The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1916-09-08

man ne took Tor stranger riding
furiously away from the direction in
which the body was afterwards locat-
ed police officer at the plantation
| camp on the Nahiku side of Hama
also reported as having seen this
supposed to be stranger.
Through this clue and the notifica-
ton of the officers of the district.
John Ginza was arrested for invest
igation at Keanae at 10 o'clock that
morning. The prisoner was immedi-
ately taken back to Hama to be ex-
amined by Sheriff Crowell and Coun-
ty Attorney Bevins who had left for
| that side of the island by a sampan
as soon as word of the murder reach
! ed Wailuku.
Ginza Was Armed
Ginza is a Japanese who was rails
ed by Hawaiian family by the
name of Nahipoa, now residents of
the Hama district. During Ginzas
youth, they at one time resided in
Wailuku. Ginza reached the Hama
district by horseback on the day be-
fore the murder and is said to have
spent the night with his foster par
ents.
When arrested Ginza was armed
with U. S. hammerless 3S-calibre
revolver, which the Hama physician,
DR.. Litchenfels says is the size of the
weapon that caused Cooper's death.
Further suspicion is directed to-
ward Ginza as he was mounted on a
bay horse, the same color of the
animal which the man, thought to
be a stranger, was seen riding away
from near the scene of the murder
Ginza stole the horse in Hamakua-
poko early this week and then left
for Hama.
Has Jail Record
Ginza was in Hama for a few days
month ago and left there to go to
Hilo, where he has lived at different
times. 1t had been five or six years
since he had been in the Hama dis
trict before that, it is claimed Be-
fore coming on his visit, preceding
the Hilo trip, he had just been re-
leased from jail in Honolulu where
he had been serving a sentence for
vagrancy, according to the police.
The police state that he has served
other sentences for attempted burgl-
airy and for receiving stoolen goods.
While Ginza is reported to be
maintaining his innocence of the Ha-
ma crime, the only argument put
forth in his favor is that he could
not have had time to have ridden
to Keanae from Hama after the crime
was committed before he was arrest
ed. This argument is made by those
who know the long time it takes to
ride over the pail trail from Nahiku
to the little village
Motive May Have Been Old Grudse
AS to the motive which caused the
crime the police are puzzled Cooper
had $4,000 in currency in his pockets,
valuable watch and a number of
endorsed checks, some of which were
his property and some which were
the property of the plantation. All
his valuables were found in his
pockets.
This inclines the police to believe
that the real motive of the murder
was some fancied grudge against
Cooper. Another supposition is that
the motive was robbery, but that the
murder was frightened away before
he was able to accomplish his purp-
ose. The theory is advanced that
the murder attempted to hold-up
Cooper and when commanded to
deliver over his money the murdered
man resisted or started to ride away
and that he was then shot from his
saddle.
Sheriff Crowell and County At
torney Bevins intend to remain in
the Hama district until they have
positively proved Ginza's guilt, or
until the murderer, if it is not he,
is discovered, according to telephone
statements they have made to the
Press in Wailuku.
All Maui Shocked
1t is not the intention of the ofIic-
ers to hold the inquest or the preli-
minary hearing of Ginza until they
have secured more evidence to cor
roborrate the string of circumstantial
evidence against him. They are
working now intent on establishing
the motive for the murder.
News of the Hama tragedy cast a
gloom of sorrow all over Maui, as
Cooper was widely known and just
as widely liked, due to his sterling
honesty and genial nature. In Hama,
where he has lived for so many years,
CONTINUED on page 81