The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-03-11
THE. STREET CARS ROBBED
WHOLESALE CONSPIRACY
UNEARTHED.
Six Tram Car Drivers Under Arrest
Pending an Investigation by the
Authorities-Scheme Discovered

Six OF the drivers for Pains tramcars
are in close confinement at the police
station pending an investigation. 1t is
thought that the crowd are concerned
In a wholesale scheme by which the
company mas been systematically rob
bed OF receipts from the cars. by the
arrest of the men was unearthed a very
ingenious scheme by which the pay
boxes in the cars have been despoiled.
The scheme is new TO Honolulu and.
according TO one OF the men. was in
troduced but short time ago by
newcomer from the Coast. no David
KAPPA, of the local detective force be-
longs the credit of making the arrests
and discovering the scheme 10y which
the robbing is thought to have been
accomplished
w. Nelson, Kane Joe de Rigo. Noah
kalua, solomon Pahukoa, and Kindo
are the names given by the au-
thoriues While the police have been
aware of the alleged robberies since
only last Saturday, when Manager
Pain reported the occurrence to them
The despoiling Of the street cars is
said TO have extended over period
of several weeks Just when the rob-
berries were inaugurated however is not
certain.
Some time ago after he returned from
abroad Mr.. Pain noticed that the re-
ceipts of his cars We're falling off very
materially Had the rapid transit
company been in operation he might
have found a logical explanation but
when there was absolutely no opposi-
tion and the public had no choice of
street car transportation there was no
reason why there should be such a
deficiency in the receipts one fact
was evident, cars which had been in
the habit of netting from $35 a day and
upwards suddenly began to drop to SIS
and less. Mr. Pain and his assistants
kept tab on the different drivers and
at length formed their suspicion as to
who were the guilty parties if indeed
| the deficiency was caused by dishonest
! causes.
The police were notified of the affair
last Saturday and Detective Kaapa was
detailed to investigate. David proVid-
/ ed himself with about $50 in marked
nickels. These he proceeded to drop
/ into the pay boxes in the various cars.
| The officer reasoned that when the
boxes were opened after the runs of
the cars were finished and any defh-
cheney in the number of marked coins,
was found there would be excellent
evidence that the box had in some way
been robbed. Just how the robbery
might have been committed was at
! that time unknown to the officer 1t
might have been before the money was
shifted out of the change shute or else
after the money had been dropped in
to the cash box below The suspected
drivers might have had skeleton keys
/ by which they secured entrance into
| the cash box which held the money and
are directly underneath the cash shutes
where the fares are dropped by the
passengers.
On Sunday Detective KAPPA did con-
siderable riding on the tramway lines.
He went over the Waikiki branch. then
he took a jaunt out Punahou then he
rode over the Nuuanu street line and
also rode to the Palama end of the
road. He did this riding not only once
but various times. Last night he took
the six men into custody.
On being searched the officers found
en- Nelson, Rigo and Kalua an instru-
ment by which the robberies are
thought to have been committed. This
instrument is quite ingenious. 1t Is
made of a piece of tin about two inches
wide and about ten inches in length.
The tin is doubled over so that it is
only an inch in width but still retains
the original length. Then little cut
is made separating the lips of one or
the ends thus making pair of tweeZ-
ers The lips of the tweezers are part
ed sufficiently to permit any coins from
a five cent piece to a dollar being in
serted and held. The boxes are robbed
by inserting this tweezers through the
top slot where the money is dropped
and catching hold of the coin and
drawing it out These change shutes
are divided into three or four compart-
ments to which there are sliding bot
toms. The compartments are in plain
view as they are made of glass. When
ever the driver desires to empty one
compartment he pulls string moves
the bottom and the coins drop into the
receptacle below.
After the coin is dropped from the
, top compartment to the one directly
below 1t, the money can not be secured
except by breaking the glass. The
, theory of the officer is that the cars
were robbed by means of the improVis
ed tin tweezers. The implement was
inserted in the top compartment anc
the money removed from there JUS
when the offenders, whoever they were
chose to rob the shutes is not nov
, known. 1t could scarcely have beer
attempted while there was danger o.
discovery Evidently the work wa
done while the cars were at the enc
of the various divisions and there wer
/, no passengers near to observe VIVA
was being done.
One of the prisoners informed the de
tective that the implement had beel
. given the drivers by man who re
9 Gently came from the Coast NO at
4 tempt has been made to question TN
1 men closely regarding their suspecte,