The Hawaiian gazette., 1900-11-16
ALL WENT BLIND
AND PASSED AWAY
Punchbowl Portuguese Colony
Stricken in Curious
Manner.
August Medeiros, Joaquin Silva and Joe
CabraI, the Victims of a Fatal
Indulgence.

| thirty-siX hours in mysterious gulSe,
attacking them in the very presence Of
the corpse of a friend they mourned
and striking them down almost before
they realized they were the objects of
the fiend's hatred.
While sorrowing for the death of
their old friend, Joseph Silva, August
| Medeiros, joaquin Silva and Joseph
Cabral partook of a deadly poison
which they mistook for wine of home
| manufacture. They were warned not
to drink the liquor but despite these in
functions, copious draughts of it We're
swallowed.
August Medeiros died at 3 o'clock
Wednesday afternoon after a short i'll
ness which was at first attributed to
heart failure.
Joaquin Silva, well-known in Homo
lulu as Hotel joe" passed away at 3
o'clock yesterday morning.
Joe Cabral, foreman for II. II. Will
liams the undertaken, died an hour
later.
Four others We're reported to the
Board of Health as being i'll from the
effects of the same liquor and one lay
in precarious condition yesterday.
Two of them We're men, one a woman
and the fourth was a fourteen-year-o
son of August Medeiros. DR.. Camp, is
attending the patients and states that
none of them is in danger.
! fourth victim of the tragedy may
! be added to the list. j. j. Silva, Of
! Kauai was one of the mourners. He
was drunk when he went to the de-
ceased SilVa's house and drank more of
| the liquid than the Others He left for
Kauai on one of the steamers Tuesday
| afternoon and the next steamer from
the Garden Isle is expected to bring
news of his sudden death
A curious chapter of incidents is
woven around the story of the tragedy
which opened on Monday forenoon in
the house of old man Silva on Punch
bowl street nearly opposite the Nor
mon church. He and some friends were
in the house and to them he offered
wine of his own making. "Silva's wine"
is wel-known to the denizens of the
slopes of Punchbowl
The grapes of his own vineyard are
pressed to bring out the juice which is
made into wine. 1t is sourish but is
palatable to the Portuguese who We're
wont to drop in on the old man often.
one of these was a Russian Finn
named Wilhelm. He drank several
beakers with Silva on Monday Silva
took much of it also.
Il drank his wine" said Wilhelm
yesterday as he watched the coffin of
Mederos borne to the hearse, but it
hasn't harmed me. 1t could not have
been his wine which caused these men
to die. Silva | know made cordial OF
his wine and used methyated spirits
for that purpose. He made large
quantity of wine and to this he would
add a small amount of the methylated
liquor To make it a cordial.
The old man also made a mixture
for killing insects on the flowers and
vines 1t was ant poison, | think
Probably these dead men got hold of
bottle of that poison and drank it. II
they did 1t would surely cause their
death.
This old man was florist and It
was natural for him to concoct mix
lures to kill the insect pests which
would destroy his flowers and plants.
lie had some powder and with wood al
cohol mixed it to make an ant poison.
This he kept in these square face bot
ties which formerly held gin. The con-
tents We're red in color, something ike
whiskey only a little lighter 1t was a
medicine for the flowers
"Wen when his friends began TO
gather To mourn az his bier the men
went about the house and helped them
selves 10 whatever liquor they could
ind They got hold Of this poison in
stead Of his wine.
Yesterday afternoon, that's Wed
ursday when ! came home from work
/ heard that Medeiros was dead when
I heard that J felt rather queer The
| sudden death of silva ana then Of
Nririr0s startled me for they Nrre
both my friends ! won't 10 thu house
and true ! found him stretched out
cold in death They told me that The
doctor had said ha had been arInkug
something with poison lu A.
That rfenlpE joaquin silva came u
/ 10 De- gHara IA the Insane Asylum
ami had boon sent uHms hs IN Herbert
/ hr.aHag he arprHti luhrHl Hr stay
~ there "a Mratlrus house short
time and Hnally sa.i he WaH sIpb ana
would 50 hons ~ saI1 Ton me
whore hranr# body llH SAINT m
Fee him Wf laHf NIm ~ che Hlr ~
AfaelfNs ana taIl HIm be Haa h front
- MIN
Whsle d hrf : CAN'T sre him.
6iIfa fhld Thai HHH.H ~ m Jaillr
lfanHs ~ hf sac H|lIIf re neHss n
hfaHiiHa hH4} $3.50 Ha.H ~ H4.aHt
49, am lhlnH Wf Hl N0m a8l Hng IN