The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-09-29
IS
MYSTERY
STILL
cFrom saturday,s Aave..,ser.,


of Louis Miranda Thursday night be-
fore he was discovered by Frank Ma
chado in a little outhouse in the rear
of the dwellingf
This is one of the principal elements
of the mystery surrounding the fatal
ity which will have to be solved by
the coroner's jury which viii convene
this afternoon to unravel the facts sur
rounding the assault on Kamaliikane
and the burning of Kaaa, whom death
relieved of suffering at l o'clock yes
terday.
This much is known; A little be-
fore s clock two young men noticed
fire in bedroom on the Waikiki
side of the residence of Louis Miranda,
on Punchbowl street, near Emma
street. One ran to the fire box at the
corner of Emma and Punchbowl streets
| and turned in an alarm to which the
fire department made quick response.
The other ran into the house and found
Kamaliikane weltering in blood, the re-
suit, as the old native said. of blow
delivered on his head with hammer,
welded, as he alleged, by Japanese.
There was fire in the Waikiki bedroom,
and a slight blaze in the Eva bedroom.
A small bedroom Just mauka, while not
visited by fire, had been spattered with
kerosene. When the firemen arrived
they found horrible,looking object
in the backyard, Kaaa, native, his
head, shoulders and arms so thoroughly
cooked as to make him well nigh un-
recognizable. He was conveyed to the
Queens Hospital, and never regained
consciousness
When the alarm sounded, Frank Ma
chado, a Gazette Company pressman,
was on Punchbowl street near the Nor
mon church. He ran down the street
and to the house, being about two min
utes on the way. He passed around
the house and, noticing peculiar light
in the little outhouse, which is about
twenty feet from the residence, went
there. The door was almost closed He
threw this open and saw strange
sight. In sitting posture, swathed
in blazing clothes, was the figure of
human being, his head tilted a little
forward, while flames enveloped the
upper part of his body from the waist
to the shoulders. Machado reached
forward and took the man by both
arms, but was Mortified when his hands
slipped along the arms, the flesh peel
ing off in his grasp. He held on to
the wrists, however, and jerked the
man into the open air. The man fell
upon his face. but was lifted to a sit
ting posture. Machado and others who
came upon the scene then endeavored
to eytinguish the flames with dirt and
clothing, and finally succeeded The
burned man never made a sound.
From the time the young men dis
covered the fire in the house until Ma
chado arrived at the rear outhouse. it
would seem that Kaaa was burning,
but in that time most of the clothing
that he originally had was burned off
and the mass of other clothes he wore
must have been picked up by the ag-
onized man as he ran from the house.
This would indicate that he was not
so badly burned when he left the house
that he could not see his way to reach
the little house and sit down on n
Japanese settee, and that the worst
burns came after he arrived there.
When the coroner's IS jury visited the
house yesterday afternoon, there were
many indications of fight, but wheth-
er it was between Kamaliikane and
Kaaa, or whether n third party was
involved. was not altogether clear, but
taking into consideration Kamaliika-
mes contradictory statements of Thurs
day evening and yesterday, 1t seems
that he has not told all that he knows.
Whether a Japanese assailant was ac-
tually there, or whether he is an imagi-
nary person, is yet to be determined.
The appearance of the rooms indi-
Gates a struggle, and theory advanced
while the jury was investigating, was
as follows:
Knowing that the two men have not
always been on the best of terms and
that both have quarrelled, there seems
to be ground for believing they had a
fight. The hammer spoken of by Ka-
maliikane as being used on his head,
may hrst have been used by him on
Kaaa, who in turn took it away from
Kamaliikane. In the fight resulting a
bottle of oil in the dining room may
have been picked up by Kamaliikane
as defensive weapon and the con-
! tents scattered ON bed clothing and up
causes led up to the starting of the
fire, the appearance of the rooms sug'
gests this hypothesis.
: The struggle was carried to the Wal.
! lkiki bedroom in which is four-poster
bed with curtains drawn on all four
!. sides. A lamp seems to have rested
. on chair directly alongside the bed.
Q The chimney seems to have been knock
ed off and the wick fame communicat-
{ ed to the curtains which burned off and
set fire to bedclothing. If Kaaa was
D saturated with oil, the flames were easi.
r ly communicated to him. From this
point it is clear that Kaaa rushed from
a that room to the Eva bedroom and
threw himself headlong upon the bed
over which hung an ordinary circular
y mosquitonet. Kaaa's clothing set thi:
!, on fire, and, as he lay there the flames
ran around him, the net providing fue
to burn him terribly. Upon the mat
tresses are the marks left by the fr'
as it played around his prostrate form
A reporter showed how the man un
h doubtedly lay with his left hand clutch
. ing at the mattress, burned spots show
/ ing plainly on the ticking where tn
7, fingers broke through, where clothing
/. at the wrist and at the elbow burne'
) into the mattress and also where hi
| I. H.. he ktalr