The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-02-04
This Is What SChIemmer Calls the
Slaughter of Quarter Million
of Laysan Goonies.
A GUARD FOR LAYSAN ISLAND
ThetIs May Return to WayIay the
POaChing Schooner and Get
More Prisoners.

The probe of the United States gov
eminent, in the form Of the federal
grand jury, will today start very
searching investigation Of the japanese
| poachers arrested on Laysan and Lvsi-
, anski islands for killing birds and strip
/ ping them of their valuable plumage.
! The investigation was under way yes
! terday, and preliminary plans are un-
derstoOd to have been laid toward com
n encing a most scrutinizing inquiry
| into the methods of the japanese com
! pany organized for the purpose of de
! stroying bird life on American islands
lulu man, not Japanese, is connected
with the matter, has given the grand
| jury an opportunity to ascertain just
who is or are the d" higher-ups.''
Max Schlemmer, in an interview,
made the statement yesterday that the
/ men arrested were acting on the islands
under his direction and that they were
engaged in taking off the guano de-
posits, but incidentally. he says, they
may have killed a few birds. - The
few birds Max Schlemmer mentions
number some several hundreds of thou
sands which they have destroyed in
the course of a couple of years.
Schemmer goes into a long statement
in which he charges Governor Frear
with being responsible for the present
difficulty, stating that he was kept off
the island by the Governor, until finally
his lease was terminated. He said if he
! had been allowed to 90 to the islands
the present situation would not have
arisen The fact remains, however
that Schlemmer S connection with the
bird destroying operations has been
well established. and that the men were
not on the island looking for guano
but for bird wings and feathers.
Guard for Laysan.
The Thetis may shortly leave fol-
Laysan and Lysianski islands to inter
cept the japanese schooner Tempo
Maru, which was to have called for the
poachers and their freight of wings anC
| ltdi ttIS TINS bl the itAt ilt'lIt H. ~
vessel is understood to be on the way
from Japan to Laysan at the present
time
1t is understood that recommends
tions will be made to the treasury de
partment for permission to station rev
enue cutter men on Laysan Island TO-
the next year, the squad to be IN com
mand of uon-commissi0ned or warrant
; officer As the Thetis will probably
make frequent cruises among The
islands. the squads could be relieved
, frequently and properly looked after.
Tropical Snowstorm.
When the Thetis' men were ashore
on LaySan and orders were being car
ried out to destroy a large amount O
the feathers. the men came across ont
: small building which was jammed tul
, of feathers. They wondered just how
! they would destroy the stuff, and finaIl'
. decided to remove the boards. / M
: latter were removed and the wind die
, the rest For a while the air was full
of feathers and it looked as il a trop
p zeal snowstorm had visited the sand,
D. island.
p The feathers and wings landed from
f ! the ThetiS are eucased in gunnysack>
r. each bale marked with Japanese char
d / acter-. some of which are said to spell
f the name Of Paris importer Of teath
. ers As the plumber was seized on a
\ American island. there is no need TO
condemnation proceedings. and Marsha
Heudrv may receive instructions TO sci
the pIumage at public auction.
Continued en- Page Four)
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