The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-09-26

has twice intimated that I might have
explained DR.. Hyde's mistaken iden-
tity years ago Let me say TO Mr.
Beissel that / did not consider it any
of my business to do so. But, having
come to the conclusion, in the inter-
ests of peace and fairness, after Mr.
Beissel himself had furnished clippings
On the subject to the Gazette. with
lengthy comments of his own, thus re-
viying the rumpus in this Territory
after DR.. Hyde was dead and gone;
having concluded, 1 say, under these
circumstances, to pour little oil on
the ruffled waters by a word of expIa-
nation, what reward have I for it?
Nothing, but continued and insistent
aspersion from Mr.. Beissel, who, in
spite of his cloth, seems to delight in
having two men to throw mud at in
public, instead of one. Would I not
better have kept silent? Referring to
my objection to his having given to
the public parts of a private letter
which We're not intended to reach the
public. Mr.. Beissel says: well, it was
on the same sheet that you authorized
me to publish etc. Now, l can call
the Gazette office and the type-setters
to witness that the aside was not on
the same sheet as the rest of the letter.
else my memory has gone terribly
aStray. The separation was inten-
tional. Does Mr. BeisseI treat the con
fessions'' of his parishioners as he has
treated my confidential 'aside?" The
plain truth is, there need not necessar-
lily have been any ''informer'' to DR..
Hyde. beyond common, current infor-
nation of what was going on. Mr..
Beissel himself says that the priest
really charged with the scandal was
tried before the court in Waimea (all
this was public, and that, although
discharged by the court, he was sent
out of the country by the church au-
thorities. That Father Damien was
stricken with fatal disease was also
a matter of common knowledge through
the press and otherwise. What could
have been more easy than for DR.. Hyde.
through slip of memory, to confuse
the Identities of the two men, especially
if there was a similarity in their
names? Father Damien was being
lauded as a martyr to his voluntary
residence in the leper settlement. 1t
may be presumed that DIR. Hyde, haV
ing in mind the immoral conduct scan
dal but laboring under a mistake as
to the identity of the man who was
concerned in it, wished to expose what
he believed to be a fallacy; and this
proba bly, was his sole motive for max
ing the statement which has produced
such interminable commotion among
Damiens friends. If DR.. Hyde knew
what a hopeless task would confront
him in any endeavor to correct an
error, he acted with eminent wisdom in
letting bad enough alone, as Mr.. Beissel
has certainly given me ample reason
to wish that I had done. And if Mr..
Beissel, in view of DR.. Hyde's we'll
known eminence in good work, is will
ing to exercise but a moiety of TIE
charitable spirit which he claims that
DR.. Hyde should have exercised, he will
accept this reasonable view of the whole
affair and let the subject drop. There
can be no pleasure in further burden
ing your columns and annoying a sati-
ated public with a profitless discussion
with a man whose love for 1ong-drawn
controversy seems to be insatia BILE, and
who refuses to accept a straightforward |
statement in the same spirit in which |
it was made; but if, in your judgment, |
it is we'll to make a final effort to |
penetrate a thick wall with the bullet |
of truth let me once more ask your |
with the use of the requisite |
type and space, and then turn my at |
tention to something more satisfactory. |
E. C. BOND.
Kohala, September 81 1905.
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