Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-04-13
Two Members of Investigating
Committee Doubt Witnesses
Against Colleague

|
submitted TO the house OF representa-
tives yesterday by William H. Craw.
ford and Eugene X. Aiu, the two
members of the investigating com
mittee who failed TO sign the ma
jority report presented last week
AS forecast by the StarBulletin,
! CraWfOrd's report holds Kupihea
guilty only of some negligence but
not enough to justify Circuit Judge
Ashford's sweeping condemnation OF
Kubihea as responsible for the delin.
quehcy of his daughter and his niece.
| Anus report in effect states a be-
lief that Kupihea was unfortunate in
having bad daughter and also be-
lief that much of the discriminating
testimony Of the two soldiers arrest
ed In company with the girls was
false. and Should not be weighed
against Kupihea's version of affairs.
Crawford's report says in part:
! lin brief, Judge Ashford charges
Representative Kupihea with:
First Conducting at his home a
series Of entertainments which might
I be fairly described as constituting a
diScrderly mouse.
Second: Inviting soldiers to his
premises TO- drink liquor and permit
! ting them to drink liquor there. !.
"Thfrd: Infringing I'm gambling
games on his 'prefnises, out OF which
He may have ireaped some benefit. =,
"Fourth ''fiaViffg cottage In the
same Yard with ms own premises In
which he allowed soldiers to use I'M
occupied rooms, furnishing them the
Ekey thereto and which he allowed
them to use, drinking liquor with
them for the purpose Of drunken de-
hatchery and allowed his niece and
daughter with 'hfs knowledge, sane
ton and approval to mingle freely
with the soldiers.
Fifth: That under such .unwhole-
some relations as those, domestic re-
lations of such a vicious character as
that. the father and uncle had only
one thing to expect in regard to those
girls and If they have gone wrong,
surely the going wrong, it seems to
me, should be attributed more dis
tinctly to his fault than to the young
men with whom he has thus thrown
them into contact.
81 find in regard to the charges
made by Judge Ashford as follows:
''In regard to the first, second and
third charges made by Judge Ashford.
there is absolutely no evidence that
any of the charges are true.
In regard to the fourth and fifth
charges, the statements are so con.
Etradictory and the charges against
Representative Kupihea are made by
men Of such low character that l do
no believe they are proved.
an regard to the charge made by
the committee as a sixth cause of &C
ton, to-wit, that the prior delinquen.
ctes Of his daughters had been called
to Kupihea's attention and he had
made no attempt to reform them or to
keep more careful watch over them,
I think that this is true, but this is
not a charge made by Judge Ashford
and does not come within the charges
made by the court and therefore the
house of representatives has no
fright to state any judgment on the
natter s'''.S
olution the duties of the judiciary
committee is limited to ascertaining
and reporting whether the charges
are true The house alone shall be
the Judge of the qualifications Of its
own members and, therefore, ! SUBJ
NIT my report to the hohse for such
action as they deem proper in the
premises" ''-' ''
'Aiu's Report.
:" Representative Aiu sums up his
conclusions as follows: 49,. ~
q dfsbelieve the testimony of the.
witnesses against Kupfhea for the
following reasons: %
~tl) That it is unusual for a man
to allow his premises to be ill-used.
'"(2) That his sister is not on speak
ing terms with him. 49,
"(3) That from my observance of
the demeanor of the several witness
,es, and upon considering the record
of each OF them, have grave doubts
as to their sincerity and veracfty.
Oldham and Bradbrook' are the
men who were charged with the seri-
Gus offense. aforementioned, and who
succeeded I'm getting q suspension of
their sentence upon their version OF
the stnry. The girls in question are
still of tender age. and II was very
much surprised to see that there are
men Of the training and culture that
these soldiers receive who are so de-
graded as to entertain and yield to-
the temptation of having intercourse
with females of tender age. This
fact alone, to my mind, is sufficient
to cast discredit upon their testimony.
II observed them on the witness stand
and I noticed from their demeanor
that they were testifying falsely in
some respects, and / also noticed that
the fact of their being arrested,
charged and convicted had a great
deal to do with their testimony. So
far as the committee has been ad-
'pised. Mr.. Kupihea has a clean rec
ord, and 1t is unfair to, my mind that
his clean record should be upset and
made to give way to the record of the
two soldiers in question. AS to the
girls, the evidence shows that they
a. L =