The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-09-26
IS
MYSTERY
STILL
Probably Result of Row
Between the Two
Natives.

How long did Kaaa burn as living
| torch after he escaped from the house
of Louis Miranda Thursday night be-
| fore he was discovered by Frank Ma
chado in little outhouse in the rear
of the dwelling7
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 will 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 o'clock two young men noticed
a fire in a 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 Do thC Old AdI1NC SdlOs VI Il DlOW
delivered on his head with a 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 fremen arrived
they found horrible-1ooking object
in the backyard, Kaaa, a 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 a strange
sight. In a sitting posture, swathed
in blazing clothes. was the figure of a
human being. his head tilted 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 ierked 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 extinguish the flames with dirt and
clothing, and finally succeeded The
burned man never made 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
japanese settee, and that the worst
burns came after he arrived there.
When the coroner's jury visited the
house Yesterday afternoon. there were
many indications of a fight, but wheth-
er it was between Kamaliikane and
Kaaa, or whether third party was
involved. was not altogether clear, but
taking into consideration Kamaliika-
ne s contradictory statements of Thurs
Continued on Page Two1