The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-05-23
OPINION OF THE COURT,
BY Judd. G. j.

)
This is a complaint against Z. Hele-
kunihi, Esq, District Magistrate OF
Waikiki, Island Of Maui, preferred by
the Attorney General, charging that the
respondent on the 18th OF November
last. in Waikiki, Maui, corruptly ac-
cepted a bride of twenty-four dollars
from one Lum PAX, under an agreement
and understanding that in the exercise
of respondents function as District
Magistrate he would acquit and dis
charge certain defendants in the case
of the Republic of Hawaii VS.. Lum PAX
and others, charged with gaming, which
case was then and there pending before
him The Attorney General prays that
on proof of the charge the respondent
be dismissed from office.
The evidence on the part of the pros
ecution is succinctly as follows: On the
18th of November an arrest of several
Chinese had been made at Kahului on
the charge of gaming They were taken
10 Wailuku court house and soon after
released on bail. Information came to
the Sheriff of Haul, L. A. Andrews,
that the District Magistrate was will
ling to take a bride of twenty dollars in
order to acquit these parties, who were
to be tried the following day, Monday.
(The case was on Monday postponed to
the next day.) The sheriff thereupon
marked twenty Hawaiian silver dollars
by making a small shallow hole in the
ball surmounting the crown over the
coat of arms, entrusted them to Lum
PAX, a Chinaman, who was Instructed
to offer them to the magistrate as a
bride Captain of Police Lindsay &C
companied the Chinaman to the magis-
trate'S house and remained outside
while the Chinaman went in, the door
having been opened to him by the
magistrate. After being in the house
some minutes the Chinaman came out
and reported that the judge would not
take 500 The money was accordingly
returned to the sheriff, and with four
more dollars similarly marked and the
previously mentioned twenty dollars,
Lum PAX, having heard from one Lee
Long, a washerman, that the judge
would take $24, went again the next
evening, Captain Lindsay following
him and remaining in the yard under a
mango tree some 20 feet distant from
the judges house. The witness, Lum
PAX, says that the magistrate express
ed his Willingness to take the money |
and to acquit the Cinnamon whose case
was pending, and that he paid it to |
Mrs. Helekunihi, the respondents wife, |
in the magistrates presence, he count |
ing the coin out into her hands. officer |
Lindsay says that he saw the figures
of these three persons from his stand
ing-place outdoors, looking through
the window and saw Lum PAX hand
something to Mrs. Helekunihi in the
manner described. This being reported
TO the sheriff, he obtained, on Tuesday,
n warrant from the Circuit Judge for
the arrest of the magistrate for receiY-
ing a bride, and also a search warrant
to find the marked money as evidence.
On reaching the house, in company
with the Circuit Judge, and, confronting
Mr.. and Mrs. Helekunihi with the
charge, they severally denied all knowl-
edge of that matter. After a search the
sheriff found the marked money in an
envelope in the back part of a bureau
drawer in Mrs. Helekunihi's bedroom,
the contents of the drawer being in con-
fusion and concealing the envelope con-
tanning the money from the casual OBJ
On being told that the money
was marked they both expressed sur
prise, and were then shown the marks.
But neither offered any explanation as
to how the money came there, who
brought it, or for what purpose, both
expressing complete ignorance, though
not claiming the money as their own {
when it was taken away by the sheriff.
On Wednesday, after the case of the ,
on the charge of receiving
a bride had been called before the Cir
cult Judge and continued, it was said
in behalf of Mr.. Helekunihi and his
wife that the money had been brought
to their house by Lum PAX the evening
in question as purchase money of lot
of dried fish that had come to Mrs.
for sale, and which she had
been retailing for some days past; and
this is the defense they offered be-
fore us.
1t is beyond all doubt true that TWEEN
ty-four dollars were that evening de-
livered by the witness Lum PAX to Mr..
and Mrs. Helekunihi. The purpose for
which it was taken by them is not so
well proved. The confederation of Of
fcer Lindsay is only to the fact of the
payment, but not of it's object, as he
heard nothing of the conversation. We
should hesitate before condemningI a
man of such good standing as Mr.. Hele- s
kunihi on the evidence of a Chinese
witness who was apparently acting as
an informer and had strong motive to !
ensnare the magistrate and win favor
with the police. IF it were true that he
delivered the money to the magistrates
wife to pay for fish he had engaged, it :
was an innocent transaction, and there
is no reason conceivable why both Mr..
and Mrs. Helekunihi should not have I
told the sheriff that Chi
naman had been there that evening
and had given them twenty-fOur dol
lars for fish, and show the money, and I
.hus avoid an unpleasant search for it, /
If the story were true, there was every
motive on respondents part to relate it
20 the sheriff or to the Circuit Judge l
who gave them every opportunity to S
10 so before they were informed that /