The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-11-06
FIRST CATCH YOUR OMM INSANE HM BUT MNDGM PLEAD aAND MM MNRu DEATH RATE AGAIN
HUMPHREYS SURPRISES SOME
DEFENDANTS.
Police Officers are Roasted Cor Their
Methods OF Securing Evidence and
Exercising Authority.

The First Circuit court proceedings
were made interesting this morning
by several statements from Judge Hum
phreys indicating strong disapproval Of
the methods Of the police department
in obtaining evidence and by two sur
prises for defendants who pleaded
guilty in the hope Of getting light sem
| tenCes.
Tbe case Of Kane. a tramways driver
I who appropriated S.75 i'm Pain nickels
was the first one. Kane, by his attor-
ney Kaulukou withdrew his plea Of not
guilty and entered a plea Of guilty. He
had heard Of the two tramWays drivers
who pleaded guilty yesterday and got
fines of only S. each, and he thought
the proposition was easy But the
court had other ideas about Kane's
case.
Under examination by the court Kane
stated that he was 80 years old married
| and had three children. Then the judge
furnished the surprise. you were
| doubtless Influenced In Withdrawing
your plea of not guilty and substitu-
| ting plea of guilty by the fact that
the court gave light sentences yester-
day in two similar cases" said Judge
Humphreys, but yours Is an entirely
different case. The defendants yester-
day were mere boys, of good character,
while you are a man of mature years
and mature judgment. 1t is not so
much the amount taken which is ad-
mitted small, as the violation Of the
confidence Of your employers, that calls
! for punishment. Business cannot be
| done unless employers repOse confidence
In employees and if the clerks and en-
| ployes in this city think they can with
| impunity violate the trust Of those who
| employ them, commercial interests Of
all kinds will suffer There seems 20
| have been a sort of epidemic of larceny
! among employees of the Tramways COM
pany. This is the third case. The Judge
ment of the court is that you be inn
prisoned at hard labor for 10 days"
All PAX was the next man to plead
guilty. He was charged with assault
| with a dangerous weapon. Deputy At
| torney General Cathcart stated that the
| weapon was an axe. used on police Of
| ficer, but that the blow had been light,
| and he didn't think a heavy sentence
I was called for. Frank Thompson APP
peared for the defendant and stated
! that he also thought light punishment
would serve the interests Of Justice
The court asked the complaining wit
ness and the defendant some questions
Ilt appeared that there had been a riot
! In which a large number OF Chinese and
natives had been involved, and the
|
| ter it was all over All PAX, moved by a
| sudden impulse OF sympathy for his
| countrymen who had been nterfered
With. brought his axe into play on the
| officers shoulders. He said he wanted
| to make peace
Anyone who tries to make peace
with an axe Is likely to land before a
| bar of justice" said the court. Under
| the conditions that exist in this COM
munity there is no doubt that it is the
| duty Of the court to protect the police
| in performing their duties. There is no
| doubt that the police have abused and
do abuse their power, exercising no dis
cretion and using brute force where
j 'Sindly coercion would have better eff
feet. but this does not seem to have
| been the case in this instance. Here
an officer endeavoring to preserve peace
| was assaulted with an axe" All PAX
was ordered to pay a fine of 800, and
1 informed that II he had not been such
an old man, he would have been sent
| to iail.
Poloaiea, charged with selling liquor
without a license, was the next defen-
dant to be tried. Two police spies tes-
| titled to having bought gin and milk
| from him. While Kane was arguing the
case the court found out that the COM
plaint was defective. He instructed the
i Jury to return a verdict OF not guilty,
declaring that the complaint would not
sustain verdict of guilty If one should
be brought. Humphreys remarked that
he was sorry to take the case from the
Jury. The evidence showed not that
the defendant was in the habit OF SELL
ing liquor but that he had been induced
to do so, by the spies. "The offense
seems to have been fomented by the
police" said the Judge, "and they are
as censurable as the defendant" The
Jurors in the case were 3. r. Campbell,
! William Herrick. G. Livingston, James
kahalepua, Alexander X. Aona, E. X.
Blake, Hermann Levy, l.. A. Rostin,
! David Motley. William G. Rowland, G..
X. Kaia, James NJ. Sims
r. Fl. Hodge, charged with assault
and battery, did not appear when his
name was called, and his bonds were
declared forfeited. The case of Rice,
accused with him. was nolle pressed