The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-12-13
An Explosion De-
lstroys a KaIihi
Home.
KEKAHA'S BODY
BLOWN TO PIECES
Tragedy Was Due TO CareIessness
in Handling the Danger
Gus Material.

Careless handling of nearly twenty
pounds of giant powder caused ter
rife explosion about 6 o'clock yesterday
morning in the house of Kaiapoepoe,
a Hawaiian, in Kalihi Valley, about a
mile and quarter above King street,
on the road leading past the Cum
sion Kekaha, a native about 20 years
of age, was blown to pieces. Other
inmates of the house were Kalehua,
about the same age, who now lies in
the Queens Hospital with both eyes
mutilated, his ear drums shattered,
with few chances of surviving the
shock, as he had not recovered con-
seriousness up to a late hour last night.
Mrs. Kaiapoepoe sustained injuries in
the head, neck and shoulders, and the
end of one of her fingers is missing,
while small splinters of wood were
driven into her body. Paukeaho, aged
about so. was severely hurt by timbers
falling upon him.. Sam Kekaha, boy
aged 8. was blown through the house
and landed some distance away, al
though he was not badly hurt. Aka
hele, girl aged Is, and Paulo, boy
aged 10, were little more than bruised;
the former, in fact. being the only one
who really escaped injury.
The explosion was heard all over
town, and sound sleepers We're awak-
ened by the shock. 1t was generally
believed that heavy blast had been
discharged in the Kalihi quarry There
were several versions of the cause of
the explosion. One was that Kaia-
poepoe and his wife had not been on
good terms for few days, and that he
returned yesterday morning and touch
ed off the dynamite to destroy his fam
lily and others. Kaiapoepoe, however,
was very drunk when the explosion
took place, and was then in the house
of a neighbor. Even when he viewed
the scene of the catastrophe, he was
unable to comprehend its full signifi-
canoe, and was taken to the station
house to sober up.
Deputy Sheriff Chillingworth was no
titled of the affair about $50 and Wis
tied the place with a coroner's jury.
They found that the house had been
blown to smithereens and evidences of
the terrific force of the explosion were
shown in the distance to which por-
lions of Kekaha's body had been car
ried. Part of n leg was found in one
place. the head in another, and so on.
From what the deputy sheriff could
gather, Kekaha had risen early and
gone into the mauka room, where giant
powder was kept. Kekaha worked at
the government quarry and probably
had brought the explosives, piece by
piece, to the house. AS it was rainy
morning and there was nothing to do
at the quarry, the police are of the
opinion that Kekaha was preparing
some of the sticks to be used in fishing
in Kalihi Bay. Mrs. Kaiapoepoe said at
the hospital that she heard something
suffering in the mauka room, when
she arose to see whether her husband
had returned home. She looked into
the room where Kekaha was smoking
a pipe, and saw him going toward the
outer door with box of giant powder
under his arm, evidently to throw it
out of the house. She remembers
nothing more, except that terrific
explosion came at that instant Mrs.
Kaiapoepoe stated later that her re-
lations with Kekaha were friendly, but
not intimate. The police believe that
the explosion was due to an accident.
Most of the other inmates OF the
house were asleep when the stick
went off. Sam Kekaha, the boy,
saws the first he knew OF it was when
he was blown from his bed into the air
and struck the ground outside. Mrs.
Kaiapoepoe was pinned under the
wreckage of the house, while kalehua.
who was near the place where Kekaha
was last seen, received the full sweep
of the conclusion. He was rendered
unconscious, and when picked up by the
police it was seen that his sight was
gone and that his ears were mutilated
as we'll
Samuel Kaiihama was the first man
to reach the scene of the tragedy2 He
was asleep in his house, which is about |
40 yards distant, at the time the eX-
plosion occurred, and ran at once to