Kauai County HI Archives Obituaries.....Wada, Saihei June 16, 1915
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
K KM hawaiizeis@gmail.com February 25, 2015, 3:15 pm

The Garden Island, Lihue, Kauai, Tues., 6-22-1915
WADA, SAIHEI
NEAR WHOLESALE MURDER IN KALIHIWAI VALLEY - MURDEROUS ROBBERS KILL MAN AND 
PROBABLY WOMAN, SHOOT OR OTHERWISE WOUND BOYS AND TRY TO BURN THEM ALL IN THEIR 
HOME - FOUR ARRESTS ARE MADE.  One of the most shocking crimes in the recent 
history of Kauai took place in Kalihiwai valley last Wednesday evening as a result 
of which a well-known and prosperous Japanese farmer is dead, his wife is at 
death's door in the hospital, three boys are wounded, and four Filipinos are in 
jail, two of whom have confessed to their respective parts in the affair. The 
first man to confess was one Juan Conoel and the second Panaiano Colaste. The 
other two men held are Feliciano Hirona and Florentino Alicio. Conoel, Alicio, and 
Hirono belong to a desperate Filipino tribe known as the Bicolanas. Colaste is a 
Pasayan, supposed to be a more peaceful and law-abiding tribe. All of the men have 
been working for Kilauea plantation, although Conoel had been laid up for sometime 
on account of arsenic poisoning. The story as far as it has worked itself out is 
as follows:  Last Wednesday evening shortly after dark, the men met in the cane 
field back of the Hawaiian church and from there went up Kalihiwai valley, two or 
three miles, to the grass house of Wada, a rice planter and truck gardener. Wada, 
his wife, and three sons were at home -- one of the latter about 17 years of age, 
the second about 13, and the third about 9. They reached the place between 8:30 
and 9 PM. It is stated that here one of the men (thought to have been Juan) 
stopped outside while the other three entered the house. The youngest boy, who 
happened to be sitting at a table facing the door and eating his supper, saw the 
Filipinos creeping in and called out to his father, who was reclining on a raised 
bed, "Father, here are the Filipinos." The man started to get up and as he did so, 
one of the Filipinos opened fire with a revolver and shot him dead, the ball 
taking effect in the right of the forehead. The raiders began to yell out that 
they wanted money. The oldest boy handed one of them $1.50, saying that that was 
all they had. The Filipino replied, "You have more money," but the boy declared 
that there was no more. With that, the Filipino shot him in the right side over 
the three top ribs, the bullet glancing across the breast and lodging under the 
skin at the left side without penetrating the body. The boy dropped to the floor 
and pretended to be dead. Several more shots were fired around the room, 
apparently to thoroughly frighten the others in the house, during which the second 
eldest boy was shot through the fleshy part of the neck beneath the chin. One of 
the raiders then took up an iron bar which is supposed to have been in the house 
and knocked a large hole in the back of the head of the wife of Wada and crushed 
the skull in three other places. At that point the smallest boy got his father's 
purse and handed it to one of the Filipinos. (It is said to have contained $28.) 
The raiders then struck the boy across the head with fists, knocking him 
senseless. Then they went outside and set the grass house afire in several places, 
making a hasty getaway afterward. They undoubtedly believed that the entire 
household would be burned in the conflagration which they had started. The oldest 
boy, however, who had been shot on the breast and had been pretending to be dead, 
sprang up and dragged the body of his dead father, his dying mother, and his 
wounded brothers out of the house. Leaving them out of immediate harm's way, he 
swam across the Kalihiwai stream to a neighbor's, a Japanese, about a third of a 
mile away, who hurried down to a telephone at Kalihiwai and communicated the facts 
to Dr. Yanagihara at Kalihiwai. Upon receipt of the startling news, the doctor at 
once notified Deputy Sheriff William Werner at Hanalei, and the latter, with some 
of his men, rushed to the scene. Mr. Werner telephoned to Sheriff Rice about 4 AM, 
and the latter left Lihue by auto at once for Kalihiwai valley. When the deputy 
sheriff arrived at the scene of the murder, he found that the house and its 
contents had been completely destroyed by fire, the ashes still smoking. The dead 
and injured were in the same place the boy had left them when he ran away for 
assistance. Mr. Werner sent for an express wagon and took the entire party to the 
hospital at Kilauea where the wounds of the woman and the boys were dressed and a 
coroner's jury was summoned to inquire into the death of the man, Wada. The 
sheriff, deputy sheriff, and police officers set to work to find the murderers. 
One of the Filipinos had a facial peculiarity which was described by one of the 
injured boys and enabled the police to make the first arrest. Evidence in the way 
of wet clothes and some other items were found in the man's room. At the hospital, 
this man was identified by one of the boys as being one of the raiders. He proved 
to be Feliciano Hirona. A number of minor circumstances, which the police do not 
care to divulge at this time, led to the arrest of Juan and later of Colaste, both 
of whom confessed later and also implicated the fourth man, Alicio. The prisoners 
were brought to Lihue and locked in separate cells. Sheriff Rice warned them that 
anything they might say might be used in court against them, but at least two of 
them have seemed quite willing to "tell it all," although, of course, trying to 
throw the blame on others of their companions. The prompt and very effective work 
of the police was remarked by everyone acquainted with the developments. A 
moment's hesitation or a single break early in the proceedings might have 
frustrated all efforts to capture the raiders, at least for a long time. Manager 
Myers of Kilauea was much interested in the case and offered the police every 
assistance in his power. Wada, the murdered man, had been many years in this 
country. He came to the Waimea district of Kauai first and then went to Hanokoa 
and planted coffee for K. W. Kinney and his father. He had been in Kalihiwai 
valley six or seven years as a rice planter, truck gardener, and market man, 
taking his produce to the neighboring towns to sell. It is supposed that he had 
quite a lot of rice in the house which was burned. He was generally supposed to 
have some money, and living apart from other settlers far up the valley made his 
place a tempting one for just such a gang as evidently visited it. 


Additional Comments:
posted by rms

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/kauai/obits/wada709gob.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/hifiles/

File size: 7.0 Kb