The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-07-31
MR.. IAUKEA ONCE MORE.

His belief that the Advertiser had
charged him with malfeasance in office
and his naive confession that there were
..snots" and stains on his skirts that
mortal hands could not erase, led TINS
paper, in assuring him that he was
not meant at all, to inquire what these
indelible marks might be? Among the
many sorrows which affiict the life OF
a Honolulu newspaper writer in TINS
vale of tears, a knowledge OF any
moral turpitude on Mr.. 1aukea's part
had not been included. For ourselves
we had known him as a frugal and
respectabIe. hotel keeper, a colonel
who had never set a ruthless squadron
in the field nor imbrued his hands
with the blood of his fellow man and
as a most accomplished and useful
valet to distinguished islanders travel
ing abroad, but we had never heard
any one say that he had misappro-
priated public funds. That he should
have inadvertently placed himself un-
d.. r suspicion of grave miEdeeds was
a circumstance that filled US with
disnay; and acting upon purely
charitable impulse We offered him the
use of these columns to make a clean
breast and, il possible, by showing
that his mistakes had been mere pee
cadiIloes, remove the harsh impression
which was naturally given by his
plant that his case had been so bad
man could do nothing for him-that
only God could cleanse the spots and
stains upon his record.
Yesterday, to this well-meant invita-
ton Mr.. Iaukea replied, but how in
conclusively. The curtain, which was
to rise upon an absorbing drama
simply revealed a scolding Mr..
Iaukea with much to complain OF
but nothing to confess or extenuate.
A little time before he had leaped up
on an eminence, hearing an echo OF
the word "nnalfeasance" and said,
This means mel" He had pointed
tn his skirts and shrieked "Unclean!
IJnclean!" And when the Advertiser, |
in the politest of tones, asked him TO
tell what it all meant, he reprimand- |
ed ii for "distorting" fis language and
making him ridiculous. But as Heaven
IL our witness Mr.. Iaukea was ac-
curately quoted; nothing that he SAID
was distorted: and If he looks ridlcu-
lous surely that is because he respond
ed when the bell rang for somebody else
and not because the caller expressed
surprise at finding him there instead |
of the man he was looking for.
OF course Mr.. Iaukea cannot hope
to convince us that his alliance with
the annexation party, and then with
the Republican party was the mai
feasance in Office" to which Ne re-
ferred i'm such distressed and inculpa-
tory tones. That would hardly be, for, |
on the very day the Bulletin letter ap-
peared, with it's hints Of a dark ana
gruesome past, Mr.. Iaukea made the
proud boast in the Home Rule con-
vantion that he had chosen the Re-
publican party and would abide by IT, |
He did not think it was a spot or
stain on his record while talking to
it's enemies and surely he had not
changed his mind an hour or two later
when talking to it's friends. So in all
sadness we must hold Mr.. Iaukea re-
sponsible for hiding those experiences
away over which he grieved SO much |
and accused himself so bitterly. Per-
haps we may never know what they |
were.
And ne has done another thing. He |
has taken his past and his uneasy |
conscience into the Wilcox party where |
they will feel most at home-where |
they can mingle with other pasts and |
other consciences on equal terms. A
day or two ago he was going TO |
..abide" with the Republicans forever
but as the chances of Office seemed
to fade, he betook himself to the fell
lowship where, he believes, offices VIII
be more plentiful. Hence these tears
The Republican party will not seem
like the old place without Curtis Iau-
kea-it will even have a different sound
to the ear and different odor to the
nostriI. In its conventions the party
will be denied the rare spectacle of see
ing Iaukea on four sides at once and
proudly conscious Of his importance on
all sides. We shall all face a hiatus
a hole in the air; and seeing the great
man not will remember him as the
Unsolved Mystery as the Unconfessed
official who once was with us but
whom the ghost OF a Record drove
away in the direction of the party
which asks no questions if you aren't
white.