Hawaii Holomua, Volume III, Number 256, 5 July 1893 — Untitled [ARTICLE]

Tjjk great conspiracy trial ia tbrqugb its first act, and the eom«nunity was sadly disappoiuted in DOt,being furnished with all the j*ropiiBed and expected discloeures —Hroinised and expected, though onLy by the correepondents here to ihe f >reign newepapers, aud perha]>e by eooiM very tinaid N. G.’s The recently appoiuted Judge believed in his decision that twelve reasouable nien could be found iu Houolulu who, on the evidence (>reeented. wi»uld fiud Messrs. Walker and Sinclair guilty of the off-mse of criminal couspiracy. The faith in the ordinary intelligence of Ihe average juryman 10 Honoiulu is evidently not one of the <3*ualities of the specificly appointed Judge —but the jurymen may exeuee his laek «f faith in them when remember the very slight aequaintaoce whieh Mr. Chas L. Carter holds with them both profegiionally and othtrwise. Tn»t Mr. Carter’B fir»t ap]»e*rancB on the t>ench hae not tended to imhue *nybody in town with &ny faith in •iia qualifications to Bit on the bcnch, goes without saying, hia extreme youth and mexperience may yel though juetify the hope that he tnay improve, aud if retained in t)is lucrative office learn how to it with justice, imparti*lity *ud tiouor. Thkke 1b oue thing iu tbe aeiion of Judge Carter, whieh though i» thoronghly incomprehensible to *ny->ne *nd that is the proceedings «K*in*t Mr. Crick. When the pro■eeulion iu lhis conspiracy c*«e ■t>6ted, the *ttorney for the defense «nade* molion todi8mi88 tbe c**es on 4hegrounds of msufficieuteyidence. Judge C*rtcr weut home *nd slept on the molion whieh he the following d*y overruled. holding that 0»«re w*b sufficient evidence to r*ason«bly expect a jury to convict ■11 the defendanU including Crick. l*he defenss then put on a few witneaaee to discredit aome of the witnewee for the prostcution, *nd •ome of theirstatementsrelating to ihe alleged meeting at Oummina, but not one word or statemeut wae |>roduced relating to Crick or to fhe evidence against him. The poeiUon of Crick •■ to his guilt or iunoeenee of the Judge was ez*ctly the s*me when tbe defen*e cloeed u when tbe proeecution re*ted *nd Mr. Creighlon’« motion to di*mi8a w*a orerru!ed. Judge C»rt«r went bome *g*in and slept oo tb« eaee and lol he reappears and di»ckargea Mr. Crick againat whom he a few daya before aUted in open oourt that there waa aofficient •ykleoce. What may we aak Uanspired whieh oonW *lter Jndge Chrter > 8 opinion on this aenona from one d*j to the other? rt thst by a moee emhl stod y of Uw cmo be eame to Ihn

resaU th*t h« wu io error on h'i first ruiiog? If bo we «hould suggest to him to take a liUle longer time aod reconsider the c*se again may behewiIlthencomethe eonelasion that he was as mueh in error in his decision as io his ruling. The proceedings now ean only throw rldicule and doubt on the Judgeand he should rise and expiain. Tbe alleged conBpiracy proved to be no consp:racy at all, except as predicted in the Holomi a m a lormer issue, a conspiracy between Gin. Wbiekey and Beer, to make the tongut-8 of s me irresponsibIe men wag in an aosurd inanner, not worthy of notice of any sane man or if m»tice shouId have heen taken ofthe babblers they anoald have heen fined six dollars and costs, eaeh for being drunk. The case for the government wae bused on notbing except bar-room talk. The learned Att-irney-General enlarged on the old saying in eino veritas, but with all due respect, both for the old saw and f-»r the learned Attorney-Geneyal as well as for the accused men, it eeema plain to us that tLe evidence distinctly proved that the more the alleged conspirator8 (and the A.-G.’s witneeaee) irabibed, the more outrageously did they lie. One witness stated that Walker told him that he had seventeen men ready (for eome mysteriou8 purpose) another tbat he said that sixty-eight men were with him (not in the ealoon though) tbird witness testified to Walker claiming 300 men, and finally a fourth '‘aaloon friend” had received the information frora Mr. Walker’s own lipa that wh’en they wereinthepalaceand heardthe words “Tom Walker” 1,000 men would rise and all the N. G.’s then had to do was to throw down their guns and scoot. Mr. Walker admitted at the time that he felt ratber rocky having partaken the nighl previousat a sumptuous dinner with Claus Spreckels, who by the way had put himself down for half a million, au eiample whieh promptly had heen followed by James Campbell with another half * million. The government did not produce any evidence as to whers tbe two c*pitalists had put that million down, so it has presumably not heen found yet. The character of the government’s witn68968 shouid on the face of the c*se bsv« made the Attorney-Gen-erml go very slow. Herr von Tonai *dmits wilh some pnde that he has not heen arreeted mueh more than three ttmes during the last lourteen years. We do not deny that if 9uch is the truth be has done better than we thought. but we believe that if the Manhal would have referred to the records in hu department, he might have heeo ahle to ivfresh the memorv of Herr von Topaz in regard to his former connections with the Uawaiiao government. Mr. Prescott, who ia ■ stranger here, and had never met Mr. Walker preTiously, immediately received that gentleman’s beer ■nd confidence, and got both article* eomewhat mized up. Ue waa honest enough to remember tbough that Walker a*id that nothing would be dooe before the United 8tates had d«cided the Qaeen’a £»rote*t,*ndouly if suchdsciaion waa advemly to restoration. The two wiineam from tbe Bo«ton Ustified 4>olj againat Crick, aod *a he hu bwn disch*rged, tbeir •rid«nos bu no further be*ring on the eue. Mr. Tbomu W nght—the only re■psctabie witn«u produoed—kn*v I noUun( exo*pt that Tom WaU« ]

