The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-04-05
DRAFT DEHNQUENIS.
LIGHTLY PUNISHED.
Twenty-s Appear Before
Judge Vaughan and Are Giy-
en- Easy Sentences

Uncle Sam was not very severe with
tweuty-seven draft deIinquents yester.
day who were before Judge Horace
Vaughan Of the federal court on
charges Of. failing to register, be pres
.ent when ordered for their medical ex.
aminntionss and for failing 10 fiji out
and return their questionnaires. All
the delinquents were FiIipinos, except,
ing one Cuban. .,-.' o..
. One OF them got Off entirely because
he produced a registration card, one
was given q chance to volunteer for
military service before two o clock to,
day, three got sentences of, one day
each, and the others sentences of from
twenty TO thirty days imprisonment.
Even those sentenced may get Of
without serving their sentences unless
Jail accommodations can be provided
for them. Otto lieinP, deputy United
States marshal, informed the court, az
ter the sentences were passed, that the
county Jail was full and wanted TO
know IL the prisoners could not be sent
TO the Oahu prison. ~ ..%N
As the convictions were for mistle,
meanofs, the court said the law pro
hibited the draft delinquents being
sent to the prison, and also at the SAND
time ruled that the law required that
single commitments be made out for
each of the prisoners. g..t
Plan Wouldn't Work ~ p {
Because there were 10 many Of the
prisoners the court clerks and marshal's
staff wanted to Hoovcrize" on paper
and send the whole bunch to Jail with
work, no more than did whispered
suggestion that the proceedings Of the
court would be hastened if the de-
PENDANTS were given identifying NUM-
bers, instead of trying to tell them
apart by the clothing they wore or by
their similarly unprOnounceable names
Domingo Peras was the Cuban who
was given an opportunity to become a
soldier instead Of a prisoner. He exi
planned that IL was because of movin Z
around from one plantation to another
that he failed to get an opportunity to
register, but insisted he had already
tried to enlist, at the same time thump-
ing his chest, which some thought he
meant was the reason he was notSac4
cepted by the military authorities. - I,
With one ofdthe Filipino defendants
charged with not registering he was
given a sentence of thirty days, but
the court ordered that he be released
on his own reeognizance until two
O'Clock! today during which he is to
have the chancetto enlist.
Many Plead entity
All of the defendants were given an
individual examination, nearly all Of
them pleading Sgnilty. After one Of
them had donesO he put in such a good
defense that the court ordered his plea
withdrawn. This defendant contsnded
he had filed out his QUESTIONABLE and
mailed it at Hilo. r's
He like three others who will have
to be tried by jury in realit::' care
worse than those. who got their troubles
partly over by entering the guilty pleas
1t will be April,22 by the time the fedc
raj trial jury is ready to hear these
cases, and in the meantime the twenty
or other draft delinqpents sentenced
Yesterday will have nearly finished
their jail terms. ''.
The same thing would have probably
been the case with three Filipinos de
Tended by Attorney George French, i
he had not contended 80 strongly that
the men had already been punished b!
being held in jail for a hearing for
thirty days. His clients were charged
with failing to report for the medical
examination when notified to do 80 in
IIlo. go
This, he said, was because they did
Iot get their mail in time, but had re
ported "a soon as they1did 90, to the
post flee for their, notifications On
tins account he said he hesitated to
enter plea of guilty as, he, did not ha
lieve they were 30 Intentionally. But
that if he did not do so his clients
would have TO remain in Jail until the
latter part, of the month before they
could be tried by jury.
Get Of Easy
The court finally minated that on
the showing made it would only sen
tence these three men to days i'm
prisonmrnt each, after which a plea Of
guilty was entered. -
OF those charged with failing to FIJI
! out their qurstiOnnaires the first six
or seven were sentenced to thirty DAYS
imprisonment, but this was afterwards
reduced to twenty days, which was the
sentence given to all the Others ghargeII
with the same Offense. Only the few
who had failed to register were given
the additional ten days Imprisonment.
Judge Vaughan explained that the
sentences imposed were light because
it was evident Grass ignorance was the
reason the Filipino defendants had not
flied out their questiOnnRires,, only one
or two Of them being ableytO write cven
their own names, let alone GA out the
highly puAzKng QUESTIONABLE blanks.
Many of them had not received their
blanks aud did not know they had such
thing coming to them. There was no
evidence any of them bad tried to
cVnde military service.
Most of the defendants before the
federal court yesterday were lFilipnos
who were preparing to return to their
native country, when apprehended.
- W. 8, s.,F--h
LONG RANGER WOUNDS