CURIO SEEKERS TRY TO RIFLE CAPITOL

King Kalakaua’s Mirrors the Pet Object of Souvenir Hunters—Kamehameha Knocked.

Daring souvenir collectors, willing to run the risk of a term in prison to gratify their desires, made a bold attempt to carry off a number of mirrors and bronze frames from the Capitol Building some time Wednesday night. It is believed that the collectors were frightened while at work and for that reason did not accomplish their purpose.

Roland Green, keeper of the Capitol, yesterday morning discovered the work of the would-be souvenir owners on the first terrace of the Ewa side of the building. They had succeeded in partially breaking two of the mirrors from their fastenings on the wall. A board holding one of the glasses in place was broken in two in tearing it from its lodgment. Green had the glasses and bronze frames removed to the basement of the Capitol where they will be repaired, resilvered and returned to their positions on the Capitol wall.

During the past few years several of these mirrors have been torn from their fastenings and carried away. Though malihinis, sightseeing and treasure hunting on the island, have been accused of the depredations it is said that kamaainas have had knowledge of at least one or two of them.

Kamehameha’s statue has not escaped the destructive onslaughts of the vandals. Several heads of the little bronze images at the base of the statue have been knocked off and carried away by the curio-seekers.

The mirrors, however, seem to have the most attraction. These mirrors are set in elaborate circular bronze frames surmounted by the coat of arms of King Kalakaua, bearing the initials of that monarch supported by two perfectly carved cherubs. It is stated that these frames originally cost $250 each and many were installed around the terraces of each floor of the palace. The idea of putting them in place is said to have originated with the King and were designed for the purpose of aiding in illuminating the palace grounds.

This was in 1883. Gas was then the modern method of illumination in Honolulu as well as on the mainland. Gas fixtures were arranged in front of each of the glasses. When these were lighted the mirrors were intended to cast the reflection to the surrounding grounds. It is said that this innovation cost the monarchy about $20,000.

For a year after the completion of the new palace it is said that King Kalakaua had one of the best illuminated palaces in the world, though practically the full capacity of the local gas plant was required to accomplish this purpose. By that time the good King learned that, after all, his bright mirrors were not the success they should be. Soon afterward the electric lights came and the gas fixtures were removed. Since then the mirrors have not only been sought after by curio hunters but have been the object of much speculation on the part of tourists.

Many of these strangers have figured that the mirrors were installed on the palace walls by the King with a view of aweing visiting native subjects, many of whom, according to fiction, had never gazed into a looking-glass.

It remained for Keeper Green to give the true version of their cause of their installation.

“It is strange how some people look upon this Capitol Building as a curio pile,” said a territorial official yesterday. “The fact that the former palace of the King is being used as the seat of a democratic government seems to appeal to them strongly and but for the vigilance used by the watchman and others the entire building would be carried off by souvenir hunters within a few years.”

[This is most likely the basis of the Hawaiian-Language article in the Kuokoa, 1/17/1913, p. 6.]

(Pacific Commercial Advertiser, 1/10/1913, p. 6)

Pacific Commercial Advertiser, Volume LVII, Number 9494, Page 6. January 10, 1913.