The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-10-13
CONSTITUTION ALSO SEEMS TO
BE THERE.
A Native County Chief Degraded in
Rank Because He Violated Rights of
Person and Property.

Because of one little fish, Letuli one
of the county chiefs of Pago Pago in
the district of Tutuila under the Anne
riCan protectrate was degraded in rank
and disgraced in the eyes or his country
men. The ex-chieftain and his friends
now consider him a martyr to the honor
| of a chief while the whole crowd must
now sit awake at nights abusing the
! new government. Letuli might have
| been technically right but that he was
| dead wrong from a practical point of
view was the unanimous opinion of the
| High court which degraded him in rank
| The conduct on the part of Letuli which
| led to his trial and conviction arose
| over his trying to maintain one of the
earlier customs of the Samoan race.
Fagaima another native and a lesser
| light in the Samoan community tnan
the mighty chief, was the object of Le-
| tuli's hatred.
one of the customs of the Samoans
| has been based upon a due and proper
reverence and respect for the chIefs
| a certain fish Indigenous to the waters
| of the island was reserved exclusively
as food of the high men of the commu-
! nifty. 1t was regarded as too good for
| the palate of common herd which risk
! ed the hunger of sharks by fishing for
| the red delicacieS. In addition to this
| custom further rule of the natives re-
| quires the people to take presents of
| food to the chiefs who gave much of
| their time to attending to the trans
action of public affairs.
| Whether Fagaima was tired of the
| customs of his forefathers and hunger
| ed for liberty as well as red fish was
not brought out at the trial but in any
| event Fagaima failed to make his OBJ
| eisance 70 the chief. Whether it was
| Friday and Letuli had no fish that day
! and was depending upon Fagaima to
| hll the finney void was another matter
/ wi niTh hn al F,fI
| the evidence went to show that Fagai-
| ma had feasted while the chief had
| hungered. When Letui heard of the
! disrespect he called upon the bones OF
! his ancestors to help him be revenged.
For two days he prayed that the
bones of that fish might stick in the
dastardly throat of Fagaima, that
| scales be lifted from the eyes of blind
| justice and cause her to visit retribu-
ton upon the insolent fisherman. But
the throat of Fagaima continued un-
| clogged by fish bones and he was
heard abroad in the land singing the
praises of the red fish. Then the chief
| resolved to take the law into his own
| hand for in the singing of the fisher
man, he saw treason, Those loudly
sung praises of the red fish would whet
| the appetites of the other natives and
soon the chiefly food would become
common and finally extinct. The policy
| which he pursued is told in the follow
ing finding of the court which Il led
Letuli:
LetUli had taken the oath of allie
| glance to the United States and knew
the law which had been explained to
him. Notwithstanding this he delibe-
rately ignored the law and arbitrarily
imposed fine upon one Fagaima, with
out referring the matter to the proper
court; third with apparent animus
against Fagaima the accused permitted
the people of his own village, Hill to
commit acts of violence against him for
what he thought to be an offence
/ against himself. 1t is evident that he
knew the law but tried to evade the
consequences of violating it; fourth, he
told his people to drive Fagaima out of
his house and to. take away his goods,
he forbade Fagaima to again enter his
house or to fish in the sea; fifth, he tod
the people of Hill to kill two of FagaI-
mas pigs and to bring them to Hill.
This was done and Letuli received the
Chiefs portion of them; sixth, he failed
to report any of these matters to the
Governor of his District and when CT
I, fcially called to account for his acts
, spoke disrespectfully of the Governor
: and showed much anger and resent
. ment towards him. All of these acts
show on the part of Letuli a personal
spite towards Fagaima and an inteu-
ton to ignore the laws and punish hin
according to his own will and withou
d even reporting the matter to the pro
e per authority. The only excuse Offered
t is to plead a custom which prevailed
e many years ago, but has not been oh
O served recently"
o Evidently the court of which Com
e mander B. F. Tllley, U. S. N. wa
J. the president believed that the "consti
e tuition follows the flag for the old chic
Is was degraded in rank ordered to b
e confined for six months on parole to tn
y limits of Pago Pago bay and to defra,
e the expenses of the trial which amount
ed to SIS. He was moreover forbidde
to visit the limits of the county of Tau
lauta for a period of six months. Evl
IDENTIFY the court proposed to cure tn
a chiefly appetite by making him ca
= humble pie for six months and hel
~ him to forget his penchant for roas
w pig.