Hawaii Holomua, Volume III, Number 262, 14 July 1893 — Untitled [ARTICLE]

8ixce the newa of thekiilmgof I>e|)Oty Sberiff Stolz by a leper in the Kalalau vaiiey on Kauai reached tli 18 t«»wn the Hol ompa has said nothing >rhat»'ver ab »nt the g >vernment j«licy toward« the iej)ers in Kalulau, or about tbe exj*edition to thal piaee. l)iff'-rent motivea made ue eilenl. While we enlertained the deepest ?ympathy f <r Mr. St»lz and tbe unf >rtunate men who lnter on were killed we disapprov«d of the atteuij>t on the part of the g >v»-rriinent to provoke the quarre! with the l»>pers—a neeles8 quarre! —»8 it then 8etmed to ub, »nd aa the late events since have proven. While we fully believed thal the povernment 8houId uee all efforts to cajdure the murderer of 8heriff Stolr from the minule in whieh he heeame a criminal, we were cunvinced that the motiveB whieh led the government to take a 8*er> whieh it now deeply regrets were not eueh aa could justify the eacrifice of four livesaiid a large 8«m ol the lHxpayer8 money. Tlie exjiedition is over now and the government has abandoned eo fnr the cause whieh it w*ant only undertook and it is oew j)rnp*?r for ub t<> look into this whole affair and enlighten the country as to the facts connected with this Kalalau wtr. Kalalau is a valley on Kauai beIonging t»> the government. The lands have never been leased or offered for sale because there was a tacit uuderstnnding that the lepers who had found a refuge there should be left alone. They were virtually M 8egregated as are the lepere today on Molokai, and no complaints of the healthy resident» ever reached tb« authorities. Under the reform •dministration, Messrs. Thurston, Da mon, aud their colleaguea eon- I tinue<i the policy of Oiheon, and Kalalau waa left undisturbed. If wa remember rightly Mr. Thurston viaited the valley to see wbat could be done. but upon hia return no 8tej)S were taken to moleai th« lepers living in the valley. The landa adjoining the valiej fell into th« hands of cerl*in corporations or •ompaniee. and āpeculator« b a gan to Cā9t greedy ryo8 on thefertilelands in the valley,and appliealiona were eent to the d:fierent cabinets for the landa, but were promptly r«fused as it w«a oonsidered 8gainst good policy lo allow settlera to take ■p their ab>xie in the valley without r«*rooving the lepers, a step whieh ihe differentadministrations d«emed unjast and dangerouB. This po!icy wae not only fo!lowed by ihe alleged rotten monaiehieal minis- I Ur*. Th« mueh lamented WilcoxBrown eahinel adhered to it as well as tbeir predecessora in offlce. While Mr. Cecil Brown waa Attor-■ey-Genen«l, Mr. Stol« wrote a letUr to ihe Board of Heallh requeeting tbem to give him authority aa their agent to remove the leoen from Kalalaa. After due conaideration the Board decided to refuee hia requeet, and notified him that they would not authorixe or per» nait eny step whieh woald provoke ■ qoarrel, and that they denred that tbe lepers be allowed toremam / 4

ondisturb«d, as long aa thej did not make apy tangiblebreak on that segregation under whieh they wer« Tirtuallr living. Tbe Board «t tba eame time forwarded the letter of | Stolz to AttorneT-G«nfcral Brown with a copy of their answer to th« * Sheriff at the same time eugge«t!ng to Mr. Brown that if he ehouId coneider it advieable he might inetruct Mr. Slolz to proceed to Kalalau in hie capacity aa Deputy Sheriff, and a subordinate of the Attorney General, acd take whatever stepe against the lepers as the Attorney-General should approve ■ of. Mr. Cecil Bmwn in response to this informed the Board of Heallh that he fully approved of the viewe of the Board.and that he had instructed Sheriff Stolz in a similar strain to the Boards. and that he wou!d not take th« responaibility of any interference with the Kalalau petiple. Such was the aetion of the much-praised and mueh admired reform cabinet, and we believe it was one of the wise aetions of that ministr}’ —an aelion whieh deserves the full endoreement ofevery well-meanmgcitizen. The revolutiou then took plaee, and Mr. \V. O. Smith is placed at the head of the Attoruey-Generars department, as wellasof the Board of Healtb. Mr. Smith never of course took the troub!e to investigate the letter-bix>k of the Board and so learn what steps or line of policy forrnerly had been taken, but he upon the receipt of Sto!z’s letter immediately risps in all his imagined authority and might and oauses the death of four men without giining the desired poi ,t. On the oontrary the situation is worse to-day than it ever was previonsly. lnstead of the settlement of that little valley be'mg impetled or barred by the presence of a leper colony, it is to-day terrorized by a desperate outlaw on whose head a prize has beenset —an outlaw made ■o through the policy of W. O. Smitb. It is c mmonIy slated that the anxiety to rem>>ve the lepers frora Kalaiau was due to a desire of obb«iii!ng the iands in the vailey and lhat friends of Mr. W O. Smith (if not himself) would be finaucially benefited if the valley could be purged and the Iand« Ieased. We refuse to believe it. We refuse to believe that Mr.Smith wou!d use bis poeilion to sacritice lives and mouey for the purpose of carrying out a little land apeeulation. Bnt we do thirst for an explanation whieh ean show to us why the government thought it necessary to take the step whieh it took and whieh hus resulted in such a terrible, such a disgraceful, yes, such an abaurd fiasco. But we do say that after the goverument took the step —whatever its motives might have been —it ehoukl have beeu crrried«out. To abandon the apprebension of the murderer after all the display of military forces, of eannone. of warcorrespoudents, of martial law, of Marmont. and Smith. ean only re■ult in coveriug the authonties with cont«mpt and ridicule. A correspondent inthisissae handles th« war part of the issue without giove« aud with a weli-deserved ridicule. We leave that portiou to him while we sball continue to prcsa the Attorney-General and President of the Board of Heallh fur an answfr to our questions. Why did he disturb the Kalalau settlement? For wh.»se benefit was it done, and at whose advice?What did the expedition cost tbe taxpayera? Who are rtsponsibIe for the death of the unfortunate victim« of Koolau’a bullets? Are all tbe lepera out of Kauai? Are tbere not yet lepen all orer Hanalei and in Wainiha valley? Did tbe Oounciis approve uf the policy of the Attorney-General in attempting to remove the lepen? How ia Koo4au and where is he? These queations and mauy others should be anawered by W. O. Smith before the oommonity will be satisfied tbat he has acted aa a eonaeieoūooa and dutifol offidaI of tbe gorernmeot and an honeat aanrant of the taxpayere.