Honolulu Republican, Volume IV, Number 499, 17 January 1902 — LOOKING FOR A TRUNK FACTORY [ARTICLE]

LOOKING FOR A TRUNK FACTORY

FOUND POLICE STATION INSTEAD JAPANESE CLAMORED FOR THE RETURN OF HARD EARNED CASH. Troubles Poised on Sturdy Shoulders —The Little Brown Man Would Unload Them at the Centra! Station House—Galaxy of Mixed Tongue* Start Guessing Contest. A diminutive Japanese, upon whose shoulders was poised a large and apparently new traveling trunk, followed by a young and rather comely j lady from the land of the Mikado, shambled up to the central police station at a late hour yesterday evening, and. without removing the burdensome load from aloft, both set up a simultaneous and boisterous clamor, in which about the only word recognizable to the officers and by- j slanders was “Policeman. We want ; policeman.” Station Clerk Kalakiela, better known as “Jack.” sized up the abbreviated caravan with increased wonderment and surprise. “Opened up a lodging house, .lark?” was the comment from a pas-ser-by attracted by the somewhat novel spectacle of a man standing in statuesque pose with an overgrown trunk perched in midair. “Have they come to stay, and brought their evening costume with them?” vouchsafed by another. "Perhaps yon might find the Lnbeck mystery locked up in that runk,” suggested a third. Wanted a Policeman. The little brown man wanted a policeman, and he endeavored to make his wants known in a brand of mixed English which nearly carried the able-bodied officers off their feet. At intervals the woman would take a hand In the bable of strange tongues. In a voice that resembled the notes coming from a fiddle with but one string, the Japanese finally succeeded In making it clear to the police that he had bought the trunk at a Chinese store, and upon taking his purchase home had discovered that the receptacle possessed many flaws in its construction. The Japanese f ther claimed that he had been told by sympathizing neighlmrs that if he brought the damaged article to the police station the officers would at once remedy all existing evils and. if necessary, produce a new and perfect trunk. Drunks Not Trunks. “This is not a trunk factory,” interposed the smiling station clerk, when the true state of things dawned upon him. "We have storage capacity for a limited number of drunks, but trunks are not in our line." The police had even greater difficulty in making the Oriental couple realize their mistake than they had in comprehending the object of their visit. After about a half hour's parleying the weight of the trunk began to assort itself upon the stoical Japanese, and it was removed to a lower level and placed on the sidewalk, where upon the man and woman sat down and reflected upon the perverse nature of pake merchants who sell damaged goods and an unsympathetic | {tolice department who will not re- j fund money or repair trunks. Go Back and Be Good. • Verily the faith of the average Oriental in the ability of a policeman as an adjuster of petty differences or fancied grievances, surpasseth ali understanding." was the parting com ment of Clerk Kalakiela, as he hastened to the telephone in response to a riot call from a Palama resident, who wanted to know the correct time of night, claiming his watch had run down. The Japanese was persuaded to go way back home and be good.