The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1909-12-21
YOUNG POSTAL
THIEVES CAUGHT
Sixteen Youthful Offenders Come
Before Judge Whitney in the
Juvenile Court.

IOslal cdrus inquired 10 the excursion
of all else at yesterdays session of
the Juvenile court, and Judge Whitney,
who presides over the destinies of the
youthful offenders in Honolulu will
dream of picture postals for week to
come.
Chief of Detectives Arthur McDuffie
was responsible for the excitement,
and although he himself was not pres.
ent and did not figure in court, he
was very conspicuous by his works.
Night before last he heard of thefts
of postal cards from several sources,
and, dropping his research into scien-
tifc opium selling and seven-eleven
mathematics, which'he has been pur.
suing with success the past week, he
started on still hunt for the lost
postals.
Having hired hack, he toured Ka-
kaako and shortly picked up a speci.
men of the Kakaako Young Idea, who
confessed to pilfering the postal stands.
Continuing his tour, he picked up an
other and then another, and each one
taken into the legal pale "peached
ON somebody else until he had accumu.
lated sixteen. At this stage of the
game, seeing no hope of the supply of
| postal thieves running out, he ducked
for cover and turned the young of.
tenders over to Probation Officer
Rider. Yesterday they came before
Judge Whitney.
Out of the sixteen, five We're girls,
and the oldest of any was fourteen
and the youngest nine. Between them
all they had managed to accumulate
pretty nearly five hundred cards, all
of which were on hand in court. The
boys were examined one by one and
all confessed to the thefts. One boy
had stolen hundred and brought
them home. He gave them to his
mother, who, he says, knew they were
stolen. She strung them and hung
them on the wall without attempting
to have them returned to the proper
owner. His father was in court and
denied that his wife had been told
they were stolen, but said the boy had
stated that he had found them back
of the Young building. Judge Whit
ney took this with little salt.
AS each boy came up and deposited
his little bundle of cards, the pile
began to grow larger, and Clerk Mar
callino had to work hard to keep them
| All lHDeleu DIODclly' wan, NlcnOls
and the store near the Empire Theater
seemed to be the principal losers, and
from the examination of each boy 1t
appears that they merely took hand.
fuls without caring whether they got
variety or not.
The girls testimony revealed gal
lantry in the boys, for each and all
stated that they had been presented
with the cards by the young gentle
men. They had only three or four
apiece, and the boys evidently dis
pensed their trophies with moderation.
The girls were permitted to go with
warning as to the fate of the re-
ceiver of stolen goods.
1t seems that each of the youngsters
just had a desire to collect them, and,
boy fashion, wanted to see how many
they could get, without thinking of the
right or wrong of the matter, although
they appreciated the latter well enough
to take plenty of precautions, They
ficked them into their copy-books
while passing the stands, and to all in
tents and Appearances were getting
quite expert.
The Judge let them off on probation
and one of the boys, who had been up
before for getting into trouble with
his mother, was told that another ap.
pearance would mean the reform school
for him. Nearly all the children were
pupils of Pohukana School and they
all came from two rooms.