The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-09-13
ESCAPING BOYS FROM REFORM
SCHOOL FOUND.
Tied Sheets Together, Pried Open the
Window and Broke Into Clothing
Shed-Recaptured at Eva.

Twelve inmates of the Reform School
escaped from their dormintory last
night by a rope improvised from their
bed clothes.
According to Superintendent Need
ham, who has been for fourteen years
in charge of the institution, every now
and then an escaping fever breaks out
among the boys, the epidemic some
times lasting for six months after a
successful escape. The flight last night
| is however he thinks directly traceaDle
to the harmful influence of a guard
who was lately discharged as unsatis-
factory. A well defined plot between
the guard, an Hawaiian, and the older
! boys TO allow the latter a chance of
organizing an attack upon the other
guard was discovered and led to the
mans dismissal. Afterwards it was
found that he had been in the habit of
allowing the boys to steal away one at
! q time for a surreptitiOus smoke and
mad winked at the supplies of tobacco
and cigarettes pushed IN the fence cor
ner by boys who had served their term
az the school. The practice of smok-
| ing has always been vigorously sup
| pressed by Mr. Needham but in spite
of all precautions matches were con-
stantly being discovered in every nook
and corner or tucked away in mattress
ses. Alter the discharge of the guard
ends of cigarettes were always turning
up in every direction, in stray corners
or tucked away under a stone in readi-
ness for a sly whiff.
still more rigid precautions were eX-
ercised and the boys resolved to escape,
laying their plans beforehand.
The boys are all in bed and locked in
| every night by eight o'clock with one
guard sleeping in room over the
porch of the dormitory and another one
sleeping in the dormitory where thirty
nve OF the bigger boys pass the night
At half past eight the two guards
| were talking in the porch room When
the twelve boys stripped the beds of
cIothes and taking the Stats used them
to pry open the windows which are
screwed up from the outside. The
Sheets were tied together and the in
corrigibles slid down their improVsed
rope to the ground clad in their night
shirts only, their clothes being taken
away from them every night to pre-
vent their escape.
The leaders mad however laid their
plans to meet the emergency. AT four
o'clock every afternoon, the boys
change their working clothes for their
regular garments, the oYerallS being
left in a locked up shed some little dis
tance from the dormitory The window
of this shed was forced and the young
sters securing a shirt and a pair of
loveralls apiece were over the hi"h fence
before their absence had been noted.
The high board fence being supported
on both sides by slanting beams the
boys were easily able to shin up these
ready provided ladders and drop into
freedom on the other side.
Il Just before nine Mr.. Needham was
notified by the guard of the escape and
armed with a shot gun, as a means of
frightening the boys if they had not
got clear away, the superintendent ran
70 the shed where the clothes were, to
find it already broken into. He then
continued to search the grounds in the
hope that the boys had not had time
o to get over the fence, when the police
! arrived and took charge of the affair
4 The names of the twelve are as fol-
I lows: George Kalua, Harry Haleakala,
4 Lincoln, Haamo, Eddie Fraga, KAPPA,
I Kaulua, w. Forrest, Frank Haole
q Walk, Sam Kaluawai, Joe Manuel OF
these the ringleaders are supposed to
be Kalua, Haledka'a, FraGa, Eau-ua
a and Willie Forrest all of whom kaN {
been in the school twice and in some
cases three and four times before.
George Kalua, now serving his fourth
n term, is the son of the guard at the
= insane asylum who was some time age
y killed by one of the inmates, his wife
h receiving a pension from the govern
?, ment. George is not depraved young
= ster and worked readily enough under
: the immediate eye of the superintend.
e ent, but he has been running on the
n streets for fourteen or fifteen years, is
e afraid of nothing and easily led into
e anything that promises little excite
}. ment.
Haleakala halls from Maui where he
was once discovered Secreted under the
? bed of his school teacher presumably tC
find out where she kept her Valuables
e He claimed to have been sleeping of
5 the effects of a drunken fit induced by
5 liquor which had been given to him.
Eddie Fraga, a Portuguese, has alsC
been in three or four times. Kaulda
was sentenced to six years at the
G school, three of which he has already
, served The sentence was for truancy
: and the fact that he had no home was
q probably taken into consideration II
giving him a term that would keep hin
in school until he was twenty, the limi
: of age for the reform school. Kauluf
arrived at the reform school in a very
ragged pair of trousers suspended by
string, an extremely dirty underves
and an apology for a coat. He haC
been living with his grandparents botl
helpless and practically bedridden WHIT
are sunnorted by the charity of thei
neighbors. Kaulua explained to Super
intendent Needham that his truanc,
was enforced as the teacher would no
allow him to attend school as he wa
and he had no means of obtaining othe
clothes. Willie Forrest, a half white
; has served before. He has lost hi
mother and his father who is a black
smith, tried to rule the boy with ro
OF iron. Like Kaulua he is not Grim
inally disposed but is incorrisibly lazy
Inspector Needham whose term close
by resignation in November, deplore
the proper lack of methods of securin
the boys at night with bars to window
instead of ordinary sashes. metho
of punishing the boys by segregatio
and enforced work would also he think
have a good effect AS 1t is the boy
incorrigibles all of them, have to be ur
CONTINUED to page five.)