The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-03-31
PLOT To KILL
WAS KNOWN
HERE
Stevens Murder Might
Have Occurred in
Honolulu.

Had the plotters who shot and killed
D. w. Stevens in San Francisco on
Monday of last week any confederates
in Honolulu? Many of the japanese
in the city think so and are discussing
the matter freely. Frederic J. Haskin,
the correspondent, who met Mr.. stevens
on intimate terms just before he sailed
on his last voyage for America, also
thinks so and advanced the theory that
mad Mr. Stevens not been prevented
by the quarantine regulations from
coming ashore here his assassination
would have occurred in Honolulu in
stead of in san Francisco.
For a week before Stevens sailed
from Japan 1 sat at the same hotel
table with him. said Mr.. Haskin. Il
interviewed him and became on terms
of intimacy with him concerning things
Korean and / know that he lived In
constant anticipation of personal vio-
Ience from Korean politicians and pa
triots. He was worried over this and
also over the complications of the re-
Iations between Japan and Korea ana
Japan and America. His plans We're
very indefinite as to his movements ana
7 know that he was booked for a pas
sage on every steamer that sailed Tor
America for three months before he
sailed and for every steamer for three /
months after that. On the Mongolia, |
the steamer I came on, berth was I
reserved for him, although he had sail
ed a week before. The news or the
assassination that met us here was a
.Exf n
a surprise.
ssI firmly believe that the plot to Kill
him as soon as he arrived on American !
soil was Matched long before he sailed.
believe that the Koreans realized
that the deed done on American soil
would attract the attention of the
world more than if done in Korea or
Japan, and it was to focus the atten-
ton of the world on the conditions in /
Korea and bring Korean affairs into
the press of the world that the shooting
was DONE"
LOCAL. JAPANESE OPINION
"while we have nothing to base our
opinions on, yet we japanese believe
that the plot to kill Mr. Stevens was
known of in Honolulu before the killing
was done and before Mr.. Stevens ar
is the general opinion among the Jap F..
anese here, also, that an attemp. on t,
Mr.. stevens life would have been made 1
here if he had been able to leave his {
steamer and the opportunity had pre-
sented itself" {
This is the opinion of S. Sheba, the t
editor of the Hawaii Shinpo, the Jiyu &
sh:nbun and other publications, whose /
papers have published articles on the /
question during the past two or three !
lays. I
..In an interview published by the I
shinpo this morning. said Mr.. Sheba, {
AN interview with a japanese gentle s
nan who is conversant with the Korean e
anguage and intimate with many of e
he Honolulu Koreans, the statement
5 made that there was general re-
oicing among the Koreans here when
he news of Mr.. Stevens death was 4
earned. From the manner in which
he news was received by the members
f the Korean patriotic societies, the
looks like the result of a
lot known equally well in Seoul, Ho-
olulu and San Francisco. The sCcie-
les in these three cities are in constant
And it is in Honolulu j
nd San Francisco that the teachings il
{ these societies manifest themselves N
the boycotting of the Japanese banks
nd stores by the Koreans and the -
lany expressions of hostility heard in p
1eeches and proc1amations. Il
"At the time the anti-Japanese agi- %
ttions began on the Coast the Koreans di
ocked to San Francisco 10 take ad- la
antage Of 1t and keep up the agitation. P
he great idea of the Koreans is to get n,
nerican assistance and American in Ii
rvention in Korea if possible. The h,
dreams generally have not the fore III
ght to see what effect their actions
ould have upon America and the 70
orld at large They know little even -,
the real condition of affairs in their p,
IN country, especially those Koreans -,
ttieo IN Hawan' As d mate. VI az OF
ry few of the Koreans with education q.
e here in Hawaii to work, but here =.
patriots and politicians. The more
aorant ones are content to stay in the
Ids, but the others want to be teach ee
) or preachers in order to gain some nc
1uence to use politically.
Rev. You. the Korean preacher who 81
mt to Washington with Mr.. Herbert, -
) English adviser of the Koreans and ia
sort of rival of Mr.. Stevens, started po
, agitation here against the japanese tai
long the Koreans. After he left here we
tried to get an interview with Presi- th'
ut Roosevelt, failing in which he
Mt to London.