Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-03-14
THE NATIVE PETITION
An Analysis Of That From the Ha-
waiian Patriotic League.
FACTS SHOWING ITS INACCURACY
Duplication of Signatures andMany
in the Same Handwriting.
WHAT MIR. THURSTON SAYS

"A iC" "Sehs dSO d TOydHSt commission
from Hawaii appeared in Washington for
the announced purpose of opposing annexa-
ton. The sheet anchor of their opposition
was gigantic petition" from the "Ha-
waiian Patriotic League" whose president,
James K. Kaulia, the head of the commits
sion, personally brought the petition to
Washington and delivered it to the Senate
the united commission certifying to the
bona fides of the document.
The opponents of annexation have waXed
eloquent over this protest of united peo-
pie" and made it the foundation rock of
their opposition.
The petition was referred to the Senate
foreign relations committee
Senator Davis, the chairman, has heard
OF petitions before, however, and decided
not to take what was claimed for it on
faith. Although it is difficult TO ascertain
the genuineness of the document orignat-
ing 5000 miles away, he decided to have
the petition analysed, to see if on its face
| it gave evidence of good bad faith.
The following is the result of this analy
sis, which discloses such overw hclming evil
dence of fraud, perjury, forgery and deceit
| as in the opinion of the investigator, to
utterly destroy the value of the petition.
J. The Analysis of the Petition.
7 The petition consists of 500 pages of
hich 3GS pages contain what purport to
| be male signatures and 24S pages female
| signatures. The number of male sigma
| lures purports to be 10,37S; female o,S91,
| making the total number of signatures
| 21.269. The petition contains a column in
which opposite each name the age of each
| petitioner purports to be written, and it
| appears that 4,9;S of the number are
minors.
| 1t thus appears. even from the face of
| the petition, that % per cent of the petit
| TONERS are minors There is strong
| son to believe that a much larger number
| of the petitioners are minors.
| Reasons for Discrediting the Petition.
The certificate or summary accompany
| ing the male petition states that the min
| ors are all between fourteen and twenty
years of age.
| The petition shows on its face that there
| are $50 male petitioners and 327 female pc
titioners, or 677 in all. under fourteen years
| OF age, of whom seven boys and six girls
| are only two years of age.
There is strong reason to believe that
| the number of minors under fourteen is
much greater, than that given above, by
| reason of the fact that several hundred
| fraudulent changes in the ages of petition
| ers is apparent on the face of the petit
| ton.
/ The ages of ffty-three of the male peti
toners and DDS of the female petitioners
! making 2TS in all, have been fraudulently
changed from lower to a higher figure.
| Ihe object of these changes is manifestly
to try and make the face of the petition
| comply with the statement contained
| therein that the minors are over fourteen
| greater responsibility and weight to the
petition than it would have if so many
Young children appeared to be signers.
The signatures of over 1,400, or nearly 10
per cent of the adult petitioners are not
| original, but forgeres
Each and every page, of the male petition
is countersigned with the original sigma
| lures of Enoch johnson, secretary and
James K. Kaulia, president of the 'IIa-
| waiian Patriotic League" and each page of
| the female petition is countersgned with
the original signatures of Mrs. Lila Aholo,
secretary, and Mrs. X. Campbell president
| of the "Women's Hawaiian Patriotic
League"
| These four people are all intelligent.
johnson and kaulia are members of the
| bar Of the supreme court of Hawaii. Kau-
| LA Is now chairman of the royalist delega-
| ton IN Washington, and personally brought
| the petition from Honolulu.
There is possibility that the officers
| of the organizations named did not know
| OF the frauds and forgeries enumerated
| above, and yet they have certified to the
| correctness and genuineness of each individ-
| ual page, and have even taken oath before
| hotary public certifying thereto, and Sc
| cured the certificate of The United States
| consul as to the official standing of the
| notary inconsistent with Johnsons and
| kaulia's ceI eItiicates of genuneness of pc
| tition.
| Summary of Facts.
| A summary of the facts, which appear
upon the face of the male petition, incon-
| sistent with it's genuineness and bona fdes,
| which must have been known to Kaulia
and Johnson when they certified it, are as
| follows:
1. The petition certifies that the minor
| petitioners are between fourteen and twen-
ty years of age.
The male petition shows on its face that
out Of total of BOG pages, 1O5 pages, or
| more than one-thrd, contain the names of
$50 minors, ranging from two to thirteen
years of age.
| 2. That on thirty-one pages of the male
| petition, the ages of fifty-three petitioners
who are under fourteen have been fraud
ulently changed to fourteen or upward.
| 3. That on eighteen pages, twenty-three
persons have signed BOB signatures, as high
as forty-six signatures on one page being
in the same handwriting Cpage 164. male
petition).
4. In great number of instances the
| ages are all in the same handwriting and
| in round numbers only.
| 5. the signatures of the boys, two and
| three years of age. are in good, round
| handwriting. This may be claimed as evil
dence Of the advanced educational system
| of Hawaii.
Each and every one of the 154 pages
above specified is countersigned by johnson
and Kaulia.
| /. The female petition shows on its face
| that 327 OF the minors are under fourteen
| years of age.
2. There is no separate certificate on the
| female petition that minors are over four
| teen, but the common management of the
| two petitions is evidenced by the fact that
on seventy-three pages of the female petit
| ton, the ages of 228 petitioners, who are
under fourteen. have been fraudulently
changed to fourteen or upward.
| 3. On forty-two pages forty-three persons
have signed 1 104 names; as high as 126
| signatures in one Gaze and 17S in another
| being all in the some handwriting; and in
| enc instance sixteen female names (page
| 81 and in another thirty-one (page 240) are
in the handwritings of well-known men.
4. In n great number of instances the
ages are ell In the same handwriting. and
IN round numbers.
| s. The signatures of the two and three
year-old girls are in good, round hand
writing, impossible to be genuine.
/ Each and every one of the lie pages
specified above IL countersigned by Mrs.
AhoIo and Mrs. Campbell
/ what Mr. Thurston Had to Say.
Mr.. Lorrin A. Tharston was seen by a
/ representative of The Star and asked what
he knew, il anything. in regard to the pc