The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-01-25
NE " CLUES
ARE FOUND
Mystery of the Tantalus
Skeletons.
POLICE TO INVESTIGATE
Pieces Of Cloth and Gold Buttons
Found Ina, may Lead 10
Identification.

Dead men tell no tales. It is said, but
They often leave clues behind them
which are gradually unraveled, until
the nature Of their deaths can be AS
certained Additional light was shed
yesterday on the manner In which the
two persons, whose skeletons We're
found some weeks since on the foot
hills of the Tantalus forest, met their
deaths. A fiattened bullet Embedded In
the soil near the skeletons, mutely told
story of violent death, but whether
from their own hands, or by the hand
of an enemy, there seems no sure way
of telling.
While David Dayton Jr.. was at the
quarry in the foothills near the place
where the two skeletons were found,
he learned from one of the prison
lunas that the skeletons had not been
removed, nor had anything been dis
turbed since the first investigat on was
made. Mr.. Dayton made his way
through the thick growth of lantana,
and found the skeletons, minus the
! skulls.
| II thought they had been taken away
and buried" said Mr.. Dayton last ev-
enng, but there they were. l investi-
|
up some of the Jumps which seemed to
have once formed a part of their cloth
| ing. | opened one lump careful y ana
found it to be, presumably, piece of
calico; even the print was diScernlbla.
A lump Of cloth taken from the sides
of the bones of the man showed to me
J that he had worn a brown coat. To
/ my mind the bones are unmistakab y
| those of man and a woman, as
stated in the Advertiser. Looking
around for something else, 1 took n
stick and poked it among the bones
of the breast and found two gold COL
| lar buttons. Further down i found a
Hawaiian quarter.
My chief discovery, however. was
that of bullet. flattened out, and
| lying about two feet from the place
where the Woman's head had been. The
prison luna said it was a 80 calibre.
The humerus was spit, showing clearly
that it had been broken by violent
blow, such as would be produced by
| the impact of bullet. When l found
the bullet I looked around for a re-
volver, which, if found, would have
substantiated the theory that the pair
had made off with themselves and had
| come to this secluded spot that they
might die together. found no revolver,
although in my search l was greatly
hampered by the thick growth of Ian
| tana, which did not permit my going
1ar away from the skeletons.
Il have come to believe from this
| one circumstance, alone, that murder
had been committed by some person
| unknown to the community. Had the
two made way with themselves the
weapon which they used would have
been near them. OF course, the Ian
tana there is the result of about eight
years growth in my estimation NO
one could have crawled into the Ian
tana had it been as thick as at pres
ent, and SO I believe they We're on the
hills before it became so thick. 1t
seems to me that these two came TO
their deaths at the hand of a third
party. / intend to hand over the arti-
Giles which l found, to the police. and
they may possibly hit upon some FUR
Their clue which will aid them in unray-
cling the mystery"
Mr Dayton also found pair of
mans rubbers, and portions of a pair
of shoes which he believes to have
been the woman's. Only the leather
parts where the lacings were put
Through the eyelets remained He also
found the decayed portins of two
hats. In one of the lumns of decayed
clothing piece of soap was discovered.
An effort will be made today to have
the articles found by Mr.. Dayton iden-
titled by Mrs. Kinimaka, VINO believes
the bones to be those of her son. VINO
left the kalihi Receiving Station for
lepers one day. and was never seen af-
forwards.