The Hawaiian gazette., 1903-07-31
MR.. IAUKEA ONCE MORE.

| The public, like ourselves, Will read
| Mr.. Iaukea's letter, printed In this Is
sue, with sense of disappointment.
His belief that the Advertiser had
charged him with malfeasance in office
| and his naive confession that there were
spots" and stains. on his skirts that
mortal hands could not erase, led this
paper, In assuring him that he was
not meant at all, to inquire what these
indelible marks might be? Among the
many sorrows which afiiict the life OF
a Honolulu newspaper writer In this
| vale of tears, a knowledge of any
moral turpitude on Mr.. Iaukea's part
had not been included. For ourselves
we had known him as frugal and
respectable hotel keeper, 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 I'M
d suspicion of grave miL1eeds was
circumstance that filled us with
dismay; and acting upon purely
use of these columns to make a clean
breast and, If possible, by showing
that his mistakes had been mere pee
cadilloes, 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 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 "malfeasance" and said,
This means mel" He had pointed
to his skirts and shrieked "Unclean!
Unclean!" And when the Advertiser.
in the politest Of tones, asked him to
tell that it all meant, he reprimand-
ed 1t for "distorting" J is language and
making him ridiculous. But as Heaven
is our witness Mr.. Iaukea was ac-
curately quoted; nothing that he said
was distorted: and If he looks ridicu-
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 mail
feasance in office to which he re-
ferred in 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 and
gruesome past, Mr.. Iaukea made the
proud boast in the Home Rule con-
vention that he had chosen the Re-
publican party and would abide by it.
He did not think it was 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 he has done another thing. He
has taken his past and his uneasy
1oISticICc lllO Tie w llCOA party WHeTe
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 will
be more plentiful. Hence these tears. !
The Republican party will not seem |
like the old place without Curtis Iau-
kea-it will even have different sound
to the ear and a different odor to the
nostril. In it's 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.
-A