Evening star., 1932-02-29
ecency, justice and civic pride II

decency, justice and civic pride IN
| Honolulu"
Most of the attacks on women were
| by gangs, sort of crime much more
rare on the mainland. AS result the
League of Women Voters tried to get
Chief of Police August Vollmer, Berke-
ley, Calf, to come here some years ago
and investigate the entire gang and
police situation, and raised the money
to bring him, but for some reason their
efforts were SIDE tracked.
Things drifted along until in the
Fall of 1923 there was crime which
startled the entire community. and it
was against boy. A japanese. Myles
Fukunaga, kidnapped the young son
of trust company official and stran-
gled him. Fukunaga demanded ram
som of $4,000 and the father paid
the money. The numbers Of the bills
had been taken by the bank.
Crime Shocked Public.
So shocking was the crime that
parents did not permit their children
out of sight. even to go to school, and
bought pistols to protect their homes.
The entire stock of firearms in Hon
olulu was cleared out in few days.
The police again failed to function,
and the Chamber of Commerce and
Gov. Judd, then "a colonel in the Ma
tional Guard, persuaded them to per-
NIT Gordon Ross, recently appointed
high sheriff, to take charge OF the in
vestigation.
But it was not until the newspapers
forced the authorities to make public
the numbers of the bills that Fukunaga
was caught. There was mob on the
murderers heels when he was taken to
the police station, and If they could
have done so they would have torn
him to pieces. Later he was hanged.
This case centered attention upon
the police, but nothing was done to
improve the situation. Sex crimes
continued to increase. and reached
their climax in 1929 when there was
demand that the whipping post be
established to deal with men who at
tackled girls. The proposal aroused ex-
citement, and although it was passed
by the Legislature it was vetoed by
Gov. Wallace Harrington on the ground
that it did not truly represent public
opinion.
First Recorded in 1881.
The first recorded attack on white
woman was in March, 1881, when a
governesS was assaulted within 100
yards of her home in the exclusive
Diamond Head district. The ease has
never been solved. and the police were
accused of mishandling it. The girl
could only partly describe her assail-
ant. Then came the recent Ala Moana
case, when Mrs. Thomas Massie, wife
of lieutenant in the Navy, was at
tackled on a lonely road after she had
left an inn where she and her husband
had been members of a party.
Although the identity of Mrs. Massie
was not known to the public until the
murder which followed, there was
tremendous uproar over her assault,
not only because of its brutality, but
because the Navy took vigorous action.
This case also was unusual because
the five men charged with the crime
were caught only a few hours after
ward They were Joseph Kahahawai
and Benny Ahakuelo, Hawaiians; Hor-
ace Ida and David Takai. japanese,
and Henry Chang, Chinese. Their
car collided with another car only a
short time after the assault on Mrs.
Massie and the number of the car led
to their arrest.
Two of them, Kahahawai and Chang,
were at once taken before Mrs. Massie.
She said she identified them. Three
Of them had criminal records. Kaha-
hawai- had pleaded guilt to assault in
another case and served 80 days.
Chang and Ahakuelo had been in
dicted with three others for rape, and