The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-03-15
CASES IN
COURT.
,From Wednesdays daily

The trial of Kaga, the Japanese
charged with assault with deadly
weappn. to-wit: pair of scissors, upon
the person of Toma, a Japanese woman
last December at Iwilei came up before
the First Circuit Court yesterday, pc
ing continued from last Friday. The
Jury drawn sitting in the case are w.
+ Dillingham;, j. Il. Jaeger, Chas.
Ramsey, w. j. Smith. 7. II. Petrie, d.
M. BOSS, u. r. Bailey, p. II. Helm,
James Spencer, A. A. Montana, James
Brown and j. w. Lloyd.
Kaga was placed upon the stand ana
testified that Toma is his cousin ana
that he stood in the relationship Oh
guardian to her since she came from
japan by reason of his relationship ana
the natural interest he had in her well
fare on account of knowing her folks
in japan. He said that he knew that
she was leading an evil life and that ne
was continually trying to persuade her
to go back to Japan, but this she re-
fused to do. On the night of the as
sault he said he had been trying to
induce her to return to her folks and in
order to brighten her took up the scis-
sors and feigned to cut her hair. Ac-
way that the woman suffered the
wound upon her face, as she threw up
her hands and knocked the scissors
against her own face. causing the
wound. Toma herself was put upon
the stand, but her story differed ma
terially. She testified that Kaga was
very angry with her and grabbed hold
of her roughly apparently meaning to
iniure her; her struggles were natural
and did not cause the injury, but on
the contrary had she not struggled the
injury wouId have been much more
serious.
Assistant Attorney General Dunn
prosecuted the case and Attorney De
Bolt appeared for the defendant
After two hours deiberation the jury
returned a verdict finding the defend
ant guilty as charged and sentence was
denounced by the court, condemnlnS
Kaga to two years at hard labor In
Oahu prison and sentencing him to pay
the COSTS which are assessed at SlS5o'
The Jury sitting on the case was dis
charged for the term.
BARTLETT DIVORCE CASE
A transcript of notes in the case of
Josephine Bartlett VS.. w. S. Bartlett
has been filed in which the oral deci-
sion of the court is given. The court
finds that the husbands charge of 'un-
faithfulness" when the wife stayed
away all night at the house of woman
acquaintance and again where she
stayed away all day at the races ana
did not attend to household duties, are
not sufficient upon which to base the
cause of cruelty, for which to grant a
divorce. The plaintiffs charge of IN
temperance was not sustained In ms
opinion the judge says that the case is
practically undefended. yet the court
has the duty of being astute in divorce
cases to detect fraud and collusion.'
The decision concludes as follows:
THE court cannot grant divorce by
consent or because there is no contest,
or because both parties desire it; nor
will 1t seize upon tlimsy, uncertain and
equiyocal language. used no doubt IN
the heat of passion and under some
provocation, upon which to base find
ing of extreme cruelty. Sympathy for
a lachrymose plaintiff should not infiu-
ence the court to disregard the law, the
evidence and its duty: Libel dismiss
ed; order for temporary alimony revok-
ed"
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT.
p. d. Day, the hackman who struck
officer Doyle of the custom house SER
vice with q whip few days ago, APP
peared before Commissioner Robinson
for preliminary examination yesterday.
He waived the hearing and was com
mitted for trial at the April term, his
bail being changed from $4,000 to $l,OoO.
George e. Lee. first mate of the Star
Of Bengal, under arrest for assault up
on two sailors and mistreatlng them
during the voyage of the vessel from
Australia to Honolulu, was brought be-
fore Commissioner Robinson yesterday
morning and the preliminary hearing
was had. He had been arrested under
the name of John Lee, but said that his
name was George Il. Lee. and under
this name his case was committed for
trial at the coming term, being bound
to appear under $4,000 bonds. Another
sailor from the Star of Bengal also APP
peared with a complaint of assault and
mistreatment, but it developed that he
was Finn, and as no interpreter of his
language could be found, his complaint
was not entered, the evidence of the
other two sailors being deemed suffi-
cient to represent the case.
A petition in bankruptcy was filed
yesterday III the united SldteS DlSlrlcl
Court by United States Attorney Baird
petitioning that Kanasburo Tomashima
be declared bankrupt Tomashima
was recently a merchant of Hilo.
Il. II. Davies & Company, Asadi and
Iwakaml and several other creditors are
seeking to have a mortgage given by
the lnsovent to Hackfeld & Company
declared an act of bankruptcy, as this
mnrtpapa WAS given I'm December a n
time when Tomashlma was already
$4,000 in debt. The mortgage is for
81, 800 and has been foreclosed and the
property bought in by Tomashlma for
81, 900. The other creditors hope to have
this property and all other assets of
the insolvent merchant divided among
them according to law.
COURT NOTES.