Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-11-29
When Told to Leave He At
tempts to Blow Up Man and
Woman Who Sheltered Him
When He Was Out of En-
ployment
CAP PULLS OUT AND
PLOT Is FRUSTRATED
Two Sticks of High Explosive
Fail to Go Off From Detona-
ton; Hole Bored in Floor,
With Fuse in Cellar


Only the Intervention of a trivial
accident Saturday night saved Kat.
shuge Yamosaka and his wife and
child, residents of Wahiawa, from a
horrible death and frustrated plot,
as fiendish as any ever invented by
the author OF a moying-picture drama,
which Sokichi Seto, say the police,
planned and endeavored to carry
through to revenge himself on the
couple for being elected from their
house. All Of the people are Japa-
nese
Seto has been boarding with the
Yamosakas al their home in Wahiawa
and like his landlord worked on a
pineapple plantation. Recently Seto
has been loafing and has paid no
board, so he was asked to leave the
house Saturday afternoon.
In an attempt to revenge himself he
crept into the home Saturday while
the occupants were away and planted
a dynamite mine to destroy them,
charge the authorities who are seek
ing him. Placing two sticks of high
power dynamite under the mattress
where the couple and their little baby
sleep. he bored a hole in the floor
and dropped long fuse into the
cellar. Some time Saturday night.
probably after the Yamosakas
and their baby had dropped to
sleep, he went into the cellar and Lit
the use
Left House In Terror.
Half an hour later the family
we're almost blown out of bed
by an explosion and both were badly
bruised. They ran from the house In
terror but returued aafew moments:
later and fifted the torn mattress nom.
the floor to see what had caused the
explosion
They found beneath the bed the
two sticks of dynamite intact, and
one exploded concussion cap. Inves-
tigation by Detective McDuffie proved
that before Seto Lit tAe fuse which
he thought was the signal for the
death of the Yamosaka family,
the cap had slipped from the hole in
the dynamite where 1t is always
placed. Only the cap exploded be-
meath the sleepers.
Caps used in exploding dynamite
have high explosive power and even
this served to badly shock the intend
ed victims.
Would Have Wrecked Home.
Had the cap remained fixed in the
dynamite the entire house and its oc-
cupants would have been blown to
pieces and no evidence would have re-
mained that Seto was the murderer.
The Japanese man and woman told
the detectives that they were sure
Seto planned their death, because
when they told him they could not
keep him longer In their home he
threatened them and during Saturday
afternoon they saw him lurking near
their place several times.
McDuffie attributes the slipping of
the cap from the hole in the dynamite
followed out by Seto's knife to the
weight of the fuse. which hung into
the cellar and rested on the floor. AS
long as the weight was on the floor,
the cap probably remained in place,
but when the fuse burned upward and
the weight was thrown on the cap, |
the cap was dragged out and exploded
almost two feet from the dynamite. II
Seto has not yet been found by the
police. He is described as a man so
years of age, feet 10 inches tall, |
has a crooked mouth and cannot close |
his right eye 1t is thought impossi-
bic for him to escape.