The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-03-23

The trial of Morito Kaizo. the Jap
anese lately convicted of murder at
Eilo and who will come up to Homo
lulu on the next Kinau. to be hanged
was one that was filed with sensa-
tional incidents 1t was conducted to
a successful conclusion by the ability
of Deputy Attorney General Milver-
ton, who had the able assistance of
Chester A. Doyle in handling the evil
dence for the prosecution. The muir
der was committed in Hilo on the first
of January, 1905. the victim being one
Moriyama, who had gone from Ho-
nolulu to Hilo to take the place of
big boss of the Japs. in lieu of one
Funikoshi, heretofore holding the
place of leader. F'unikoshi murdered
a Japanese merchant who would not
stand for blackmail by these high
binders, which seems to be about what
the gang of gamblers at Hilo amounts
to, so could not longer hold his job.
He had an appointment, indeed, with
the Warden of the Territorial prison.
Morita wanted to be leader of the
gamblers hui himself and so with
party of his friends went one night
and killed the aspirant from Honolu-
III, cutting his head open with an axe.
When Morita was first brought to
trial, his attorney Carl Smith, raised
the point that the Portuguese jury
men had no right to sit in the case,
as they had been naturaliZed in the
Circuit Court. which the lawyer claim
ed could not make citizens. This con-
tentfon raised a big sensation at the
time, but was knocked out in the Su-
preme Court.
Then Smith withdrew from the case,
and Irwin &s Wise were appointed by
the court to defend Morita. One of
the gang that had helped Morita to
do the killing, Sake by name, turned
states evidence, and the territory had
in addition the wife of the murdered
man., who was in the room out of
which he had been enticed by Morita
to his death. The defense, however,
put on barber named Hiura, who
said that he had no interest in the
case, who testified that he had seen
the murdered man try to kill the de-
PENDANT once before. The plea of the
defense was self-defense, and MORT
yama was known to be a bad man.
At this stage. the case was adj
journed for a day to enable the de-
Tense to get a witness from Kau who,
it was claimed, would swear that the
woman, wife to the murdered man,
had not been in the house, but at a
bathing place long ways off at the
time of the killing. Chester Doyle
learned the name OF this witness-and
saw him first. The witness and Doyle,
in fact, came in on the train together
from the Volcano House, and on the
train this man was met by the barber
who had no interest in the case and
instructed as to what testimony he
should give.
He went on the stand and gave it,
accordingly, and after he had sworn
to his story, that the woman had been
at bath with him at the time of
the killing, the territory put on Doyle
in rebuttal-and that particular wit
ness was squelched. The witness had
previously, on cross examination, adj
mitted his meeting with Doyle The
case was then argued and submitted,
and the verdict Of the jury was guilty
as charged. This will be the first
hanging, in all probability. on the
High Sheriff'S list. The men charged
with Morita are now being tried, and
there are some Koreans also to be
tried for murder in Hilo at the pres
ent term of court.