The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-03-25
woods IS RESENTFUL
win not DE Good If Authorities Com
tinuc To- lnnlct Alleged Injustice.
quite am Interesting Prisoner.


against what he claims was the unjust
way that he was consigned to prison for
the term of his natural life for am or
binary burglary at Spreckelsville last
year. Wounded and baffed. Woods re-
turned to prison with the full desire to
either force compassion from the public
or else give the captors so much trou-
BILE that they would rejoice in any
means of getting rid of him whether 1t
be through a pardon or else through an
encounter with some of his guards.
There are two people against whom
Woods has vowed special vengenCe.
They are Judge Kalua of Maui who sem
fenced him to prison and "Sweette'
Smith a COlOred man, whom Woods
claims, turned migrate and tried to be-
tray him. IF ever / meets that thar
SWeetie, 1 tell you III fix him sure.
declared Woods. He's going back to
the States some time and If I gets away
I'll hunt him up
But i'm the eyes of Woods Sweetie is
not so serious an offender against him
as is Judge Kalua. Woods says that
next to getting out of this country en-
tirely he wanted to get over to Maui
where he could get a couple Of WinChes-
ter rifles. EFF l coulda got them guns
he said, ia made things hum for a
while
The police think that Woods had
making things hum
In spite of all the bravado with which
Woods has acted since his capture and
all of his talk about wanting to make
trouble many people who have talked
with the negro and watched him, do not
think him at heart a dangerous man.
Il have been on many hunts for cri-
minals," said a man who has acted WITH
a number of posses i'm search of serious
offenders, but l have never before seen
so much sympathy expressed for prt-
sOner as there seems to be felt for TINS
man. Woods. Almost every officer with
whom 1 have talked. has declared that
he does not blame Woods for being des-
perate over having been given such an
unheard of and unreasonable sentence
as life, for an ordinary burglary which
in the States, would have received
about five years. The man evidently is
looked upon as the victim of Circum-
stances and even the men who are ms
captOrs seem to think that his reckless
conduct has been caused by natural re-
sentiment over his treatment
In spite of the three desperate at
tempts that Woods has made to escape
life Imprisonment, sentiment is strongly
i'm his favor To talk with the man in
prison, he is the last person that would
be taken for such a desperate man as he
has proved to be. 1t is for this reason
that people who have interviewed the
darby are inclined to think that con-
tinued brOoding over the heavy sem
tence has transformed him into a reck-
| less resentful being. Although the prl-
sOner has confessed great resentment
against "Sweetie" the idea of revenge
was not paramount in his mind. His
only idea seemed to be to get out of the
| country
Woods is a good natured darby. A
man about medium height and black as
! coal He sat in the police station yes
! terday and laughed at the numerous
/ funny features Of the chase after him.
/ The idea of a police officer armed with
! a big revolver running away from him
! seemed to strike Woods as very anus
! ing. why" he exclaimed IF l could
have got that gun 1 might have had a
| chance, but he ran so fast ana the gun
rolled down hin so fast, could not keep
up with them
| But let mention be made to Woods of
the life sentence hanging over him,
and instantly he changes, and from a
| good natured, smiling, inOtfensiVe tel-
| low he is transferred into resentful
threatening person. The idea of that
wrong as he views it, has made brute
out of him.
"They did not treat me right" he
| exclaims There was not much evidence
/ that 1 did rob that store anyway. About
! the only thing they had against me was
that they found the money on me. Ihey
! got that back. 1 pleaded guilty ana
! that Judge, who they say was drunk
| sentenced me for life. There were EEL
! lows over on that plantation that We're
I stealing meat and cane and stuff and
/ they let them go did nothing at all to
! them but they seized me. IL ain right
/ I tell YOU when / think of the way that
other men who commit murder ana an
of that are allowed to get off and l am
n a
robbery it makes me desperate. 1 got a
father and mother and sisters and
brothers back i'm Florida and when
! thinks that l never Will see them ana
| ALWAYS have to stay here when / didn't
do any murder or any crime TO deserve
it. l tell you l Just don't care what nap
pens to me- They can kill me if they
wants to. don't care but 1 amt going
to try to do right when they treat me
this way. l will make rOuble for EN-
unless they do something about my
| case"
'There amt no use living anyhow
when a mans been treated like l nave
1 didn't do nothing to deserve TINS ahu
If they are going to keep me here then
1 am going to make it lively for them, II
1 can. 1 wouldn't have cared If l had
got five years or something like that
hut to send a man up for life when ne
didn't kill anybody or do any pau
! crime, is wrong. l am just a-BolhB u
make trouble and let them kill me. for
l might as we'll be dead, as being kept
in Jail like 1 am"
At the time that Woods was sentenc-
ed, the severity of the punishment caus-
ed considerable comment and there
| seemed i'm fact no circumstances when
in popular estimation justified such a
| term of imprisonment being Imposed
Woods broke into the store at one OF
the camps at Spreckelsville and carried
away a safe which he ri1ed of about
$500. He was captured and most, If not
all of the money, recovered. Judge IA
lua sentenced him to life Imprisonment
and ever since that sentence was IN
hicted, Woods has been trying TO regain
his liberty. Some of the officer are OF
the opinion that were some inducemenl
of a Communication of sentence held out
to Woods, he would become changed
man and endeavOr to faithfully serve
his time whatever il was to be.
FOR HUMANITY.
William Johnston a Liverpool shiT
] oUrnar has piypn G. Or 600 TO the uuiVeT-