The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-01-20
IN KANA|AHAO CHURCH
THE sTRANGEsT CONGREGATION
EVER SEEN.
How Accommodations Were Made for
the People Made Homeless by the
Great Fire.

Four thousand three hundred and
twenty-five men, women and children,
Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiians and
white were rendered homeless by the
flames today. Tonight they are the
wards of a community which has risen
to the humanity and generosity de-
manded by the emergency and with an
energy seldom equalled has provided
shelter and food and made the refugees
as comfortable as it is possible under
the circumstances.
No church ever held more extraor-
binary assemblage than that which
gathered in Kawaiahao when the tired
inhabitants of Chinatown reached there
after their march of four blocks be-
tween lines of Honolulu citizens armed
with clubs. The march was very hard
one for some of the people who were
compelled to move, and the line was a
most pitiful spectacle as it moved along
King street. Every man who held club
to keep the people from scattering felt
sympathy for the unfortunate ones he
had to guard. Some of the children
! could hardly walk and some of the wo-
men, especially the Chinese, with the
small feet of the aristocracy, suffered
greatly on the march.
In another way the procession eXcit-
ed comment. 1t was a revelation to
many in the utterly dirty and low ap-
pearance of many of those who made
up the ranks. Not everybody who saw
the frightened crowds pass knew that
/ Honolulu had a population such as that
| which passed between guards to the
| church this afternoon. A more filthy
! procession was probably never seen. 1t
was the plague breeding spot of Homo
! lulu turning out it's population and fit
! breeders of plague a majority of them
| seemed to be. The crowd that watched
! them was divided between sentiments
of anger that such a gathering should
be possible here, and sympathy for the
| unfortunate people who made up t-.e
crowd. They were perfectly submissive.
| The clubs were quite useless. Scarcely
anywhere along the line was any effort
| made to force a way out Of the path
/ One or two Chinese and Japanese made
efforts to slip quietly through the lines,
but they were turned back. All that
was needed to turn them back was a
word The hundreds of clubs brandIsh-
ed along the lines were never brought
into use The sorry crowd or sufferers
by the great confagration moved along
( as fast as they could and trusted to the
white man to find some place for them
at the end of the journey.
THE MOVING THRONG.
More guards, more guns and more
clubs met the moving population at
| Kawaiahao church. The gates were
| opened and the refugees began to move
in and drop their burdens on the grass.
All round the grounds were guarCs to
see that none made escape from the
place The men and women from Chi
natown sat down on the grass and wal
ed to see what would be done with them.
Women tried to keep the babies they
carried in arms quiet, while the pangs
of hunger made the babies cry. Scarce
ly anyone in all the vast assemblage
had had anything to eat since break
fast, and none knew when they would
get anything. In this they did not diff
fer from the men who were guarding
them. Most of the latter had worked
at the fire or elsewhere all through the
day.
women first" was the natural order,
as soon as the business of getting peo-
pie into the church was begun. In two
hours the big church was packed up
stairs and down with Chinese women
, and children. They occupied all of every
) pew. The big place of worship was so
crowded that those who had seats could
, not even turn in their places. The gal
lery held throng that filled nearly all
the aisles and the reception rooms, as
! well as the auditorium, was the same.
e Still women were coming and asking
for places, and a thousand men were
4 outside with no place to do anything