The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-11-18
DEATH OF MRS. HIRAM BINGHAM.
Continued from page l.,


ed constant wars. Some chiefs under
the influence of the missionaries began
to enact laws against theft, murder and
other crimes and were trying to estab-
fish somewhat permanent law and order.
This state of affairs displeased rival
chiefs and a great war threatened.
The king of Apiang, upon which ISL
and the missionary station was, joined
forces with the King of another island
and in Withdrawing his men left the
missionaries to the mercies OF the at
lacking forces which swarmed over
the island when the king and his men
had left. These people were utter saw
ages and during the several months of
their stay the lives of the missionaries
were never safe. The savages swarmed
about their houses and allowed them
selves all kinds of liberties Mr.. Bing-
ham, his wife, Mahoe, native assistant,
and his wife. were the only mission
aries there and could do nothing.
One incident among the many which
Mr.. Bingham told may serve TO show
how fearful the uncertainty of their
lives was to the little band of mission
aries. One morning Mr.. Bingham dis
covered a big. burly savage crawling
, through a clapboard which served as a
window. As the fellow was. evidently
, intent on stealing Mr.. Bingham scared
him by letting down the clapboard with
a bang by means of string with
which it was generall" opened and shut.
The noise SO scared the savage that he
took to his heels. His comrades, who
stood near by. ridiculed him on seeing
! this, and this made the fellow very ang-
ry. as the natives are very sensitive to
ridicule. He consequently went up to
Mr.. Bingham and pushed him with his
shoulder. Mr.. Bingham stood his
ground for some time, the savage
, standing next to him and showing him
! every now and then. Mrs Bingham
finally appeared and called the hus-
band in to breakfast and Mr.. Bingham
gladly took the excuse for getting away.
This did not end the incident. After
breakfast, when Mr. Bingham went in
to The Westinghouse where there was
a large number of the savages assem-
/. bled. the would-be thief rose from
among them and followed behind him
up to the room, where Mr.. Bingham
sat down in chair I The native i'm
inediately squatted down on the floor
, in front of him and. producing two
pistols, began pointing them at him,
first one and then the other Mr.. Bing-
| ham thought that his last hour had
come, but he remained calm, closed his
eyes and prayed. The native did not
fife, however, but kept on sitting there,
lifting up the pistols and aiming every
or1 rTt,a of -,
; filed out of the room gradually, leaving
Mr. Bingham, the savage and the ma
! tive assistant alone. For two hours they
remained thus, Mr.. Bingham expect,
ing every moment to be his last, but
! finally the savage got tired and left the
room without doing any harm.
Many other incidents are told of their
/ life there. One of their children died
and was buried at Aniang where they
had built cottage. Called away some
! time afterward, Mr. and Mrs. Bing-
ham left their home to the mercies of
the natives. On their return they found
the house torn down and turned into
/ little one scattered about the yard An
! other son, Hiram Bingham Jr.. sur
vived the vicissitudes of early mission
airy life and is now an instructor of his
tory at Harvard
Mrs. Bingham left work in the Gill
bert Islands that will endure for all
time She became thoroughly, acquaint-
ed with the Gilbert tongue and trans
lated a number of works into that Ian
guage, She gave the Gilbertese
Reading Book, "Old Testament Bible
Stories, Primary Geography. "Pri-
mary Arithmetic. and assisted Mr..
Bingham in translating the whole of the
New Testament into the same language.
Mrs. Bingham has been we'll known
| member of Central Union church and
, also of the Women's Board of Missions
of Central Union church and in re-
, cent years very many sympathetic mes
sages have been sent to her bv the Board
regretting that her health did not per-
init her to attend the meetings.
In addition to her husband. her sis
, ter-in-law. Mrs. Lydia B. Coan, was
present at the time she passed away last
evening.
The funeral will be held from the
Bingham home at three o'clock this aft
-ernoon and the interment will be in the
old family lot of the Binghams in Ka-
waialao Cemetery. The Rev. w. M.
Kincaid will officiate.
H. H. Williams has charge of the
4 funeral