The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-01-22
GHOULS READY FOR WORK
BURNT DISTRICT TEMPTs SOME
VULTURES
Men Caught Digging Among the Ruins
for Valuables Summarily Elected by
the ds-Governments Duty.

Yesterday forenoon two men who
have been employed by the Board Of
Health in service within the quaran-
tined district and hence had passes
went into the burned district. AS they
have been working for weeks inside the
district they were probably pretty well
acquainted with conditions there be-
fore the fire and knew what houses
contained valuables. At any rate soon
after they got inside they began dig
ging among the ruins of a house not
far from the Kaumakapili church. 1t
was said they were looking for dia-
monds and other iewelry they knew
had been in the house.
AS soon as the National Guard pa
trolman on duty in this quarter saw
what was going on, he went to where
the men were and incontinently march,
ed them out of the district, and then
went around from post to post and re-
| inforced to the guardsmen the orders
already given, that if they saw any
one digging in the ruins to pinch him."
| There is supposed to be an immense
amount of gold and silver coin, jewel
ry, diamonds and that sort of thing, IN
safes and boxes and otherwise scatter
| ed among the ruins of the burnt dis
| trict left in the haste of the enforced
fight from the flames. This fact SEEM
ed great allurement to many, as was
shown by the efforts repeatedly made to
get into the burnt district yesterday
Some of the men who were sent in to
shut off the flow of water from the wa
ter pipes in the district could not re-
SiSt the temptation to desert their work
and do" little prospecting among the
| ruins" Several times the guards had
to go inside the district and stop this
kind of work. To the credit of the
guards, both those of the Board of
1 h., No.
they were very vigilant in preventing
this sort of ghoulish work.
There is a heavy responsibility up
on the government" said a citizen
whose work in the quarantine district
has given him special opportunities to
know conditions there, "to see that the
people forced by necessity to leave that
district in such haste are not robbed
or squeezed out of the Valuables they
had to leave and which may have es =
capped destruction. There is a great deal
of coin, jewelry, and valuables of that
sort in the district. Some of it is IN
safes and some of it is not. But much
of it can doubtless be recovered. l dc
not think there is as much as is popu.
larly supposed to be, but there is 6
good deal. 1t would be an abiding out
lage, If after all the loss that thess
people suffered, they should now h
cheated, IN anyway, out of what little
has escaped the flames. They are i'm.
prisoned in quarantine. They cannot
look after their own rights. Therefore
the most rigid and strenuous efforts
should be made by the government tC
- protect them. 1t seems to be the belief
that the area on which Chinatov I
stood, should be allowed to remain idl,
and vacant for some time. Therefor,
there is no haste or emergency to olea,
up the area. In that case it seems tC
me the most rigid exclusion from tn,
burned district should be maintained
until all the present emergencies hav,
been fully met and the government car
give the attention to this matter tina
will insure rigid and scrupulous car
J for the protection of every individua
who may have valuables in the ruin
o that may be saved. There is very littl
necessity for anyone to go inside tn
district at present, and therefore no on
should be. allowed to go in except 70
absolutely necessary business, an,
then only some thoroughly responsible
> and trusted agent of the Board. Un
less this is done, there will not only h
robbery and larceny outright of mucl
that is valuable, but what is worse, an
If possible more contemplate,
a squeezing" process practiced on tn
unfortunates."