Wiliama G. Kahuakaipia is Dead

Shot by an Indian with a Bow and Arrow at New Year’s Diggings, Mariposa County, California.

To the Heads of the Kuokoa; Our Aloha:—

We are sending you this new gift, and it is for you to place it in some open space of our Greatest Prize (the newspaper Kuokoa) so that the personal friends living in Manoa, Oahu, of the person mentioned above, may see, along with the story below of his death.

At 5:30 in the evening of Saturday, the 15th of September, we went to the shop of John Paremal, and as we got closer to the store, there was a group of Indians getting drunk; and we got to the store, and finished our food shopping, then we hung around for a few minutes; and as we looked around at the nice items in the shop, the sun left on its usual path and the stars were seen twinkling in the heavens. That was when we got ready to leave, carrying our good by hand and on our shoulders; and while we were enjoying our way back, an Indian met up with W. G. Kahuakaipia while he was a bit away from us, and a half gallon jug of alcohol was taken from his hand, and he went after that Indian, thinking to retrieve the half gallon jug. Right then, another Indian came out from the shop and drew back his bow and the [arrow] flew and struck the chest; “and Kahuakaipia pulled out the arrow breaking the stone head off within,” (the arrow entered six inches). That was when he spoke his last words, with sadness and aloha.

O You guys! I am dead. Hey you guys!! and when we heard this call by our friend, we didn’t believe it was true, for when we saw the Indian pull back his bow, we thought that he wouldn’t let the arrow fly, but no, the weapon of the Ignorant [Waawaaikinaaupo] youth flew swiftly and struck our friend. And when we approached to see him, he already lay there, his last breath gone with blood flowing profusely from the wound. Right then we went to look for the murderer in the store aided by the light of a lamp and we found him in a room hiding under a couch; he was pulling back his bow, thinking to shoot one of us. But he was not able to because he was grabbed by us and tied up with rope and thrown into a secured building which we guarded all night until day. And on the next night, the news reached those living at Kanaka Camp, Tuolumne County, and when the men and women had gathered by where the body lay, then L. H. Kapua stood and read some passages from the Holy Book about the dead one, and after his talk, he read Hymn 67 (Wide is the path to go down, Down to eternal death). And after the hymn was over and the glorification of God, we carried the coffin with the procession following behind, and let it down into the depths of the bowels of the earth.

After the body was gone, a coroner’s jury of six was chosen by Hon. J. McPherson so that this murder case would be resolved quickly. With the questioning of the witnesses of both sides, and after the presentations by both sides were finished, come to find out, the murderer was set free by the stupid jury without them considering the testimony of both sides.

And on the 17th of that same month, we went before the district judge of La Grange, Stanislaus County, and when we were speaking of and explaining what was done by the past jury in the crime of murder, the judge immediately sent an officer to arrest the murderer, and he was found 16 miles away from where he took the life of our friend, and was taken to the jail of Mariposa.

Then on the 27th of November, this murderer was retried by a jury before Hon. J. F. Jones Probate judge, the head judge of Mariposa County. When everyone was gathered in the courthouse, each witness for both sides stood one by one, and after they were done with their statements, then the lawyer for the murderer stood and did his job of twisting right into wrong and wrong into right; and when the eloquent speeches by the lawyers of both sides were completed, the judge stood up and read the law dealing with murder and instructed the jury to carefully consider the testimony by both sides, and when he was done the jury went into a room. After half an hour, everyone gathered again in the courthouse and the judge read the decision of the jury. The murdering Indian will be taken to the great prison of San Francisco where he will be incarcerated for 10 years with hard labor; and the court was adjourned.

The is what was done in the two trials. We are true witnesses of the deceased. With appreciation.

Hon. John L. Kalani,

J. H. Wahinealoha,

James Ma,

Moses Nahora, Secretary.

Kanaka Camp, Tuolumne County, California.

November 29, 1867.

[I am not sure if this Moses Nahora and the Moses Naehola of the earlier post are the same person or not…

And how awesome is this, Mariposa County History page has a sponsor!]

(Kuokoa, 2/1/1868, p. 4)

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke VII, Helu 6, Aoao 4. Feberuari 1, 1868.