The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-11-26

to urge the necessity Of coroner's in
quests in all cases Of sudden death, To
a certain extent this urging has done
some good. In the city Of Honolulu II
| is not often that a sudden death is not
investigated. But even in Honolulu we
do not always get coroner's jury to
give a verdict, the law allows the
| Deputy Sheriff, who acts as coroner.
theoretically, and we punish infrac-
to decide in certain cases, whether
investigation shall or shall not be
made. From the point of view
/ from which The Star regards these
matters no sudden death should
be merely dismissed with the words
needs no investigation" Every sud
den death requires investigation, and
that investigation should be made by
coroner's jury.
1t is useless to cite the many cases
which have in the past been cited in
these columns and in those of the
Gazette of years ago, to prove the nee
! essity of investigation. There is no
doubt that there are people living in
our midst today who have the stain of
murder on their hands. A case how
ever, whcn has recently come to light
in Hawaii points the moral which The
Star wishes to convey.
A Chinaman of Kau was found
drowned. The matter was reported in
the newspapers at the time. No in
quest was held, and now there is a
charge that the Chinaman met with
foul play. From the report of the
Deputy Sheriff of Kau to the Sheriff
of the Island the following is taken
ION November 2, l reported to you
the death by drowning of Pa Kui CHI,
at Honuapo and of my not holding an
inquest. My reason for so reporting
to you was on account of officer Kua s
report to me that he had investigated
the matter and had seen nothing that
would indicate foul play. 1 asked him
about the net that had disappeared
and his reply was that it had probably
sunk in the pond"
What one wants to note in this very
naif report is the statement that the
reason the Deputy Sheriff did not hold
an inquest was because Officer Kua
had investigated the matter and had
! seen nothing that would indicate foul
play" The Deputy Sheriff did not in
vestigate for himself, he merely took
the word of a not too responsible police
officer The reasoning is plain. The
man was dead His throat had not
been cut, his head had not been mashed
in therefore the astute officer could
see nothing that could indicate foul
play" and therefore no inquest was
held. This is the position taken con-
stantly by the authorities outside of
Honolulu. Curiously enough, this po-
the Attorney Generals department.
The writer can well remember the look
of almost horror that came over At
torney General w. O. Smiths face
when it was argued on the floor of the
House of Representatives, that every
sudden death should be Investigated.
The present Attorney General shares
the opinion of Mr. Smith.
/ But with all due Difference to both
these legal gentlemen, The Star be-
lieVes that it's position is sound that
every sudden death should be investi-
gated, and investigated before a jury.
with witnesses properly sworn. We are
constantly having cases which require
investigation when the time for investi-
cation has gone by, as it has in this
Kau case. The sanctity of human life
whether it be that of an American,
European or an oriental must be pre-
served.
The law is plain on the subject, it
says:
Section 2. AS soon as any Coroner
shall have notice of the death of any
person, within his jurisdiction, suppos-
ed to have come to such death by pois-
Onlng, violence, or in any suspicious
manner, he shall forthwith issue his
summons to six good and lawful men,
of the district where such death may
have occurred, or in which the dead
body may have been found or is at the
time lying, to appear before him at the
time and place expressed in the war
rant, and there to inquire upon the
view of the body of the deceased, when,
how, and by what means he came to
his death"
Even assuming that the death of this
Kau Chinese was due to accidental
drowning it was clearly within the
statutory provision. of death by vio-
an inquest. Death by
drowning in both legal and ordinary
contemplation is a violent death"
And on this point the Standard Die
tiOnary gives among the definitions of
violent" Resulting from external
force or injury; not in the ordinary
course of nature; unnatural; acciden-
tai"