The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-01-07
CARRINGTON CHANGED HELLO"
INTO ALOHA"
Promoter of New Telephone Com-
pany Disappears Leaving Few Sor-
rowing Creditors.

The new telephone system has come /
and gone. John G. Darlington It's pro {
moter" swooped down upon the Homo /
lulu community and amid a blare of
trumpets announced that he hau come
to M a long telt want. lie would give
the people "a hello system which
would be n wonder. After ne naming
here sereval weeks. and victmizing
half dozen people, Darlington decided
to turn the hello system into an
aloha system which he did from the
deck Of some steamer which left here
within the last Two days. That Car
rngtOn is hello of a fellow, his
victims are unit in declaring but his
graft system was not on the whole
such an extensive proposition as Ho-
uoIulu has seen in days one by.
The career OF Darlington here was
short and decisive. In fact it was all
most as decisive as his dev7rture. Al
| though the young man spoke with
| German accent, he was not consumed
with such a race hatred but ne could
take French leave which he did, ac-
cording to the best advices, last Satur-
day
Darlington arrived here on the gov
ernment transport Aztec. To some he
| claimed that he had missed the passen-
ger steamer so secured permission
I from Secretary of the Navy Long TO
| travel on the navy boat. The transport
| officials insisted however, that he had
simply worked his way down. IN any
event after he got here Darlington lost
/ no time in shakiEg the bushel measure
from his head and letting his tele-
/ phone light so shine, that the commun-
TITS would know of his presence. After
getting a haircut and "A shave about
! the next thing he did was to visit the
/ newspaper offices and announce the
impending advent of a new telephone
afafaL.l
into any minute description of the pro-
posed system. The people who signed
/ the agreement to patrOnize the com
/ pany will no doubt recall those details.
1t is sufficient to say that Darlington
/ was received with open arms, in some
cases, and alas, in others with open
| pOcketsbooks. He proceeded to work
/ the community in small way
| Darlington possessed the Characters
! tic of the cameleOn. To one man he an
nounced that he had been born and
raised in Richmond, Va. To another
he declared that he was from Indiana
polls, Ind, where his father, General
Darlington was at the head of the In
dianapolis Telephone Company The
scion of the military race was not con-
tent however to possess two different
birth places and slightly initiating
! Alexander the Great, he sighed for
more places in which to be born. By
the time he had finished spinning his
ball of romantic yarn his early days
resembled the railroad map of Indiana
with all the water tanks marked in too.
| He was here for his health; he had
been assistant superintendent of the
new tangled telephone company at
Omaha, Neb., while to another he in
sisted that he had recently come from
China.
Darlington took room in Adams
Lane. His baggage did not even con-
sist of a shirt collar and pair of spurs,
for he boaSted only an extra collar.
The young adventurer was fortunate
however in finding a kind hearted per-
son in Charles Mueller the manager of
the new meat market. When the latter
saw such a nice young man as Caring
ton lacking for clothes, with charac-
teristic hospitality, he pointed to his
trunk and invited Darlington to help
himself to cuffs, collars, neckties and
shirts. Darlington might have served
as lookout in a faro bank for he over
looked no tricks and soon waXed i'm
maculate in the linen of his benefactor.
To the landlady Darlington told the
old, old, story, of a delayed trunk.
During all of his career here Caring
ton was consistent in only one thing
He was consistent in his inconsistency.
He never told the same story twice.
Shortly after his arrival he informed
his landlady that the reason he poss-
eSSed no trunk was IL lldt Dt-tE lp7I III
China. Still later he remarked that his
trunk had been left behind in San
Francisco. The landlady does not re-
member whether he said he had the
ticket with him or not. From collnrsi
} and cuffs, Darlington enlarged his pow
ers of insinuation to money and soon
was touching Mueller at the rate Of
a dollar and four bits at a time.
| week or so ago Darlington called
upon Mrs. Cowes of Hotel street ard
asked for an option on her property
until January 18th. He wanted to pay
her $32, 500. Mrs. Cowes was not favor
ably impressed with the fellow. In fact
she told him so very plainly. After lis
tening to his offers she replied that she
did not care to transact any business
, with him. He asked her why she was
so 'leery" Mrs. Cowes then gave the
following answer well! Mr.. CARING
ton if your company is such a rich
concern as you represent, | don't see
: why ii hasn't some body to send, who
looks more like a business man than
} you do. You may be all right but you
don't look 1t"
Darlington claimed however that he
had gotten an option on this land and
also had bought Sullivan's property
corner of Hotel and Union streets, the
intention being to erect a four story
building for the new company
Darlington was "Piker' though anC
ms operations were cOnnneu 10 SINAI
amounts. The hang-dog look that
marked the fellow seemed to prejudice
the majority of people against him. He
succeeded in getting $15 from a salooT
man and $40 from well known preach
er. Charles Bellna of the Club Stables
is out weeks livery hire and nigh
have been out of a fine rig into the bar,
gain. Darlington hired the rig and fl
nally decided to purchase it. He ten
dered a check for $3.50 in payment
through a local bank, receiving a re-
ceipted bill. 1T was subsequently learn
ed that the check was worthless.
! The last seen of Darlington was OF
Saturday afternoon. He told one frienC
that he intended going to HilO. Blu
there were no vessels leaving for tina
place on Saturday. The general be
lief is however that he took secret de
parture on ~ Zealandia for the Main
land. 1t is not regarded as probabl,
that he went to Hilo for he made tina