The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-01-21

Judge William Austin Whiting died
yesterday afternoon at 5:25 o'clock, of
dropsy caused by cirrhosis of the liver.
He had been seriously i'll for some
weeks and in i'll health for many
months. His death has been expected
at almost any time for some days.
The funeral will be held at o'clock
this afternoon from the Masonic Tenn
pie. The body will be at H. H. Will
liams Undertaking parlors from 9
o'clock this morning, where friends
may take a last look at the face of
their friend. The body will be taken
to the Masonic Temple at o'clock.
The services at the Temple will be
Masonic
The funeral will be under the aus
pices of Pacific Lodge. No. 800, A. F.
& A. NJ, J. ]. Belser, Right Worship
full Master. The body will be taken
from the temple after the services, to
the crematory in Nuuanu cemetery
where it will be incinerated.
The pail bearers will be H. E. Coop
er, John Kidwell, T. H. Petrie and E.
o. White. all past masters of Pacific
Lodge, and Chief Justice Hartwell, P.
c. Jones, Cecil Brown and Col. c. P.
Iaukea.
William Austin Whiting was born in
0harlestown, Mass, where most of his
ancestors on both sides had lived for
several generations. He graduated
from Harvard College as six genera
tons of his name had done before him.
After graduating at the college he took
the Harvard law course, and began
the practise of his profession in Char
lestown and Boston, but living in Char
lestown. His ancestors on both sides
had been locally eminent in their gen.
Grafton, and some of them attained
larger emience He was lineal de-
scendant of Gov. Thomas Dudley and
of Gov. Simon Bradstreet, and Of Rev.
John Cotton, the first preacher of the
First Church in Boston, all of whom
were active in the third. decade of the
seventeenth century. Another of his
ancestors was the president of Har-
ward College, and his grandfather Aus
tin was a prominent lawyer in Massa-
chusetts, and an author of some note
in his day, having written Peter
Rugg: The Missing Man." a book that
attracted much attention in its time.
He came to Honolulu in 1880, where
he had friends who were influential In
affairs here, and gave the young law
yer a social and a business standing
at once, that was of much value to
him. An uncle, James w. Austin, was
at one time a Justice of the Supreme
Court of Hawaii and it was doubtless
this fact that directed Mr.. Writings
attention to Hawaii.
The first public appointment he
seems to have received in Hawaii was
that of Agent to Take Acknowledge
ments of Instruments, among his con-
freres in this dignity, at that time, be-
ing Cecil Brown, Col. J. Austin and
S. n. Emerson, and little later A. S.
Hartwell.
In 1892 he was appointed Attorney
General under Liliuokalani. But he
was swept out of Office within the year
in one of those rapid changes of min
istries which characterized the last
year of the Queen IS reign.
In 1898. following the overthrow. he |
was appointed First Judge of the First
Circuit Court. Following the rebellion
of January, 1895, he was appointed !
president of the Military Commission
which tried those implicated in the
rebellion, including the Queen herself.
In order that he might be president of
this commission he was given the mil
itary rank of colonel. Associated with
him on the commission were Lieut.
Col J. H. Fisher, Captains C. W. Zieg-
Ter, j. NJ Camara, Jr., ]. w. Pratt, W.
C. Wilder, and First Lieut.. J. W. Jones,
with Captain W. A. Kinney as Judge
Advocate.
In 1896 he was appointed Second
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court