The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-08-21
FITCH ON
MACOON
Administration Of
Loves Affairs
Scored.
LIKE DR.. JEKYLL
AND Mr.. HYDE
Vocabulary Exhausted in Telling
OF Methods OF Caring
for Estate.
ALFRED MAGooN, guardian Of

James Love, was not present
~ in the Circuit Court yesterday
morning, though he was defendant and
attorney in the case on trial. Thomas
Fitch, however, was present in the
court room, and he made his presence
felt as well as heard. Several times
during Mr.. Fitch's presence Mr.. Ma
COON appeared at the court room door,
but he did not linger long. For Mr..
Magoon was the subject of Col. Fitch's
remarks, and he thought that they
would apply with equal force if he was
not present to bear the brunt of the
attack.
There may have been one or two
things that Mr.: Fitch did not say In
his argument in the Love case, reflect
ing upon Magoon's honesty, character
and methods, but the few fortunate
listeners to the remarkable peroration
thought that the vocabulary of exple-
tive had been pretty well exhausted by
the speaker
Mr. Fitch first referred to James
Loves thrift in accommodating his es-
tate, and the proceedings by which he
was adjudged a spendthrift, stating
that he mad no legal family, and had no
one dependent upon him. Magoen was -
appointed guardian in 1895. He refer
red to the Hawaiian law. which took
no cognizance of children born out of
wedlock, and said:
IT do not censure Mr.. Magoon for SYM
pathizing with children born out of we'd
lock. 1 will not deny that in that SYM
pathy he may be wiser and better than
the Hawaiian law, but hardly think 1t Is
his right as guardian of Mr.. Loves prop
erty and estate to assume the additional
function of guardian of his conscience,
and compel him to submit to privation in
order to preserve an estate for the bene-
fit of Mrs. Hart, or Of anybody else In
the world
A FRAUD ON Mr.. LOVE.
1.-The proceedings by which Mr.. Love
was in February, 1885, placed in a spend
thrift trust, do not reflect credit upon
those who were engaged in them. The
record recites that Mr.. Magoon filed
petition signed by Mrs. Hart charging
Mr.. Love with being a drunkard who
was so wasting his estate as to be In
danger of bringing himself to want. Mr..
Love filed answer acceding to the
prayer of the petitioner, but denying the
| charge of drunkenness. At the hearing
IT. Loves lawyer was not present Mr..
Magoon stated to the Court that all
charges against Mr.. Love except that or
| being a spendthrift were withdrawn.
and that Mr.. Love consented to being
/ adjudged a spendthrift, with Mr.. Magoon
as his guardian. Mr.. Love on being ques-
| tioned-not under oath--by the Court,
agreed to Mr.. Magoon's statement.
| "Mr Love testifies here that Mr.. Ma
goon told him that the charge Of drunk
enness was withdrawn, and therefore he
consented to the trust. M. Magoon tesu-
| fes here that he does not recoliect max
| ing any such statement to Mr.. Love, but
| thinks that he could not have made 1t,
| because if he had made 1t he would have
withdrawn the allegation of necessary
| jurisdictional fact, and no adjudication
| of Love as a spendthrift could nave
been made Mr.. Love certainly under
stood tnat the charge of drunkenness
was withdrawn. The language of Mr..
| Magoon in the record is either inadver-
| tently or purposely ambiguous. 1t may
| not have been the intention of Mr.. Ma
| COON to deceive Mr.. Love, but he was
deceived. 1t required a lawyer to COM
| prehend the force or rather the lack OF
| force of Mr.. Magoons withdrawal of all
| charges except that Of being a spend
| thrift and Mr.. Love was not a lawyer
| 1t is true that ignorance Of the law
! is no excuse but it Is also true that
guardian who is lawyer,eand who takes
! advantage of mans ignorance of the
law to beguile him into consenting to a
guardianship to which he would not have
/ consented had he known the law, does
not in resisting a termination of that
| guardianship come into Court with clean
| hands.
| LOVE NEVER A SPENDTHRIFT.
Now If there Is any one feature in
this case more obvious than another. 1t
s the overwhelming, uncontroverted, con-
trolling fact-which no evidence has
| shaken, and to overcome which practi-
cally no evidence has been offered-that
James Love is not now wasting or i'm
| pairing, and that he never did at any
| une in his life waste or impair his es-
| tate, so as to make 1t probable that he
might bring himself to want or suffering.
| Whether rioting on foot at 81 week,
or in cabs at fifty dollars a week. James
| Love-drunk or sober-never expended
his income, or at least never substan-
tally diminished his estate. so as to
make it remotely possible that he might
come to want"
LII. Fitcn went over the schedule Of
receipts and expenditures of Mr. Love