had told him at NolU’a puhlia Iunch-rooma •omething about hlowiog »ocDebodT up, but furth«r pur* iienlan had not be*n furni«h«d to Mr. Wright. Final!y we h»ve U> d«*l with th* eTidence of the Arizoua detectiT« Mr. Marmont. If there had re«!Ij been any conspiracy and Mr. Marmont was telling tbe truth we must admit that thia was the only eridence wortbj of notice. He reported a meetmg —a meeting of armed m«n. He had tumbled to the secret eign of the con9pirator« and he wished it understood that be was no fool. Now here is something whieh smells of oonspiraciee. Who evtr heard about a well regulated decent conspiracy without armed men (tr?mniog arornd presumably to eall the attention of the poliee to their meeting) and of eecret eigns and oaths. We regret Mr. Marmont of Arizona didn’t have an oath. There is eomething missing in a conspiracy with«>ut an oath and by referring to eome dime novel we have no doubt thal the Attnrney-General’s detective cou!d have produced a proper well — turned and sufficiently blondy oath. Somehow or other the AttorneyGeneral did not seem to take mueh stock in Marmont’s testimony and he could neither be made to dwell on the meeting in Cummin’s stable nor on the royal!st sign. We are afraid that all that fund of humor and wit for whieh W. O. Srnith onee was uoted hae not beeu totally extinctyet-aIthoughonthegood way to be ao—and that it was too mueh for his risibles to enlarge on the drill and the 9ign, but we are suro that any impartial man would agree with ub that that was the only evidence of a con8oiraey produced in that court. The defense proved that Marmont’s character fo r veracity was bad and we believe it. We think his whole yarn was as poorly gotten up as only a patent idiot could make it. A de- | tectiva who cannot produce d it“9 and hours, yes, miantes to prove the aeiiona of the criminale whom he is paid to spot and waieh is a fool —and a ehiei of a poliee «ho continues to employ aueh a man ie little better. Wk don’t know of course if Messrs. Rosa, Creighton, and othere conspire againet the government, but our personal knowledge of their meulal calibre is aueh that we ean refute any statement tending to show that they are aspiring for ruom» in the Lunalie Asylum. Does Mr. Hartwell or his pupil the A. —Q., or Mr. Chaa. L. Carter really belieTethat when Mr. Rosa and Mr. Creighton meet eaeh other in Kaahumann Sireet in the morning they plaee their reepective ihuinha on their reepective noees and spread out their other respective tingers at eaeh others- We believe tbat the masons aud other eecret eoeielie#, have got certain eecret signs, whereby they are enabled to recognize a brother mason who ia otherwiae a atranger, but we nave yettolearnthat the maaona belonging tothe?ame lodge and grade go around and make signs at eaeh other in tbeir daiiy meetinga iu life. And wheu Sfarmont’a avi dance waa ao di<tinctiy seen to be a manufectured lie in that ona point why believe <py of it —and it ia abont the aame wiih the other wiloeaaea. The Manhal haa loat hia notea ia this oonspiracy eaae whieh aaama to oa the beat mdication that hanerer piaced sufficient importaaoa on tke whoie matter to ghre it hk carafnl coneidaration. » Iha omnalime on aueh ]

ridiculona and trifling evidence aa that pre#ent*d by the gov#rnmeot thr*e man are heid for daya ander loek and key, forbidden to •ee thcir frienda, and fbr a tim* even tbeir eounael. Two of tbem are to eonlinue their impnaonment uniil August. aa the AttornayGeneral refusea them ba.il. Aoeeee to them is denied to their friends coutrary to all prison-rule aud all legal custom. They are not convicted men undergoing a punishment, but only heid to answer on a weak, flimsy, and nnreliable evidence to a jury for an offense whieh is not a eapilal oflense. This unusual action on the part of the Attorney-General ueeds investigation. It looks raore like persecutiou, than pr secution more like iujuslice than the just:ce to whieii every citizen of these islauds is entitled.