The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-11-17
ON INVESTIGATION.

ON INVESTIGATION.
When a man dies without having been
seen by any medical practitioner, it is
proper and being so, it is the require
ment of every properly organized COM
munity that the cause of death should
be Investigated. With this view the
coroner's law was amended in the
Legislature of 1898 in order to force
proper enquiry. The result of that
change in the law has been the inves-
tigation of number of cases which
in former times would not have been
investigated, the discovery of one
crime, and a strong impression upon
all classes Of the community as to the
sanctity of human life.
1t is not so long ago that Board of
Health records used to come in regular
ly every month with a list of from ten
TO a dozen deaths marked unknown"
After campaign extending over years
in the old Gazette and the present
Star the writer finally was enabled to
see that this disgrace to Board of
Health statistics was wiped out We
no longer have a dozen deaths mark
ed unknown" upon our monthly re-
ports. But it was not sufficient to wipe
out this 1t was and is necessary to
have every case where there is an I'M
attended death properly investigated.
The only way such a death can be
properly Investigated is before a coro-
ner's jury.
1t almost seems absurd to bring for
ward any arguments in favor of the
calling together of coroner's juries be-
cause they are so trite. 1t may be laid
down as absolutely incontrovertible
that cases of sudden death, or cases
where a man dies, without medical at
tendance are cases for judicial investi-
cation. 1t is not true that judicial inves-
tigation means suspicion of evil doing
which is usually the argument brought
forward If there is no evil doing, in
Vestigation has no evil effect, it clears
the people who are involved Where
there is no investigation there is no
clearing of the cloud and today in this
city there are men and women who
walk around and who never have clear
ed their skirts and trouser legs of pos
sible crime, simply because the law in
those days did not require them to do
Il. man died. He was dead. Heav-
ems and earth why trouble the living
because of such an unpleasant matter?
Get the body into the grave and say
no more about it.
These things have occurred. What
is stated above is no fancy picture or
any draft on the Imagination. One
would think that the Board of Health
would do all in its power, by example
TO put an end to any such suspicious.
For it must be understood that much
is explainabe, and that if proper legal
investigation is made, a person charg-
ed with crime may be honorably excul-
pated In judicial Investigations ac-
cording to AnglO-Saxon theory it is not
the guilty that you desire to punish.
but it is the innocent whom you desire
TO vindicate. Consequently the law re-
CARDS every man innocent until he is
found guilty. Latin law does not or
at least does not practically as applied
in France.
We have a case very much in point,
just now The other day a Portuguese,
an old man, named Silva died. He was
unattended by any physician. The exc
cutive officer of the Board Of Health
went up to the house, viewed the body,
asked some questions, was answered
as any casual questioner might be an
swered, gave certificate of burial and
departed. The man was buried.
Before going any further one must
comment upon this An informal inves
tigation such as the executive officer
of the Board of Health held was prac-
tically no investigation as far as the
law is concerned. The executive Off
Ger may or may not have been right
as to the cause Of death. There are
plenty of men sick of one disease for
years, who finally succumb to some
thing entirely different. Because a man
suffering from Brights disease hap
pens to be killed in an explosion of
dynamite even the Honolulu Board of |
Health would hesitate to say he died of |
Bright's disease. However II might.
But mark This very simple matter
Of the death of old Silva develops |
There was no investigation as to the
cause Of old Silva's death, and Silva's
friends went to take care Of the