The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-06-09
TESTIMONY IN
LEE LET CASE
CFrom saturdays Advertisero


whole forenoon In his cross-exami-
nation Thompson used the reports tha,
, were made by Taylor to the Sheriff
and the Attorney General at the time
Of the occurrences. as they were pub
lished or summarized in tse Adver-
tiser's account of the matter. He
sought to make the witness contradict
himself or TO appear to do so. and in
several instances the witness acknowl-
edged that his recollection of incident
al matters was at fault In the essen
tiai particulars of his testimony as 10
the events leading up to and including
the giving of the fifty dollars TO him
by Lee Let as a payment on account
for the proposed plan of protected
gambling. Taylor's testimony was en-
tirely mistaken.
Taylor testified that his meeting with
Ayres at the Queens Hospital was ac-
4 cidental. but when his memory was
refreshed he recalled that it was by
appointment. There were several cor
rections of that character brought out
in the same way.
Thompson inquired as to the fact
that the reports that Taylor made
were seen by W. G. Smith and W. A
Kinney who was Sheriff Iaukea's law
yer as well as by the Sheriff and the
Attorney General.
Taylor said that he had felt and had
expressed TO Ayres that this case Of
fered q chance TO make a record for
himself and the police department.
|
was called TO the witness stand. He
said that he had seen Lee Let on Feb
ruary 5, 1907. at the Yuen Chong store.
He had gone there with Taylor.
I'VE were ushered into the back room
of the store he said, Taylor. Lee
Tong, and myself. and presently Lee
Let put in an appearance. We had
some general conversation and then
Lee Let said he understood that Mr..
Taylor had some private business with
him. Taylor said that his business
was not particularly private"
Ayres and Lee Tong then went out.
After Taylor and Lee Let had had
their conversation, of which he heard
nothing, they were all called in again
and then the party broke up.
On cross-examination he said he had
sold Lee Let a pair of field glasses for
SIS. He had gone into Lee Let's store
on February to buy some tea, and
had the glasses with him. Lee Let
saw them and asked him if they were
for sale, and if so for how much. He
replied that they were for sale for
SIS, and the sale was at once made,
Lee Let taking the glasses, and Ayres
| the money. He was certain the trans
action was a sale and not a pledge
or mortgage. No bill of sale or other
memorandum of the transaction was
made.
At this time Ayres said he was not
employed by the Advertiser. He had
received a cable on the fourth from
the New York World asking him to do
some special work for it and this work
/ had occupied him until about the
sixth. About this time also he was
/ the editor and proprietor of the Ref
cree, and was also the manager of a
literary bureau which among other
things prepared interviews for visitors
to the Islands who expected to be call
ed on for interviews by the papers.
You wrote about things of which
you knew nothing. did you?" asked
Thompson.
No replied Ayres; they told me
what they wanted to say
Ayres was asked by Thompson if he
knew why he had been excluded from
the courtroom as a witness. Ayres
replied that he could guess; that it
was so he would not have the benefit
of hearing the testimony of other wit
nesses. Thompson said that he had
guessed right. Thompson then asked
him about a conversation Ayres and
Taylor had had just outside the court
room on Thursday. Ayres said he had
asked Taylor who wrote a certain ar
ticle in the Advertiser. Taylor replied
that. being a witness, he could not
tell him. Ayres had thereupon. said
that whoever wrote it had got his
dates mixed and Taylor said he be-
lieved that was so.
Ayres denied having any other con-
versations regarding the case with any
other of the witnesses. He denied
having written any articles about the
Lee Let case in the Advertiser.
r o. Matheson of the Advertiser
staff was the next witness. Matheson
testified that he went with A. P. Tay-
lor to the store of Yuen Chong about
5 O'Clock in the afternoon of Febru-
ary :. He also saw Taylor go into the
store about 7:30 and come out again
about q quarter of eight on Febru-
ary 9.
Matheson made an excellent impress
sion on the stand, and his cross-ex-
animation by Thompson was very
brief. He said that he had worked
with Taylor on gambling cases for the
Advertiser before Taylor became a
member of the police force; that he
had a commission as a special police
man from Sheriff Iaukea, and had at
the time of the occurrences with Lee
Let. He had not discussed the case
with Taylor or any other witness.
officer Apana was put on the stand
and testified as an expert that pai-
kau was a gambling game. Deputy
Attorney General Larnach announced
that this was the case for the govern
ment Thompson said that he had not
expected the government to rest so
soon, and asked for an adjournment
until Monday morning, which was
granted
A PENCHANT FOR MULES.