must be assigned the chief part in my opinion in promoting and stirring up the uprising that took place in January last. After the overthrow Norrie went into the paper with Kenyon, but Kenyon was the real manager of the paper and fully responsible, legally and otherwise, for all that appeared in that publication. It continued until the fall of 1893, when it got into financial difficulties and was closed up, and thereafter reorganised with E. Norrie at the head of it, who continued the paper along the same lines. I considered the "Holomua" as run by Mr. Kenyon, particularly the Hawaiian portion thereof, as nothing more nor less than a revolutionary organ, which advocated the restoration of the Queen by peaceful means if possible if not by all or any necessary means. Owing to the strict laws passed by the new Government in reference to seditious writings, Mr. Kenyon had to put a certain veneer and vail over the true purpose and intent of his writings, but he sailed just as close to the line that divides lawful from unlawful writings as he could, and very often in my opinion laid himself liable to the law. He was using Johnny Sheldon as the assistant editor of the native branch of the paper. The whole purpose and intent of Mr. Kenyon, as evidenced in his organ, was to alienate the native people hopelessly against the new Government, and to bulldoze and terrify any one among them who might be showing inclinations to becoming reconciled to the new Government. There were no papers, either in Hawaiian, more radical than Kenyon's paper. I kept English or track of them all and understand both native and English. Revolutions are not started these days without the aid of newspapers and Kenyon's newspaper with Norrie's continuation thereof was the newspaper, so far as the uprising was concerned, principally responsible there for. It is true Mr. Kenyon's connection with the paper ostensibly ceased in the latter part of 1893, but the paper was reorganised, continued along precisely the same lines laid out by Kenyon, and his admitted work was an important part of the sum total of the revolutionary mischief done by the "Holomua." His relations with Mr. Norrie continued friendly and he was continually at the "Holomua" office after he had formally ceased his connection therewith. and I was satisfied and was credibly informed that he was continuing his influence in that paper and still wrote therefor and was egging along the same policy he had been following theretofor. I was repeatedly informed of the intimate and confidential relations existing between Kenyon and the native political leaders of the Queen. His conversation and actions during 1894 and up to the time of the uprising, as reported to me, showed no change of heart or policy from what he had shown while openly running the "Holomua." Further his associates, native and foreigners, were almost exclusively rank agitators for restoration. He was reported particularly to me as intimate and confidential with such men as T. B. Walker, Harrison, Levey, C. T. Gulick, W. H. Rickard, and others who were directly or indirectly concerned in the uprising, and these intimate and confidential relations with the parties aforesaid continued right up to the time that the uprising started, this existing as it afterwards turned out and was conclusively proven, while many of his intimates were plotting and planning and preparing for the affair that came off, so that when that uprising came I sincerely and honestly believed had good cause to believe him to be a party to the conspiracy of his associates and others to overthrow the Government by force. At the same time I knew he did not have the courage to engage in actual hostilities and I therefore did not consider his immediate arrest necessary, at the time of the uprising and upon representations made to me that newspaper men worked nights and needed passes, I gave him, in common with all other newspaper men, a pass good for a limited number of days. When, however, actual hostilities in the field had been pretty well broken down and the newspapers began to make themselves heard again and to demand my attention, I considered it dangerous for Kenyon to be at large and arrested him for conspiracy on the 15th January. At the time of his arrest there were threats of lynching prisoners by hot-headed Government supporters and counter-threats of rescue and uprising by sympathisers and co-conspirators of the prisoners. The Royalist newspapers were commencing already to make mischief and to block our investigations slyly by counselling the suppression of evidence and by giving information of our intended movements, I had to call the Bulletin, which Kenyon was working upon at the time, severely to account before his arrest; several native editors were arrested in the same way as Kenyon. The ironing of prisoners in going to jail was a necessary precaution at the time; the sympathisers and co-conspirators of the prisoners by that time had got over the first fear which came with the quick suppression of the uprising, and were becoming sullen and ugly again. Kenyon went over with a large number of men and among them some desperate men and hard characters. T. B. Walker, who was in that lot, was justly considered a very daring man, and at that time he was in a jeopardy that would invite him to take desperate chances. We could only spare a few guards to take them over and did not feel called upon to run any risk of escape or interference, and the irons were therefore used. As things became more tranquil or when we had abundance of guards the irons were not used. E. G. HITCHCOCK. