Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-07-06
Kappa. Land
Drawing Plot
IS lnimated
Land Office Official Puzzled
BY Rush of Eleventh Hour
Homestead Applications and
Seeks to Solve Problem of
Devious Delivery to Office

SCCNO " SOiBS IObiS'b VI
Devious Delivery to Office
That an attempt was made by a hui
of men to gain homestead rights to
large portion of the Kappa, Kauai.
tract, recently opened for settlement,
On the theory that the last applica-
tons In the box would be the first
drawn out, is the opinion Of Walter
A. Engle, chief clerk in the public
land office, who is endeavoring to find
out how 81 or more letters OF app1-
cation, which he says were rushed TO
the land office at the last moment,
were secured from the postoffice.
The land office possesses a key to
a postoffice Eox, which is accessible
to all clerks On the evening of July
2, the day before the drawing. Engle
says be went to the postoffice be-
tween aud s o'clock and took all
the mail from the box. The next
morning, he says, he again went 10
tie postoffice and took all the mail
from the box. This was the morning
of the drawing. The box containing
the applications was then sealed, ex
ira precautions being taken by Engle
bJ placing a postage stamp over the
slot.
Clerk Gets Letters
Shortly before the time for the
drawing, says Engle, Henry Van Gle
son, a clerk in the county clerks Of
flee, came into the land office and
handed him a package containing be-
tween IS and 40 letters, all applica-
tons for the Kappa homestead lots.
Engle says the letters were all
dated July and bore the postoffice
stamp. Engle explains, however, that
these letters, although bearing date OF
the day before, were not in the post
office box when he opened it on the
morning of July 3.
Upon receipt Of the bundle Of let
tiers from Van Gieson, Engle says he
consulted with the deputy attorney.
general. who held that the letters
should be placed in the box with the
other applications. Engle says this
was done. and that the box was thor
oughly shaken before the drawing
began
The problem Engle 10 endeaVoring
tc solve Is how the 81 or more letters
got out OF the postoffice, all bearing
the stamp Of July 2, when Engle him
self had cleared the box on the morn
ing Of the drawing. ,
He also wanted to know this morn
ing why Van Gieson, not an employe
OF the land office, gained possession
Of the letters.
Three Stories Told
Three decidedly conflicting stories
are toId-one by Henry Peters, clerk
in the land office; another by Van
Gieson, and the third by Representa-
tive James X. Lota of Hanalei, Kauai.
Henry Peters declares that on Mon
day afternoon, July<2, Representative
Lota handed him a bundle OF letters.
He also declares that on the same
afternoon Van Gieson gave him a
number of letters at the clerks office.
II Peters statements are true, says
Engle, by what authority did Lota and
Van Gieson get the letters from the
postoffice?
When questioned this morning by
Engle, in the presence OF Star-Bul-
letin reporter, Lota fatty denied that
and declared he knew nothing about
the affair. -s. j.
Lota alleges, however, that during
preliminary investigation that was
being conducted by Engle in the, land
office; Peters came to him and asked
him to say that he, Lota, had given
him some letters. This, Lota asserts,
he declined to do.
Van Gieson admits tnat he pre-
sented the bundle of lettersLat the
land office, but denies that he ever
gave any letters to Henry Peters. He
said he was sitting in the clerks Of
tice of the house of representatives
talking with Nicholas Hoopii, former
employe OF the postoffice, when Peters
came to the door and called Hoopil
outside. .,
Then, he declares, Hoopii asked Van
Gleson to take bundle of letters and
hand them In at the land office, which
he says he did. Shortly before the
close of the legislature Hoopii said
he was going to quit the postoffice
end go into small farming on Kauai.
The theory advanced by Engle is
that 8 plan had been laid by a hui to
get the 81 or more letters into the
box just before 1t was closed with the
belief that the last letters in the box
would DO the first to come out when
the drawing was held.
The only solution TO the problem
that Engle thus far has been able to
advance is that someone took the let
tiers to the postotflee around midnight
on the night Of July and had them
stamped and passed lack to him.
Engle requested the postmaster to
make al investigation which, says
Engle, resulted in all clerks ques-
toned declaring that the letters must
have gone through the land office box.