The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-07-16
KILLED BY A BLAST
Native Workman Blown
Over the Pail.
Blast Went Off Unexpedtedly-M Man
Leaves Family in Poor
Circumstances.

Kilauea, a native, aged So years, was
killed by being thrown over the side
of the Pail at about 2:30 p. N. yester>
day. this in turn being caused by the
discharge of powder used in blasting
new road down to the other side of
the island.
For quite a while a gang Of natives,
some 10 in all, has been engaged In the
work of blasting away the rock and
dirt down along on the side of the Pail,
the purpose being, as stated above, the
building of a new road. Joe Punt,
trustworthy native, is the head luna.
A great deal of care has always been
exercised on account of the extreme
danger of the work.
Yesterday Kilauea, being next to Pu-
nj so far as authority is concerned,
was put in charge of the gang of ma
tives, on account of the fact that the
latter had some other work to attend
to little farther away.
Kilauea and his men went along
with the work, and shortly after p
m. had one large hole, six feet deep
and four inches in diameter bored in
the dirt and rock. The powder was
poured in and the fuse set.
Piikuahiwi was detailed to light the
large charge, and Kilauea took it upon
himself to attend to the other two.
This being done, Kilauea cried to the
men to scatter, while he and his as
sistant did the same.
AS was to be expected, the small
charges went off first, and Filauea, not
stopping to think long enough, began
to grumble at Piikuahiwi as follows:
do you see what you have done?
The charges 1 lighted went off first
You pounded your powder wrong"
With this he started toward the
large hole and to his death. STOPPING
over he attempted to again light the
powder, when the charge went off with
a dull roar, and Kilauea. was thrown
into the air and landed 40 feet down
the side. 1t being steep at the place
where he struck, Kilauea rolled down
and over the Pail, distance of ITO feet
Makaokalani went down after the
| unfortunate man, who breathed just
twice, and then expired. His skull was
crushed in front and his mouth badly
mangled. Bruises covered his body.
Upon receiving the information at
the police station, Captain Parker was
dispatched to the scene. Stopping at
H. H. Williams on the way up, he left
orders to have wagon sent up at once.
After all Investigations had been made,
the body was brought to town to be
prepared for burial The funeral win
take place today.
It is probable that if Kilauea had not
rolled down the side he would not have
met death. This seems to be pretty
well proven by the fact that Steve
Thompson, the messenger boy of the
gang, followed Kilauea to the hole out
of nothing else but curiosity, and, be-
ing but three feet away from the place
at the time of the explosion, was
thrown into the air with Kilauea. He
was fortunate enough to land very
near the hole, and aside from scratch
on the face, was not hurt bit. The
scare he received was, perhaps, the
worst injury he sustained.
Deceased leaves a wife and a one
month-old baby in the most INDECENT
circumstances, with nothing to eat
and nothing to wear. The wife is al
most on the verge of desperation in
her howell on Kukui lane Messrs.
Whitehead & Wilson, the men who
have the contract for building the new
road, left $50 with the woman to de-
fray the funeral expenses of her de-
ceased husband, this out of the good
ness of their hearts, for Kilauea was
in no way under them. He was one
of the employees of Joe Punt to whom
a certain part of the work had been
sub-let.