but not bulg-
ing. examined other parts of the body
| the ropes had made marks around the
wrists and legs. After this then made
an examination of the brain, lungs,
heart, liver and stomach. took out
the brain and examined it, Examined
the heart, the right ventricle was filled
with dark venous blood, the left ventri-
Gle partly filled with lighter blood, arte-
rial blood. The lungs were congested
and were partly filled with dark venous
blood. The heart could not force the
blood in the lungs, consequently the
right ventricle was filled with venous
blood. Heart and lungs were not dis
eased as far as could make out. The
brain was congested and in places clots
/ Of blood could heeeen.
:, BY the Court-About neck. Idid not
j Gissect the neck L moved it around in
every way and found more mobility than
there ought to be and found that neck
was broken.
| Examination continued-The stomach
was examined, the contents taken out
and stomach itself was examined. It
was slightly extended owing probably to
the gases. There was nothing abnormal
| about the stomach. The contents were
brought to Hilo for chemical analysis.
When saw the body the man had been
dead some time.9 / could not say how
long. After death rigor morris sets in,
should say in Hamakua, from all the
way from four to six hours. Under the
circumstances rigor mortis must have
set in earlier. After it sets in there ie
not much change in the body for some
hours. If the weather is warm the
change comes sooner. After rigor NOR
tbs sets in it would be hard to tell how
long man had been killed.
By the Court-The brain was con-
gested from the want of circulation.
Under the circumstances congestion was
from violent causes.
Examination continued felt salts
fed that the neck was broken. To the
best of my knowledge the neck was
broken. The Japanese doctor was with
me. The main opinion is that the man
died from suffocation. Hanging is one
form of sufocation. Death from hang
ing is caused in two ways. In one con-
| gestiOn of brain and another congestion
OF the lungs. The blood is poisoned, the
brain becomes congested and the brain
looses consciousness and then the heart
ceases to beat. The congestion of the
lungs was one reason why knew he
died from suffocation. Respiration was
cut off by the rope around the neck. 1
thought abrasions were caused by the
rope and still think so. Contents Of the
stomach were examined by DIR. Mouritz
and myself, and we tested for all of the
ordinary poisons, but could not find any
indications of poison. The examination
at Honokaa took till 8: 80, / think. If
the neck was broken, it would not cause
suffocation. Dislocation would cause
death almost instantly.
CrOss-examination- could not tell
how long body had been dead. Death
was the result of strangulation, in my
opinion. If person dies of mental
shock, the lungs, heart and brain are not
congested. There will not b. decided
abnormal condition Of the lungs. There
will be different appearance Of the ves-
sells entirely. If mans neck Is dislo-
Gated suddenly he would die almost in
stantly. It is quite clear, in my mind,
that the abrasions of the skin and
i