Evening star., 1932-04-30
HONOLULU AND WASHINGTON
BOTH AROUSED BY KILLING
History of Fortescue-Massie Case Reveals
Conflicting Emotions and Counter
charges of Hawaii Crime Wave"
BY the Associated Press

BY the Associated Press
HONOLULU, April 30.-When Mrs.
Thalia MaSsie, blonde young wife of a
Navy officer, became bored at a party
one night last September and went
alone for walk toward Waikiki Beach,
she involuntarily providc.i the start of a
series of seething events which con-
vulsed Hawaii and reverberated in
Washington.
Mrs. MasSie was seized beaten and
criminally attacked, allegedly by five
men, among them Joseph Kahahawai,
young native athlete. She said Ka-
hahawai broke her jaw and assaulted
her when she prayed for mercy. The
five men were brought TO trial but the
jury disagreed.
Resentment sprang up in the Navy
group constituting a generous portion
OF Honolulus population, against what
was termed the hoodlum class Naval
circles charged the police with ineffici-
ency and with being unduly friendly
toward the native and Oriental ele-
mentS for political reasons.
Rumors Spring Up.
Rumors sprang up about the attack
T..
II. MaSsie, U. S. n. One was that Mrs.
Massie had not been attacked. but mere
ly had been seeking notoriety; another
linked her name with that of Navy
officer acquaintance of her husband.
and still another said 1t was MaSsie
who broke her jaw and that he was
getting a divorce.
Rear Admiral George T. Pettengill.
commander of minecraft in this area,
informed Admiral Richard H. Leigh,
commander of the battle force Of the
United States feet, that Honolulu was
unsafe for the wives of naval officers.
Some wives reputedly armed them
selves for protection. The Navy shore
patrol was enlarged to preserve order
Disorders began. Horace Ida. one of
the five accused by Mrs. Massie, was
seized and beaten in an attempt to get
him TO confess. Clashes between in
dividuals and between groups in the
streets brought extraordinary police
measures.
Then Mrs. James M ODowda, school
teacher. was bound, beaten, gagged and
criminally assaulted in her home. Lui
Kaikapu, native burglar who had es-
capped from Oahu prison, was suspected.
Captured, he confessed the attack and
was returned to prison for life.
week later, on January 8. while
making his daily report to the court,
pending retrial of the Massie attack
case, Kahahawai was lured into an
automobile by a fake summons. An
hour or two thereafter, at the end of
a wild chase toward Koko Head, just
outside Of town. police stopped an auto
mobile driven by Mrs Granville For
tescue mother of the attack victim.
and containing Massie, and E. J. Lord,
Navy enlisted man, and the sheeted
body Of Kahahawai.
Three Are Arrested.
The three were arrested on the spot
and the fourth suspect, Albert o. Jones,
was arrested later at the MaSsie home
Public feeling surged high. The four
accused of the killing were given into
custody of naval officers at Pearl Har-
Dor as measure for their safety.
Army and Navy enlisted men were
barred from the city temporarily.
Flowers and messages of encourage
ment were showered upon Mrs. Fostss-
cue. In an undertaking establishment
banked With blossoms lay the body of
the young native. Large crowds, most
ly natives and OrientalS, visited the
bier. Many natives were indignant.
Kahahawais weeping father said the
young man had taken a native oath
that he was innocent of the attack.
This was accepted by many Hawaiians
as conclusive proof of his innocence.
A grand jury at first refused to in
dict the four accused of the killing. but
under the urging Of Circuit Judge A. M
Cristy, which the defense later termed
judicial coercion, returned an indict-
ment charging second-degree murder,
the penalty of which is 20 years to life
Imprisonment.
40 Attacks Denied
In Washington a report of naval Of
ficers that about 40 women had been
attacked in Hawaii within a year was
made public, but was promptly denied
by civilian authorities here.
, The United States Senate ordered a
Department of Justice investigation Of
law enforcement here. A special session
OF the Territorial Legislature changed
some Of the criminal laws and au-
thorized reorganization of Honolulu's S
police and prosecuting systems
In his 18th year, Clarence Darrow,
noted criminal lawyer, came out of re-
tirement to defend the four accused of
the killing.
Judge Cristy was disqualified from the
trial by defense affidavit of prejudice
John C. Kelley, new prosecuting attor-
ney, presented the territorys case be-
fore Circuit Judge Charles S. Davis.
AS the trial started, the report Of Seth
w. Richardson, Assistant Attorney Gen
eral, who made the Justice Department
investigation, was made public He re-
ported finding no organized crime here
and said sex offenses seemed fewer pro-
portionately than in mainland localities
of similar population. He recommended
however, that the Federal Government
assume closer responsibility for law
and order in the islands.
With an array Of gruesome exhibits
blood-stained sheets, rope, clothing and
other articles taken from the death car
and from the home Of Mrs Fortescue-
Kelley swiftly built up vivid circum-
stantial story of how Kahahawai was
kidnapped by the four accused and taken
to the Fortescue home, where he was
/ shot to death.
Massie on Stand.
1 Darrow called Lieut. Massie to the
stand. The young officer told how he had
arrived home, to find his wife brutally
beaten and sobbing out the story Of
the attack; how the case proved on his
mind. and how rumors circulated after
the attack case jury disagreed.
MaSsie said he and the three Other
defendants plotted and carried out the
abduction. He said he confronted