The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-01-14
WAS JOE ROSA
MURDERED 2
THE POLICE AND THE AUTOPSY
PHYSICIAN WORK ON
THAT THEORY.
A SMALL HOLE IN THE SKULL
DISCOVERED.
Inferentially the Board Of Health on
cials Put 1t Up to DR.. Alvarez who
Gave the Death Certificate.

What is believed will prove to be q
murder is being investigated by the pol
! lice. Joe Rosa, a printer, is thought BY
/ the authorities to have met with FOUL
! play some time Saturday night and hisi
| brother, George Rosa, is now detain-
ed at the police station on suspicion
of having been concerned in the af-
| fair. Mrs. Rosa, widow of the dead mani
| is also in prison, to await further invest
| tigatiOn by the police. She is believed
| by the authorities to have been in
| directly at the bottom Of the murder ri
such 1t proves to be.
| Evidence now at hand goes to indi-I
cate that Joe Rosa was injured in AMI
encounter and that jealousy over theI
| dead mans wife probably led to theI
! fight. On the other hand, George RosaI
! the surviving brother protests his innO-t
cence of any harm to his brother. Hel
| admits that they had a quarrel on Sat-l
! urday night but maintains that they didi
| not come to blows on account Of it, Mrs !
| Rosa and her young son about II years.
! of age, both have admitted to the au-l
! thOrities that George and Joe Rosai
| had a fight Saturday night In anyi
| event, the body of Joe Rosa has been1
| eXhumed and indications of foul playl
| have been found by the examining sur
! geOns, The discovery Of the crime wasl
made by the merest accident, as Dr.
! Alvarez gave a certificate assigning ALL
! cOhOl poisoning as the cause of death i
The Rosa family has been unsavor-I
| ably known to the police for a longi
| time. Joe Rosa and his wife and four
children living in a cottage on the EwaI
! side of PunchbOwl street near Kinau.I
His brother George lived with them.
! This brother is said by the authorities
| to have been enamOured Of his sister-in-I
| law and rows between the brothers were
| frequent. In fact the officers have had
| to go to the Rosa place a number of
times to quell disturbances. Evidently
the last quarrel between the brothers.,
which occurred on Saturday night when
both were intoxicated, proved to be the
last, although the possibility of murder
was not learned until yesterday after
noon.
Joe Rosa, a brother of the late An
tone Rosa, died early Monday morning
January l8, and was buried in the
Catholic cemetery in the afternoon. On
sunday DR.. Alvarez was called to at
tend him and when he died gave
certificate of death from alcoholism.
Later in the day w. Keawe, a native
boy who lives near the Rosa told the
police that on Sunday morning in pass
ing the Rosa residence he saw Joe Rosa
lying on the floor with his head on
pillow which was covered with blood
He thought little of it at the time but
when he heard of Rosas death his
suspicious We're aroused
The police at once sent for Rosa s
! widow, her l2-year old son and George
Rosa, JOe's brother all of whom lived
together, and questioned them closely
, regarding the death. Their stories diff
fered considerably agreeing only In the
I fact that there had been a struggle be-
. tween Joe and his brother George A
F. search of the house resulted in finding
the bloody pillow. The pillow case had
been washed but still showed signs of
= blood stains.
Rosa's body was exhumed and taken
y to the morgue where DR.. J T. Mcdonald
2 made an autopsy, and the following re-
= port of it,
I Several bruises and abrasions were
found on different parts of body, but in
the mead was found the wound which
: caused death. In the left temple was a
a tiny hole hardly a sixteenth OF an inch
: in diameter, This hole penetrated the
. skull, and inside the head widened out
, until 1t became cavity nearly half an
= inch square. How this wound was
a caused is a mystery, but from appear
+ ances it looks as if a stiletto or some
long thin instrument had been plunged
into the skull and then twisted round
and round, disintegrating the radius
covered by the point"
a coroner's jury was impanelled and
an inquest will be held tonight Mrs
a Rosa is half white woman and her
. husband had lived unhappily with her
{ for some time.
This morning. the police found the in
strument which is believed was used in
infiictinF the wound In the temple 1t
is pair of metal cOmpasses used In
tcarpenter work. DURING the course of
cross examining the woman last night,
Deputy High Sheriff ChillingWorth ask
ed her If she had seen any Instruments
E IN the room where the brothers had the
e row, that could have been used to In
. htct injury. She replied that she had
seen pair of compasses, and a putty
knife. Captain Parker took her to the
house that night and asked her 80 pro-
duce Jnem. She claimed she could not
recall where the articles had been
placed.
This morning. the two articles were
found, hidden in the picket fence in the
yard Both the knife and compass ap-
peared to have been recently cleaned
but there was a blood stain on the
compass The police do not know to
what use the putty knife was put
Mrs. Rosa admitted to Captain Par
ker that she had maintained intimate
relations with George Rosa. she said
that the men had started to fight on
saturday evening. Joe had run after
her into the yard for the purpose Of
beating her. When he returned to the
house, he was met BY George and a
: fight resulted. The son of Joe Rosa
= said that he saw George knock his
father off the porch. Mrs Rosa said
that about / O'Clock Sunday morning,
the brothers had a second fight inside
the house IL lasted half an hour and
when she went into the room her Eus-
band was laid out on pillow, blood
had flowed from a wound i'm his head.
Subsequently today she denied a part
Of her former statement and claimed
she had not told the truth.
George Rosa was very anxious last
night to be put I'm a cell by himself. He
asked for handkerchief with which TO
lContinued on naee fyel