THE PIRACY HOAX.

An hour’s sensation was produced, upon the arrival of the Alameda, by an imaginary account, in the Alta California of the date the steamer left, of the capture and sacking of Honolulu, on the afternoon of Dec. 1st, by a pirate vessel’s crew. “Hoax” is stamped upon the face of the article, as it is too circumstantial and exact in details and names for news conveyed orally by the sea captain represented to have informed the Alta. Yet without the following editorial paragraph in tho some issue, the canard might have been tho occasion of cruel anxiety to many people: “The narrative on the first page shows what might be accomplished in tho Hawaiian Kingdom by a small body of desperadoes.” Whether the motive was amusement, profit or political effect, the hoax can hardly fail to have injurious results, of more or less degree and duration, upon Hawaiian securities abroad. It is mischievous as well as absurd to say that tho proceedings described could be accomplished here by “a small body of desperadoes.” Tho work is generally ascribed to Mr. Dan O’Connell, late editor of the Advertiser, an opinion that is strengthened by the issue of an extra with the article, in similar type to the original, from the office of that paper, within an hour after the steamer’s arrival. It is to be feared the author has made the sale of this Government’s bonds abroad more difficult than ever by his practical joke.

[I wonder what the motivation was…]

(Daily Bulletin, 12/23/1884, p. 2)

The Daily Bulletin, Volume VI, Number 901, Page 2. December 23, 1884.