The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-11-23
Forgery CHARGED
in CONTEST OVER
WILTS0F QUEEN
.AttorheysFoF Johh coIburn Score
Two Important Points In
Preliminary Skirmish
FIGHT icENTERS NOW
ON ADMINISTRATOR
Present Hearing Does Not Go
Into Validity Of Documents
Filed In Court BY Contestants


noction with one OF the Liliuokalani
wills, the one said TO have been exc
cuted August 20 last, marked the sec.
ond day 8 proceedings of the Queen S
will case in the circuit court yesterday.
The fight at the present time continues
to, be over the appointment Of a tenn
porary administrator to act until the
real struggle starts, and after a number
of points had been threshed out by the
II attorneys yesterday indications pointed
that John y. OoTbnrh, the executor
named in the will that is under fire,
may be named TO act temporarily, I'm.
less the opposing interests are able to
show that he is person unfit to fiji
the post y '9{ wNGA,
Despite the charges made and the
questioning of the signature Of the 1917
will, the attorneys supporting this will
won the two technical points that wero
disposed ofsyesterday. ssi5 81. ~.
The Three Petitions E,t,4 aG .s.
The three petitnpn before the court
in the present proceedings are: First,
the petition asking that Colburn be ap
pointed, filed in connection with tho
iSif VIII bcCOIiut Ine pellIlOn ASKING
for the appointment Of Col. Curtis r.
laukea and Delegate Jonah X. Kalania.
naole as temporary administrators, filed
in connection with the so-called old
will, the one said to have been executed
December g, 1909, and third the peti
tion of Delegate Kuhio in which he al.
.leges that the Queen died intestate and
that he is the Queen legal heir, and in
which he asks to be appointed tempo.
rary administrator. y ,sa-.. l,r a-..S,.
Three Cornered Fight
As the9real conflict of the three
groups, the fight over the two wills, and
the hearing of all contentious, may not
be held until "a period of publication
elapses under the law, the court has
been reluctant to let down the bars AMI
admit evidence that might keep the
case going for days, and has sought to
limit the scope of the present hearing
TO the single matter of the appointment
of temporary administrator, without
going into the question of the validity;
of documents THAT have been intro
duced. This will be done when the trial
opens December 81 next.
Accepting the documents in the case
as they stand, for the present, the at /.
titude of the court has been that the
VIII pVdiihR tue ldleT uhue anu 1JN
accompanying petition asking thSt Col!
burn be named temporary administral
tor, have the best standing y So.
colburn Scores Point .. a. ...... p
Opposing this, the contention was
raised by the attorneys Of the other
two groups that Colburn should not be
named because he was an interested
party in the contest that had arisen.
This contention was not accepted and
Coiburn retained his standing, marking
the first point that the. attorneys of
the 1917 will scored The naming of
dlsinterested person to act as temporary.
administrator was suggested several
times. ,.ie~.. t.eA g. rN *. ag..
The legal guns of the two groups
were then turned on the, 1917 will it,
self and the signature that appears or
the margin of each of it's pages was
brought into question. The court held
then that il Colburn's appointment
were to be successfully opposed in Thu
manner, it would be necessary to show
that the will bore some palpable flaw
and that "cursory examination.
would give rise to the belief that l..
was fraudulent. Over objections that
were, offered the attorneys of the
bVO0 wiz NHCHE 10 IN
troduee a limited amount Of evidence
by which they sought 10 show that the
signature to the 1917 will was q
forgery. liaH'. IarIis No.. . e.
w. o. Smith Testifies .....
Strong support was given to this al.
legation when Attorney w. O. Smith
who is a prominent figure in much of
Hawaii s history, took the stand and
after examining the 1877 will, express
ed the belief that the signature TO il
had not been written BY Liliuokalani
Following this statement list of
twenty or more documents all purport.
, ing to have been signed by Liliuoka.
lani and many known TO have been
signed by her within the past eight
years were Offered, in evidence. The
effort TO poin2 oct Jiiiferenees betteeu
these signatures and those in the 1917
win was checked as matter properly
belonging to the coming trial of the
case fa}tlfl a - s-a..t
Mrs. Webb Testifes ..aD..
The latest signature offered occurred
in book that had been given by the
Queen tos'her friend, Mrs. Lahilahi
/ Webb, Mrs, Webb, theronly other wit
!, ness called, identified this signature
which she sdid she had seen the Queen
write and said il had been made March
3ttlast, the day on which she had re-
criVed the, book. The only purpose Of
Mrs. Webb's testimony was to estab-
lish exactly the date on which the
signature had been written,
Despite the charges made and the
cvidonce' Attorney Smith had offered,
calling the 1917 Wills signatures into
question, after the w0Idy clash over
the. matter of the signature, the court
held that Colburn's standing in the
contest for the appointment as TEN
pOrary administrator had not been af,
fected. Just before Adjournment the
court pointed out q final means of de-
fcating ColburR's3Rppointment that re
mains. This consists of*shpwing that