The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-09-27
THE JAPANESE TESTIMONY.
STRANGE EVIDENCE BEFORE
FIRE COURT.
The Jap Who Lost a Gold Tooth-A
Woman's Doubt About Her Deceased
Husband.
What is your husband doing now?"
81 don't knoWn

What is your husband doing now?''
81 don't know"
"Why?"
Hes dead"
The above was the bright expression
of japanese woman's doubts about
the standIn- of her late husband in the
Beyond, before the Court of Fire Com
missioners. The court was trying, rs
in other cases, to find out how much
the claimant, Judging by her income,
might reasonably be supposed to have
in the way of household property.
Strange claims and stranger testi-
mony continue to entertain the COM
missioners and the lawyers. One Jap
yesterday had claim for gold tooth.
Chairman Macfarlane got curious
about it and wanted to know how the
claimant happened to have lost a tooth
in the fire. He got an explanation.
Il lost tooth and had a gold one
put in," said the Jap "and on the day
of the big fire 1 took the tooth out to
claen it. Just then my wife came and
shouted that the fire was coming, and
ran and left the tooth behind"
AS proof that the gold tooth had
really been lost the Jap approached the
court and invited the judges to exam
inc his molars. He opened his jaws
and pointed to a cavity where the gold
molar had been before the fire, but the
commissioners didn't want to make any
dental Investigations, and they waved
him aside.
A woman named Nakichi came to
the front with a claim for about hun
dred dollars, on which Macfarlane
found some items calling for questions.
They were glass lamps, at $5 each.
isn't this a mistake? Weren't they S5
dozen?" asked Macfarlane.
The woman indicated the splendid
hanging chandeliers of the throne room,
and said that her three lamps at IS
each had been great big hanging lamps
like those. She was excused without
having to tell in what part of her
palace she kept them.
Sake got into a tangle over some
watches. There were SO of them ORR
ginally, he said, but he got 20 back
The commissioners once got him down
to II actually lost, but the figures rose
and fell as the witness struggled
through inquiries. Macfarlane finally
told him he evidently didn't know any
thing about it, and had better take
back his claim and make another. He
admitted that he hadn't written it out
and didn't know much about it,
The Jap claims still have the right
of way. The witnesses are very polite
and ceremonious. Each claimant as he
or she walks to the witness chair be-
fore the commission, bows low to Inter
prefer Chester Doyle, to the lawyers
and the commission. When it comes
to giving evidence a good proportion
of them rivet their eyes on the ceiling.
With most of the claims little time
is spent. The commissioners simply
find out where the claimant lived, his
or her income and how long the income
had lasted before the fire, and then the
witnesses are excused. In other cases,
where the list of lost property includes
doubtful items there is questioning
about it, often ending in a very signi-
ficant that's ALL" as the witness final
ly lands in a mesh of statements it is
no use trying to straighten out.
The court will not sit tomorrow, ad-
journing in honor of the Mckinley
memorial day.