The Hawaiian gazette., 1907-09-10
DEATH AND
SEX. PUZZLE

What caused che death OF Inouye Kt.
kutarS and why came she To Hawaii
last January disguised as man. rsae-
rying q woman. Mumeno. who arrived
with herr
These questions may 90 beyond the
police department and be taken ID hv
the Federal authorities.
Here is the story as told In last r.
days issue OF the Jiyu Shimhun and as
added to by the discoveries OF Cnsar
of Detectives Taylor and Japanese o.
ficer Townsend.
On January l. last there arrived IN
Honolulu per 5. S. Korea two Jana
nese. presumably man and woman. Civ
ing the names at the immigration STA
ton above noted. They were married
at the immigration station and went
to live in three-story tenement near
the Honolulu Iron Works.
About one month ago there arose
trouble between the two. and a.othe-
Japanese. also named Inouye. acted as
sort OF a peageEsSzer- Some OF The
Japanese of the tenement held a meet
ing, the peacemaker officiating. and The
result was that the woman. Mumeuo-
and her supposed husband agreed -
separate and MumenO was transferred
10 man whose name Is not AZ present
known. but with whom she u now Iiv-
ing
Inouye Kikutaro started 70 work in
a Oh
Works As was ascertained later by
a reporter of the Jiyu Shimbun. those
who came in contact with Inouye KI-
kutaro noticed some peculiar things
He" always bathed alone. conzT=rv -
the custom OF Japanese men. azad did
not battle as often as Japanese ma
are in the habit of bathing He also,
was very particular about keeping
his" clothes close up about his neck
not wearing them loose as Is the Gus
tom of Japanese men In other wav-~
''he" seemed unmanly, though no par.
ticular suspicion seemed TO have been
aroused at the time. these things be.ue
recalled after it was ascertained that
lnouye Kikutaro was woman and not
a man.
On August 30 the masquerader be-
came sick. mysteriousIy sick il devsi-
oped. DR.. Uemura was called aaa
took charge OF the case. DR.. Uemura
did not know what was the matter
with the patient, at least he so stated
at the time The patient was removed
to the Japanese hospital on 1ilibA
street.
A week ago the patient died A re-
porter from the Jiyu Shimbun caller
on DR.. Uemura. having received word
that Inouye Kikutaro was a woman.
and asked him as to the sex OF the
patient who had died and concerninar
the nature of the disease. DR.. Uemura.
says the Japanese paper. denied that
the mysterious corpse was that CT a
female. Later. says the Jiyu. threat
ened with roast unless he admitted
the truth. DR.. Uemura consulted with
other physicians and admitted that
Inouye Kiku-aro was a female. Dr.
lUemura, however. issued a certificate
Of death in which he referred 10 the
body as that of a male. for some myS.-
terious reason still maintaining the de-
eeption. At the autopsy it was estab-
lished that Inouye was a female.
The Jiyu representative visited the
house near the Iron Works where
Inouye Kikutaro had lived and asked
the identity Of the lndivid-
ual. The japanese in the building held
a meeting and gave It out to the Jap
anese reporter that they had agreed not
to say anything about it, The reporter
then visited the cemetery where Inouye
body lay buried ard fOund
that the headstone declared II TO be-
the resting. place of the BODY OF a Jap
anese man.
The woman. disguised as d man. had
come from F'ukuoka province. Japan
and was apparently about % years OF
age. Her hair was close-cropped and
she had some reason, apparently. for
going through the marriage ceremony
with the other woman. Mumeno.
The matter has just come to the at
tention Of the police and they ara work.
ing on the case. and the Federal au-
thorities are likely to take hand
-