Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 11, 1 November 2008 — Kēlā Mea Kēīa Mea [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kēlā Mea Kēīa Mea

Within the dozens of Hawaiianlanguage news-

papers published during the 19th and early 20th eenturies were often found engaging eolumns titled Kēlā Mea Kēlia Mea. These features earried small tidbits of news and interesting happenings from plaees throughout the Islands. With that same mana'o, this modern-day eolumn brings readers brief bits of interesting and sometimes lesser-known histories, collected during the course of research in newspaper, manuscript, correspondence and other archival collections around Hawai'i. The sources are both Hawaiian language and English. It is hoped that, like its many predecessors, this eolumn might infonn, entertain and perhaps even spark discussion. Me ka ha'aha'a no. ■ Kapālama. Dec. 9, 1894. A search warrant issued by the Republic of Hawai'i is served on the dwelling house, storehouse and stable of Ioseph Kaho'oluhi Nāwahl and his wife, Ennna. The warrant is based on testimony from E.G. Hitchcock that the suspect possesses "anns and animunition with treasonable intent." The lieutenant in charge documents, "searched the premises of within named I. Nawahi...found nothing." Nonetheless, Nāwahl is arrested for treason and held at O'ahu prison on $10,000 hail. ■ Honolulu. Feb. 15, 1837. The beloved Princess Nāhi'ena'ena passed on Dec. 30 last. Her body had since been kept at Hale Uluhe, the home of her brother the King. On this Feb. 4 past, a grand funeral was held for her. The procession wound to the church grounds at Kawaiaha'o. The newspaper Ke

■ Honolulu. Feb. 15, 1891. A confidential letter has been delivered to the person of Albert F. Iudd, Chief Iustice of the Supreme Court of the Kingdom. The correspondence makes a threat upon his life and advises him that the writer's faction has been infonned, for a certainty, of his working as a "secref ' adviser for the new Queen, Lili'uokalani. They write, "Judges and even Kings and Queens has [sic] never sat so long or high but what their seat of eminenee could be toppled and shaken from under and their miserable lives lost." After warning Judd to end his assistance to the Queen, the letter writer includes a postscript: "I take it she (Queen Lili'uokalani) has some large ideas to carry out. Now as you are acting as above stated, please tell her I wouldn't give ten cents for her position, crown, or scalp!" Signed, T.W.B.T.L. Lāhaina. Oct. 21, 1901. Stirring poliheal news out of Maui, where Thomas Clark, a candidate for the Territorial Senate, lays out that it was an unconstitutional proceeding on the part of the United States to annex the Islands without a treaty, and that the Islands are in fact not annexed but are de facto independent at this time. He holds that if the Democrats eome into power they will show the thing up in its true light. The Maui News' printed reply? "Thomas, necessity knows no law." Ronald Williams Jr. is a graduate of and teacher at, the Kamakakūokalani Centerfor Hawaiian Studies at UH Mānoa. He is currently working on a Ph.D. in Pacific History at UH Mānoa with an emphasis on Hawaiian Historiography. S

— KE AU I HALA - FR0M ĪHE ARCHIVES —

Author's note: Although diacritical marks were rarely used in the original sources, they are included here except in the quoted material. For citations and location of original documents, email ronaldwi@hawaii.edu.

By Ronald Williams Jr.

Kumu records the order of the royal procession being led by "na poe koa," followed by "kahuna lapaau." Oddly, the English language Hawaiian Gaz,ette has published the same story but lists the procession as being led by "missionaries."