Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1897-04-05
ANNEXATION OF HAWAII.

81 learn that the annexation of Hawaii |
now prominently before the county, is
bat the revival of a proposition dating
US back as 1858.
Ia that year J John I. Wright, known on
the coast as BILLY" Wright, owned three
STEAMBOATS, named the Sea Bird, S. B.
Wheeler aud West Point The two for.
mer ran TO Sacramento and the latter to
Vallejo and Benicia. The Wright boats
were too slow TO be of any formidable
opposition TO suCh steamers as the Sen
ator, New World, Antelope, Confidence
and Others operated by q rival company,
known as the California Steam Naviga-
ton company, of which Captain James
Whitney and Samuel Hensley were the
principal owners. Hensley and Whitney
nevertheless, lost some business to the
Wright boats, and they finally offered the
old man $4,000 a month to take them out
of California waters, naturally supposiug
that he would take them to Oregon or
Puget sound.
Wright accepted the offer but sent his
boats to the Sandwich Islands, his finan-
cial hacker in the enterprise being James
G. l.. Wordsworth, hardware merchant
of San Francisco. As soon as the boats
reached the islands, they were given Ha-
waiian registers and had native names
painted on their paddle boxes. At that
time industrial conditions were wholly
different in the islands from what they
now are. Honolulu and Labaina were the
winter rendezvous of several hundred
whaling vessels engaged in the Arctic oil
trade.
There was no sugar industry at that
period. If there had beer the scheme
planned in San Francisco might have been
consummated without struggle. Oc-
casionally big clipper would arrive from
San Francisco and carry away in her
capacious hold the cargoes that five or six
whalers had brought down from the land
of the midnight sun.
Beyond that Hon olulu was very quiet.
Influences at Washington were not want
ing to aid the scheme which old Col.
Wright deemed necessary to the success
of this big enterprise. One of his trusted
friends was James O'Meara, who had
previously been an editorial writer on
John Nugent's Daily Herald in San Fran
cisco. He WAS the political figure head in
the case, though Ryckman and his coad-
tutors in San Francisco were really nearer
the throne than he. O'Meara is still alive
and resides at Santa Rosa, Cal.
just what his position was in the en-
terprise. nobody but himself knows, bu,
the general belief is that he was paid q
handsome salary, by parties in Washing
ton who were very close to President
Pierce, himself an ardent supporter of the
proposition. Everything was ready for
the annexation of the Sandwich islands
IN January 1855. The group was to be
called the State of Hawaii and King Kan
chamcha (who aftcrward took the throne
IA Kanchamcha IV) was to be one of the
two L. s. senators, the other to be OF
American birth. On January IS, 1853
just as O'Meara and Wadsworth were
ready to leave for Washington via San
Francisco, old Kenchamcha | II was taken
violently jill and two days later died
Alexander at once convened the council oil
mobiles and had himself pronounced king
with indecent haste, that caused much
unfavorable comment. The missionary
element and q small faction of the mobiles
that had always viewed Americans with
distrust, knowing of the scheme of annexa.
tion to which the dead king had been fa
vorable, were the prime movers in the
haste of Alexander, and really defeated
the proposition, which, soon passed away
like any other nine days wonder, and the
American element returned to San Fran
cisco. Wadsworth and Wright each spent
about 100000 on the scheme and MANY
Others were out sums varying from $40,
000 to $4,000. A great deal of money
came from high officials in Washington
who were careful not to be known in the
transaction.