The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-26
THE THIEF AND TmE HALLrARDs
4 story of samoan Envy and Meth
DDS of Finding IA Petty Larceny
Criminal.

JUS III r ihuiHS u teAty Larceny
Criminal.
From the New York Sun.
In Apia, where there is always a wild
rumor that some foreign power is about
to raise its flag. there is a generous-sized
forest of hagpoles Naturally, the lofti-
est of the lot displays the official flag
lnasmuch as that Flagstaff IS ihe taliest
on the beach, so 1t Is provided with the
longest signal haliards. The Samoan
may not be very keen on the subject of
flags whether Of his own country or of
the guardian powers. bus he has great
interest in signal hailiards Braided line
such as is employed by the governmental
officers for hosting their bunting. makes
the very best kind of line for catching
sharks, which are esteemed a deiicacy at
Samoan feasts But the cost of braided
line is far too much for the penuiless is
lander While he has 60 put up with his
own shark line, labOriously plated of
fiber Of the cocoauut husk, he thinks OF
the superiority OF braided line He cannot
pass one Of the official hagpoles without
envy of its ample supply of the coveted
line.
When the present American flagpole was
erected at Apia after the great hurricane
of which It's two timbers, coming from
the Vandala and the Trenton respective
ly, are commemorative, vigorous effort
was made to impress on native neighbors
in Vaiala the sanctity of that and all other
articles of the property of fhe American
government Despite all this il was not
long before the signal halliards were stolen
during the darkness. The Naiala chief
was summoned and told that he must find
Che offender who was guilty of a crime
far more heinous than any mere theft
1t Is possible that the consul made il
rather strong; IL Is natural to exaggerate
when dealing with people of chat kind,
and in most cases is necessary. Denying
that his own town harbOred 50 despieable
a thief, the chief of VaiaIa agreed that
it was necessary to administer such CON
dign punishment as should act as a warn
ing. But first II was necessary to find
the stolen signal halliards and to discover
the thief
In Samoa, to find the one Is by no means
equivalent TO finding the other. 1t was
easy enough TO find the signal halliards;
the chief had them i'm his box under lock
and key, where they had been from al
most the moment they left the flagpole. If
the theft had been overlooked he would
have been the gamer by so much good
shark line; on the other hand, as it had
been taken up as a matter Of grave mo-
ment, ne was in a position to gather in
the credit for diligence in securing the
restoration of the stolen goods. But as
to discovering the thief, that was, under
the circumstances, a matter OF another
sort. lie could not with any sort Of dig
nifty surrender himself to answer to this
combination Of petty larceny and high
treason. That would not look well for
chief Of one OF the largest districts loyal
to King Malietoa. AS he had just de-
MED in the name Of his village that any
had had share
wrongdoing, il was out Of the question to
order one of the common people TO give
himself up as the thief
Just how this difficulty was adjusted Is
unknown to white people, who, after ALI,
seldom know much more than the surface
appearance Of Samoan affairs. AS a re-
suit Of purely native negotiations, a man
from a village a short way up the coast
was selected as the thief. He, was com
bined with the stolen property and deliv-
cred at the consulate for judgment.
At this there was a certain striving for
theatrical effect, at which the simple ISL
ander is an adept. The surrender Of the
criminal was deferred for several days I'M
al the evening on which there was to be
an official reception. Meanwhile the Grim
inal was an untrammeled resident of a
house in close proximity TO the fiagpole.
from which he was selected as thief of
the hallldruS. Ou the Hi5N NJ OF lne tScep-
ton when there were the most of dstin-
gulshed guests present, a party Of Sa-
means made their way into the large re-
ception room with the air Of men who were
action officially in a duty which was pleas
ing as well Slung on a stout sapling the
samoans carried a long bundle plated in
green cocoanut leaves Through the in
terstlces Of the woven leaflets a man could
be seen wound from head 10 foot In the
stolen signal halliards thus dramatically
returned.
the center of ,le floor and stepped aside
10 make place for the orator Of the town,
who made proclamation Of the meaning Of
the coremony-that this was the thief
and with him was restored the sacred
prooerty which be had stolen. Thus the
relations between uie village Of Valala
and ,ho United states Of America were re-