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 4th day of November, 1895. HARRIET E. WILDER, Notary Public. ANNEX K. 3. In the matter of the Claim of G. Carson Kenyon. Honolulu, Oahu, ss.: J. A. Low, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I have read the complaint sworn to by G. Carson Kenyon before the Vice-Consul, T. Rain Walker, Her Britannic Majesty's Vice-Consul at Honolulu, under date of the 19th May, 1895, and in so far as it pertains to me and his treatment while confined at Oahu Prison, I beg to state: That that portion of his statement wherein he complains of the quantity of the food served and the cooking thereof, is false. The food was cooked for my table in the same pots, was a part of the food given to Kenyon, it was served in great quantities and never did Mr. Kenyon want, for I have seen him get up from a meal set before him, leaving quite a residue on the plates; his statement purporting that I refused to let him write to the British Minister is also false; at the time Mr. Kenyon arrived at the jail, the work of caring for so many prisoners confined there was well systemized; my deputy stood duty in the yard with pencils, envelopes and paper, allowing any and every one to write to whom they so desired, and in this matter, I need only to refer to the British Minister himself, for I believe at this time he must have had several letters which had come from political prisoners then confined in Oahu Prison. It may be possible that I was requested by Mr. Kenyon for the privilege of writing to the British Minister, and that I answered: "I will telephone him to come over to see you and thereby save you the trouble of writing," for I remember of doing this for a few of the prisoners. His further statement that I told his aunt, Miss Agnew, that if he did not sign he would surely get from three to five years' imprisonment at hard labour, is also false. I beg to state that I never spoke to the lady only on matters pertaining to soiled linen or books and reading matter which she may have passed in. JAMES A. LOW. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 4th day of November, 1895. HARRIET E. WILDER, Notary Public. ANNEX K. 4. In the matter of the Claim of G. Carson Kenyon. Hawaiian Islands, Island of Oahu, ss. : JOHN G. M. SHELDON, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I am half native and half white, being the son of Henry L. Sheldon, for many years editor of a newspaper and a newspaper man of this city. I learnt the trade of printing under my father, and later branched out into work as an editor, and have been in that business for over twenty years, during which time I have written for native newspapers; sometimes as chief editor, and sometimes as assistant. Before the overthrow of the Queen I was running the native edition of the "Holomua.” This paper was printed one half in Hawaiian. the other half in English. The Hawaiian portion was supposed to follow, to a certain extent, the sentiments and ideas expressed in the English portion of the paper. This paper was run by Charles B. Wilson, then Marshal, and confidential adviser of the Queen. George Carson Kenyon was running the English branch of the paper. He was working in the Marshal's office as a kind of private secretary and confidential man to Mr. Charles B. Wilson. His English editorials, &c., would be sent up from the Marshal's office to the newspaper office and there printed. When the overthrow came, resulting in the dismissal of Charles B. Wilson, it of course carried Kenyon out of employment as well, and he moved up to the office, which then was on Nuuanu Street, and took personal charge of the paper, E. Norrey going in with him. Kenyon was really the acknowledged owner and director of the paper, and did a large part of the editorial work in both languages. He, not Norrey, had control and direction of the native branch of the paper which I was running, and he continued in control and direction of the native branch of the paper, and had the largest portion of the control of the English part of the paper until some time in the fall of 1893, when the paper came to grief financially, and had to be sold to pay the printers' wages. It was reorganised with Norrey at the head of it and continued in about the same strain right along. Just as soon as Kenyon dared, after the overthrow, he started in violently against the new Government, and directed me to follow suit in the Hawaiian branch of the paper. He would write articles in Hawaiian himself, and was able to converse fluently in the Hawaiian language, and he also had an extensive acquaintance among the native politicians and natives generally. His acquaintance with the natives and the native language grew out of the fact that he had taught in the public schools for many years amongst the Hawaiians at Koolau and Kalihi. He has had very much more to do with the natives than most of the foreigners who were agitating for the restoration of the Queen. Following his instructions, I wrote as violently as I dared against the Government, yet Kenyon said I was not writing hot enough, and kept stirring me up to write hotter still. |