The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-02-02
INSURGENTS COMMIT HORRIBLE
ATROCITIES.
Chop off Women's Fingers to Get
Rings-Leave Them Naked and Man
gled-Houses are Looted.

The following letter received here by
the Moana from a consular official in
Samoa contains much of interest in
regard to the Samoan trouble:
Apia, January %, 1899.
1 have returned to Apia four weeks
sooner than / had intended, owing to
the dreadful state of affairs in Samoa
again. They were bad enough in SS
and 'S9, but they are worse this time,
owing to the German side having been
victorious. | wonder how long Ameri
ca and England are going to allow
Germany to make fools of them l
send you papers from New Zealand,
which together with the Samoan file
will give you a good idea of the situa-
ton and show how the New Zealand
press views it. l hope to God that now
the Samoan question will be finally
settled.
The natives never went quite
so far before as they have done this
time, and with the next outbreak it
is almost certain that whites will be
massacred. This time they broke into
several white mems houses and stole
everything, and what was too large to
carry they smashed up. My own house
was treated in this manner and not a
single thing left in it. Even my bed
and bedding was taken away; the
house was locked up and it was brok-
en- into and completely cleaned out.
Harper's house was treated in the
same manner so you see they had ap-
parently particular grudge against
the late United States consulate offici-
ais; perhaps they We're getting even
for the part we took when they follow
ing Tamasese for the present Mataafa
followers are the late Tamasese gang.
The Germans having thrown this lat
ter chief over because he submitted to
the orders of the supreme court, and
have taken up with Mataafa just to
cause trouble in the country and get
the whole Samoan question opened up
again in the hope that they may fare
better than in the Berlin conference
and perhaps get the sole control of
Upolu. They have been making them
selves obnoxious in Tontga as we'll
during the last two months, and the
German vice consul went so fas as to
threaten to hoist the German
flag there if the natives did
not Immediately pay up their debts
to the German firm. My idea is that
to the German firms. My idea is thai
| they will demand that the whole Paci.
| fic question De dealt with at the Same
| time and that by at first pressing theil
claims in Tonga and other places they
can eventually give way for a bigger
l can't think what the officials were
thinking about in recognizing thai
! provisional government" that was &
| very weak step, l think; there should
have been an American man of wal
there to have helped the British, ant
! then it would probably have been diff
| ferent Things could not have beer
any worse had the "P. g." not beer
| recognized, for the brutes have KEEP
right on burning and looting ever sine,
the Apia fight, in other parts of tn,
| group.
Tamasese personally is with Malie
! toa, but all his late following is witt
| Mataafa, and these are the brutes wh'
are carrying on such horrible outrages
! They behaved in a most shocking man
| ner to the women by tearing off all o
| their clothes, leaving them in yer!
many instances quite naked, and whel
they could not get the rings off thei
fingers fast enough they chopped then
off their fingers, and in taking thei
ear rings they simply tore them out
ripping down the ear and all sucl
atrocities as these.