The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-06-30
ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD
SNEAK Thief.
Puny Hawaiian COnfesses to a
Long Series of Burglaries
and " Dips.

"Eleven years old and he can give
cards and spades to any sneak thief in
the Territory"
This is the way Chief Joe Leal sizes
up an undergrown little Hawaiian
whom he took into custody the other
day, thereby clearing up the mysterious
disappearance of money and other
small articles at the Central Grammar
School. Kupuna is the youngster IS
name, and he is the champion rascal
for his age, according to Honolulu s
Chief of Detectives. AS a result of
his age, too, the prodigy is now at
liberty on broken parole.
Not content with stealing money
from individuals, Kupuaa has confessed
that he pilfered the poor-box at the
Catholic church, getting a pretty good
sum of money. Another time Kupuna
visited the Salvation Army headquar-
tiers while a meeting was being held,
and he came away so richer than when
he entered. He had stolen the money
from a lady who was sitting in the
seat Just in front of him. This matter
was considerable of a mystery until
yesterday, when Kupuna confessed up.
According to his confession, Kupuna
has gotten away with over $50 in cash
altogether since he started in the "pro-
fession Of this, $40 was taken from
Mrs. Mckenzie, who has a private
school for Korean children in the city.
Mrs. Mckenzie suspected Kupuna, and
it was through her complaint that Joe
Leal was able TO break the little ras-
cal IS run.
He is audacious, and even went so
far as to demand of Apana whether or
not the detectives had warrant for
his arrest. Though not yet in his teens,
Kupuna has smashed all known records
for out-and-out lying. He lied mp and
down to Joe Leal, without the slightest
flicker or change of countenance. It
did not take long, however, to get him
entangled in his stories, and then he
confessed it all
Besides his thefts of cash, Kupuna
has been terror to hen 's-nests and
chicken. roosts on upper Liliha street
robbing various places along Liliha
street.
Chief Leal took the youthful burglar
into custody Monday afternoon but, of
course, under the new Juvenile law,
was unable to hold him overnight. The
boy has no father, only a partly-de-
mented mother, and when Leal let him
go at eight % clock Monday evening
he made him promise to return to the
police station yesterday. This Kupuna
promptly forgot to do, and, although
Leal and Apana both had their eyes
open looking for him all day yester-
day, he was not to be found.
What to do with him when he catches
the youthful thief again is question
that is bothering Leal. He is convinc-
ed that the only place for Kupuna is
the Reform School, as he is absolutely
incorrigible. If he is found before one
thirty this afternoon, Leal will take
him before Judge Whitney and ask that
he be sent to the Waialee Industrial
School where he will have an opportu-
nifty to forget how to steal in the years
he will have to stay there.
On the other hand, if the boy is not
found until late in the afternoon, Leal
can not do otherwise than to let him
go until the following day. 1t is in this
one particular, it is said, thai the new
Juvenile law is not working out sue
cessfully.
The boy thief had not a cent of the
money he has stolen on his person when
Leal searched him the other day, and
it is the belief of the Chief that he
has lost it all shooting craps. The boy
says that, save for So for suit of
clothes which he wore, he had not spent
any of the money at the stores. That
he may have cached the remainder is
another theory.