The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-05-29
A BIG OPIUM BURGLARY.
PLAN TO ROB THE cusToM HOUSE
WHICH FAHED.
Craclsmen Imported for the Purpose
and All Plans Including THAT of Muir
der 1,ald--But Conscience Intervened.

A trivial incident occurred a few days
ago that made clear a matter that he's
been puzziing the police for some time.
The incident revealed why most dar-
| ing and sensational crime for which
the police were on the lookout, and for
which they had made preparations to
apprehend the perpetrators the moment
the crime was attempted. never came
off.
Some months ago man who had
seen enough of the contraband opium
trade to judge something of its possi-
bilities as q means of making money,
conceived the idea that instead of run
ming the risk of loss and Imprisonment
incident to importing opium, there were
| 20 900 or 10000 pounds of captured opium
right in the custom house ready to the
hand of any fairly we'll equipped burg
| lar with enough boldness to take 1t.
Having arrived at this conclusion he
went to San Francisco and engaged
the services of a couple of cracksmen
of merit and reputation in their profess
sion and brought them down here. The
three then set to work to study the situ-
alton. They came to the conclusion
that with a set of keys which they
could make, and with good equipment
| for cutting through steel walls they
could easily do the job. 1t might be
| necessary, it was found, to lay out a
cluded that there would be little addi-
tional danger in this, and preparations
were made to do it thoroughly. The
necessary keys were made and every
thing was ready for the job.
In the meanwhile, however, the two
| experts from the coast, had been re-
connoitering the town. and had con-
cluded that the field for some profit
able burglary was white to the harvest.
There were number of saloons, among
| other places, doing good business up
to 1880 o'clock at night, and then clos
| ing up and leaving the receipts in safes
which they decided could be easily
cracked. The opium business was new
to them, and the knew little about it's
possibilities. The burglary business
was their speciality. They were willing
to go ahead with the custom house
burglary, provided their local partner
would go in with them on the other
burglaries they proposed. They want
ed him implicated in the other burg
laries so that their interests would re-
main IDENTICAL fearing that otherwise,
| if the pressure got too strong under
| the stimulus of so many burglaries as
they proposed he might weaken and
betray them to protect himself
But at this point conscience got inits
work. The local man, though he was
willing to stand for a burglary of the
custom house, and if necessary for the
murder of customs guard, found that
his conscience reVolted at the idea of
going into the burglary of places of
business of men with whom he was ac-
quainted, and over whose bars he oc-
casionally drank good cheer.
He refused to go into the general bur
glary syndicate. Thereupon his i'm
ported experts from the Coast refused
to go further with the opium burglary.
There were several days of negotiation
among the three, each narrowly watch
ing the other to see that they were not
betrayed, but the conscience of the or
| iginator of the scheme would not yield,
and the whole plan was given up and
the experts left for San Francisco, with
their original and secondary plans un-
accomplished.
Unknown to the trio, the police knew
of the plan to burglariZe the custom
house opium, and plans for the capture
of the burglars the moment the attempt
was made were matured. But the bur-
| glary never came off, and though the
police soon became convinced that 1t
had been abandoned, they never knew
until few days ago why 1T had been
abandoned. Then a little incident, All
incident with aNtouch of melancholy and
pathos in it, revealed the whole secret.
So ended the plans of the first syndi-
cate of burglars, limited, to swipe the
| 10000 pounds of opium which the Ha-
waiian government has been so pain
fully and at such cost, collecting to
turn over on June IA to government
which has no moral scruples about per-
mitting opium to be imported provided
it pays a duty of $6 a pound.