The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1903-03-10
JAP HANGS
HIMSELF IN
CITY JAIL
AErested- SATURDAY.
Night for Being
Drunk.
(From Saturdays Daily)

l
In the dependency that follows fast
upon the heels of him who would daily
with the sake cup, Undertaking but not
cheering, Militant came to the copclu-
sion that life was not worth living yes
| terday.
And so he hanged himself. Yester.
| day was not the first time that Mitani
| had found himself recovering from the
effects of Il sake debauch. Time was
| not so very long ago, when he was a
prosperous cook, respected in the Jap
anese society that he honored with his
presence, and presiding with mastery
| genius over the cuisine of Senior Polio.
Captain Parker. Nobody took liberties
with Mitani, then. He had friends, too,
as man will who is earning good
| money and he was a good fellow
| wthal, and he spent what he earned
That was the beginning of the end Of
Mitani
He spent what he earned. and the
sake wooed him-and. presently, he
found himself with an unquenchable
thirst for the liquor of his native land
ana without money to pay the price.
For man cannot cook when ne is
drunk. at least not satisfactorily 10 The
master, and Mitani lost his position,
sinking lower and lower 1t became.
soon, so that the friends Of former days
knew him no more, and his face was
better known at police Headquarters
than any where else.
Mitani, In effect, had become a com
mon drunkard. Every cent that he
could bes-he had quit working-went
for sake. and every time that he drank
sake he fell into the hands OF the
police.
That happened to him on Saturday
night. He was carried into the sta
ton. too drunk to stand upright, by .
brawny native police officer. and went
the usual road to the drunk cell He
had thirty-five cents in money in HIS
pockets, which was strange. but per
haps the sake overcamc him before he
could spend that. At all events, hi,
presence was matter of course, and
nobody noticed him particularly.
Nobody noticed him particularly yes
terday morning, either, although Turn
key Melanche kept the same watchfm
eye upon him that he did upon all the
prisoners In the yard. Militant was sick
at his stomach, following his debauch,
but he seemed cheerful enough. He
sent to the desk sergeant. drew his thir-
ty-five cents, and was allowed to buy
tobacco with it. That was a small in
diligence. He smoked cigarettes, as 30
cially as any Japanese could by himself
all morning. Then, at n quarter past
two in the afternoon, after asking q
Portuguese boy In the yard for a match.
| he went into one of the bath rooms in
the corner of the Jail yard and CLOSED
the door after him.
He could not have been there more
| than FIVE minutes alone. One o, the
prisoners told the Coroner'e jury after
wards that 1t was not more than three
minutes, At all events, within a very
few minutes, "A negro prisoner, wishing
| TO wash his hat, went into the same
| room. and found Mitani hanging by his
| Grape obi to the water pipe running up
| to the ceiling from the floor Of the
place.
The negro. in jail for burglary, was
badly frightened, and called the turn
key. Melanche at once caught hold OF
the body. seeking to support it and
ease the strain on the neck, and called
| for n knife to cut the suicide down. The
negro helped him, seeing somebody
willing to act, and the body was cut
| down-the water pipe being broken in
| the process and the turnkey, the negro
| and the Jap soaked.
1t is probable that Mitani was dea
when his body was cut down, although
| the corpse was still warm. At air
| events artificial respiration was tried.
without avail, and when DR.. Mcdonald,
| being called. reached the Jail, there was
| no hope OF saving the suicide
| Coroner chillingworth called Jury
| later in the afternoon, and the matter
! of the death was inquired into most
| carefully. or course there could be but
| one conclusion. 1t was clearly a case
| Of deliberate suicide, and Mitani must
! have been most determined, and must
have possessed great agility and
| strength TO have climbed the water
| pipes AZ he did and to have clung there
| with his feet while making the Grape
obi fast about the pipe and around hi,
| neck.
| The verdict ~ the jury was az FOL
low: THE jury finds that Mitani came
a. his death by strangulation, with in
| tent Ia commit suicide.
And the jury further finds that no
blam" on account ~ negligence Is Ia be
attached 90 the turnkey ~ the jail, nor
~ the police department"
IT.
Professor II. L. q. Perkins Who !.
| temporarily in charge OF the Agricul-
| fuT.l nYGurtmsUt has r,pRiNsd Ia Let