The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-12-17
WAIALEE MUT|NEERS
NOT GUILTY
Eleven Boys Of Reform School
Cleared BY Jury Of Unlawful
Assembly Charge

mot guilty" was the verdict re.
turned yesterday in Juuge Ashford s
court after an hours delibeTation by
the jury which tried the unlawful as
sembly charge against eleven Of the
fifteen Waialee reform school boys re,
Gently indicted by the territorial grand
jury as ringleaders in the so.called
mutiny which occurred at that institu.
tion on Sunday, November 81, last.
. In ordering the discharge of the boys,
Judge Ashford cautioned them. He
said that because the jury had found
them not guilty was no excuse for
them on their return to. the penal insti-
tuition to resort to violence, mutiny and
disorderly conduct as they had been
charged with in the case Just finished.
Fatherly Advice Given u
The eleven youngsters were advised
to behave themselves and to temporize,
If this were necessary. On January
first, coming a new board Of regents
would take charge Of the general con-
duet of the institution, the court told
them, and it was more than likely that
if anything was radically wrong there
at this time it would be looked into
and remedied by the new industrial
school board.
In handing in the verdict, Charles w.
Renear, foreman Of the jury, told the
court that his colleagues, by unani-
nous vote, had requested him to say
to the court that they recommended to
the proper authorities that the condi-
tons obtaining at the Waialee indus
trial school for boys be further investi-
gated. The trial jurors, in finding the
alleged mutineers not guilty, were Of
the opinion that conditions at the in
stitution would bear more looking into
than they had already received.
School oficials Testify
On Monday, the opening day of the
trial, j. NJ. johnson, assistant superin-
tendent, and John Themes, a twenty.
year teacher who came 10 Hawaii
last September and who admitted on
the witness stand that before being
engaged by Fl. W. Kinney, superin.
tendent of public instruction, he had
had no previous experience in institu-
lions of the nature of that at Waialee,
testified for the government.
The witnesses for the government yes.
terday were Hugh M. Tucker, Juperin-
tendent of the reform school, and AL
bert X. Kane, a teacher. Their testi-
mOny was practically the same as that
given by johnson and Themes.
Sordid Tale OF Conditions
The testimony was so much the same
that it became monotonous. 1t was,
did tale of repeated lashings of the re-
h. - L.
unruly ones, forcing them to work with
the shackles on in the sticky and Shiny
mud Of the taro patches, the use Of
fists to enforce obedience and, If all
heard is to be believed, the use of
language strictly prohibited in society.
The incident of the dead COW, whose
putrid meat the inmates claim they
were forced to eat, its condition being
such that the beef had to be curried
in order to pass muster and even at
that was found particularly offensive,
was ventilated at considerable length.
A boy who wrote to Superintendent
Kinney about the incident got forty
two lashes for his pains.
Verdict Was Anticipated
The verdict of not guilty was quite
anticipated. Few who followed the
testimony during the trial expected any
other outcome of the case. The jury
was made up as follows: Charles W.
Renear (foreman), F. f. Colby, Sam
Nuuanu, John Noble, William X. Rees,
Ernest F. Aguiar, W. X. Hutchinson,
George X. Dwight, Arthur N. Otremba,
A. W. Howe, Jack Milton and Charles
f. Frasher
Attorney Glenn K Quinn, whom
Judge Ashford assigned to defend the
alleged mutineers, was generally COM
plmented for his work. The rumor
that he will be a candidate for city
attorney at the coming elections could
not be confirmed yesterday.