The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1913-09-05
SAVED FROM JAIL
BY A MIRACLE
Fslipinos at Hi,o Seek Cruel Re
+ venge Upon E,ncmy, Who Would
Have Gone TO Prison But for
Fortunate Discovery of Plot by
an officer.
(Mail Special to Tho Advcrtiscr.)

Mail Special to The Advertiser)
HIl.Q,S ssptembor a-one of tho
Bhost edtihloodeil 3and atroslous at
|tcs,pts 10 use the tseiifts, IS o., instru
iheht 'fcr Srhhinal r6tposes Which has
ever come to the notice Of the police
pinos conspircd to railroad fellow
countryman to Jail by manufacturing
ease of larceny against him and
having him arrested on warrant sworn
to by one of them. The plot was dis.
covered by the merest chance, and the
fellows finally had to plead guilty.
The punishment was mild. Two were
fined ten dollars each The third, the
ringleadcr, was sentenced to imprison-
ment for three months. The police are
disguised.
The trouble had its origin in the
| fact that the leader, one Nicholas
Ploma, suspected that his former
friend, Juan Riviera, was going to beat
him out of twelve dollars, for which
amount Fiona has acted as n guarantor
for Juan at the boarding house where
the two obtained their meals. In or
der to get even with Juan, Ploma con.
trived his unique revenge.
Victim Is Arrested.
On Sunday morning of last week
'Ploma came to Deputy Sheriff Martin
with n complaint to the effect that
his trunk had been broken into by
Juan and that twenty dollars had been
taken therofrom. He produced as wit
nesses two friends, Astra and Christobal,
who testified that they had seen Juan
in the act of breaking into Ploma s
trunk the previous Saturday evening
ct about six o clock. This seemed, OF
course, to be prima facie ease against
,luan, and he was arrested the follow
| ing day on warrant which had been
sworn to by Ploma.
On Monday morning Juan was on the
mourners' bench in the police station,
ready to be hailed into court, where
there can be but little doubt but that
he would have been convicted, in view
of the strength of the evidence which
| had been secured against tbini. I, ,aai
| Jaan escaped being matte 4 victim
of the plot by the merest coincidence,
Captain of Police Silva saw him on
the bench and made intbiiries from
Martin as to why ne had been ar.
rested.
"Why, he broke open trunk at
WaialSca last saturday night, T" said
nliirtih. Ht''lt r u - 49, -, q
scheme Exposed; Plotters Jailed. ~
/ "That he didn ~ replied Silva.
"Tlat man was with me, last Satur-
day at Eaupahoehoe, and ] left hun
az Papaaloa at midnight .vh
AS Lanpahoehoe is = twenty- eight
miles from Hilo, and as SilyH had the
man with him the entire evening, }, Il
was manifestly impossible for Juan 70
have been Mt Waiakea at that time. :,
The case against Juan was accord
ingly nolle pressed, and the deputy
sheriff turned his attention to the
plaintiff and his two witnesses. At
first they stuck to their tale, but
finally, last Tuesday, Astria broke
down and came through with the whole
story. He seems to have been the least
) cnlpablc of the bnpcb, as it appears
, that at fast he declined TO assist Ploma
in carrying out his plot. Later on both
l'loma and Christobal confessed also.
They entered pleas of guilty in the
district court and were sentenced as
was stated above.
The police are much dissatisfied with
the lightncss of the sentence, as they
believe that an example should have
been made of the men which would
serve as a lesson TO others not TO regard
thus lightly the dignity of the courts.