The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-07-18
A PUBLIC SHANE.

There is a sickening frequency in the
police. court. reports of cases in which
husbands are charged with brutal as
saults on their wives. Following the
records of divorce proceedings, also
there is found a large proportion OF
Iibels brought by wives on the ground
of extreme cruelty. The specificaL lions
in such divorce complaints are often
ofsmost abhorrent brutalities committed
by the creatures in the outer sembiance
of manhood against the women they
have soIemnly vowed to love, cherish
and protect. Here are two examples
from one days court report in the Ad-
vertiser within the past week:
Judge De Bolt granted a divorce to
Becky KaIuna against Ben Kaluna on
the ground of extreme cruelty. The
complaint thus succeeding contained
a pitifuI tale of woman's suffering from
mans brutality. kicking his wife in
the abdomen, gouging her eyes and
breaking her leg with a club were
among the instances Of the husband s
attentions.
Lono Keanfni has brought libel in
divorce against John Keanini. alleging
extreme cruelty, desertion, failure to
provide and criminal infidelity. One
Me1eana is named as his partner in
guilt. The allegations of cruelty are
horrible in detail. After a statement
that the parties were married in Ho-
noluIu on Dec. /, 1899, the hbellant
says:
THAT shortly after the said mar
riagl4 said respondent began to treat
libeilant with extreme cruelty, and for
over a year thereafter continued to SO
treat libellant: that during said period
al ans yaar, at intervals of few days,
sss,saHaanf either beat libeliant with
his fists. kicked or otherwise i'll treat
ed her, and that more particularly on
or about the first day of January, A.
ID. 1901, without cause or provocation,
respondent made brutal attack upon
IibeIlant, and beat her upon the head
and face with his clenched fist, kicked
her in the abdomen with his feet, he
then having heavy shoes on, and drag
ged her over the floor by the hair OF
her head; that in consequence of said
Ill treatment as aforesaid Hbellant be-
came i'll, was confined to her room for
several days and by reason of the
wounds and bruises inflicted by re-
spondent on the face Of libellant she
was unable to leave her home for two
weeks
Such Instances of atrocity occurring,
without criminal prosecution to follow
as Inevitable, makes it appear that
there is serious inadequacy of law in
this Territory for the protection OF
women. Warrants of arrest ought to
have speedily followed the proving of
Becky Kaluna's libel and the filing of
Iono Keanini's complaint. Those as
sauIts described are not mere INSIDE
neanors, but of an aggravated nature
that constitute felony. 1t is not enough
that the woman, in any such case,
should be relieved of the tie binding her
to a monster. Society owes it to itself
that the man who maltreats woman
shall be punished as criminal.
With evidence of acts of the kind de-
scribed in the foregoing examples avail
able, the existing laws relating to Of
lenses against the person should suffice
IA
penalties upon the offenders. All That
seems needed is to bring the culprits
before committing magistrate or a
grand jury and thence let the law take
its course. Often miscreants of the
type in question go unscathed of justice
because the victiTnss with the diminu-
ton of their pains and perhaps through
power of woman's affection or fear of
revenge, relent toward their brutal
spouses and refuse to appear in court
against them. Yet the authorities
should not leave any fragrant case of
the kind to the chances of private ac-
cusation and prosecution. 1t is mat
ter in which the civilization of the COM
rlunity is at stake.
Where new legislation might be put
on the statute books with advantage
would be in the fertilization of justice.
For instance, the divorce court records
might be made competent as prima
faoie evidence in the criminal court to
prove an assault case. 1t might also
be made the duty of a judge, when
granting divorce on the ground of
physical cruelties, forthwith to sit as
an examining magistrate and commit
the respondent to the ensuing criminal
term. Again, district magistrates could
be prevented from taking jurisdiction
as of a misdemeanor in a case of wife
beating where the facts presented be-
fore him indicated aggravated assault.
and required instead TO commit the ac-
cused to the higher court for trial on
whatever charge of felony was appro-
pirate.