WEBVTT - Horror in Honolulu: Part Two 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:04.720 You are listening to History on Trial, a production of 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:11.760 iHeart Podcasts. Listener Discretion advised, Hello, History on Trial listener. 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:14.480 This is the second part of a two part series. 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.120 If you haven't listened to part one yet, you'll want 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:26.000 to begin there. Thank you for listening. The Fortescue family 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:30.360 was used to getting away with things. When Grace Hubbard 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:34.080 Bell later Grace Fordescue was a teenager, she and her 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:37.720 friends roller skated down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, d C. 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:43.200 Completely blocking traffic. Another time, she stole a trolley car. 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:46.640 While others might call these actions criminal, Grace and her 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:50.520 family called them pranks, and thanks to her family connections. 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:55.440 Grace's maternal grandfather, Gardner Hubbard, had founded Bell Telephone alongside 0:00:55.520 --> 0:01:00.280 Grace's father's cousin, Alexander Graham Bell, the police always looked 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:06.319 the other way. Grace's future husband, Rolli, was just as mischievous. 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.600 While a student at Yale, Rolly fired a gun near 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:13.000 the head of one of his fraternity brothers. Surprisingly, no 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:16.960 one else but Rolly thought this was funny. Rolly was expelled, 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:21.200 but thanks to his family connections, Roly was a Roosevelt. 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:25.520 He was soon admitted to the University of Pennsylvania. Grace 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:28.880 and Rolly passed their unique senses of humor down to 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:33.039 their daughters, and in nineteen twenty seven, their eldest daughter, Thalia, 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:36.960 came up with the best joke of them all. Thaalia's 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:40.480 future husband, Tommy Massey, was visiting the Fortescues on Long 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:43.840 Island that summer, and the lovebirds decided to go see 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:48.240 a movie. In the nineteen twenties, parents attending movies would 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.640 leave their babies in theater lobbies. If a baby cried, 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:55.200 an usher would come fetch the parents. Seeing all these 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:59.840 abandoned babies, Tommy and Thalia thought of how absolutely hilarious 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:02.680 it would be to hide one of these babies, making 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:06.760 its parents think it had been kidnapped. If you're not laughing, 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:10.399 neither were the babies distraught parents, who reported the kidnapping 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.640 to the police. The police quickly found the baby and 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:18.160 arrested Thalia and Tommy. Surely there would be consequences this time, 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:21.920 but later that night, a judge who knew Thalia's family 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:26.320 dismissed the case, calling Thalia and Tommy's crime only a 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:33.320 quote parlor trick, stealing trolley's, shooting guns kidnapping infants. It 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.440 seemed that there was nothing the Fordescue family couldn't get 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:41.320 away with. But in January nineteen thirty two, Grace Fordescue 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:44.160 would test the limits of just how far the law 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:48.280 would stretch to accommodate a well connected white woman. Grace 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:53.160 would find out whether a Fordescue could get away with murder. 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:58.080 Welcome to history on trial. I'm your host, Mira Hayward. 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:02.840 This week the Territory of Hawaii v. Grace Fordescue at al. 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.440 When Thalia Massey's rape case ended in a mistrial in 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:13.000 December nineteen thirty one, Admiral Yates Sterling, commandant of the 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:17.040 United States Navy's fourteenth District, thought he knew just who 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:20.560 to blame. I was informed reliably that the vote of 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.720 the jury began and remained to the end. Sterling later 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:28.080 wrote seven for not guilty and five for guilty. The 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:32.359 exact proportion of yellow and brown to whites on the jury. 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:36.280 Sterling was not wrong about the proportions, but he was 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:39.960 wrong about race contributing to the decision. There had, in 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.640 fact been only one white person on the jury, and 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:47.200 that man had voted to acquit every time the jurors 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:51.200 had never been split along racial lines. The truth didn't 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.760 matter to Sterling or to many others. It hadn't mattered 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:56.800 when they had pushed for the conviction of the five 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:01.240 defendants who were obviously innocent, and it didn't matter now. 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.440 What mattered was that no one was being punished for 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:08.000 the alleged assault of a white woman. In the weeks 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:13.640 immediately following the mistrial, unrest rippled through Honolulu. On December twelfth, 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:17.960 the Honolulu Times published an article titled the Shame of Honolulu, 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.840 which claimed that women were at quote risk of being 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:26.600 assaulted and foully raped by gangs of lust mad youths, 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:29.919 a phrase which echoed prosecutor Griffith White's description of the 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:35.360 defendants as quote lust sodden beasts. The Times mailed a 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:39.120 copy to every sailor at Pearl Harbor. That night, gangs 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.359 of armed navy men took to the streets, starting fights 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:46.400 at random. But not all the violence was random. A 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:49.920 group of sailors kidnapped Horace Ida, one of the defendants 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:54.400 Indhlia's trial, at gunpoint. They took Horace to a remote 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:58.720 location and demanded a confession. When Horace refused, they beat 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:03.400 him mercilessly using their belts and guns. The beating only 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:07.920 stopped when Horace pretended to be unconscious. While many condemned 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.960 the kidnapping, Hawaii, Chinese news questioned if the kidnappers quote 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:16.040 stupid mob mind accorded with the quote the American principle 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.840 that a man is innocent until he has been proved guilty. 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:23.480 Many others celebrated it. Admiral Sterling said that the sailors 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:28.039 had shown restraint in not killing Horace, who Sterling claimed 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.760 had confessed Horace, of course, had done no such thing. 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:36.320 The same day that Horace Do was kidnapped, Hawaii became 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:39.480 connected to the United States by radio for the first time. 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.479 The Massy story was quickly picked up by mainland news services. 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:47.599 The Navy, hearing reports of these so called epidemic levels 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.560 of crime in Hawaii, started to question if they ought 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:53.480 to go forward with a scheduled Pacific Fleet exercise, which 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:57.000 would have brought thousands of navymen and their wives to Hawaii. 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:00.400 In February, it was estimated that the fleet's it would 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:03.920 bring Honulou's merchants more than six million dollars in revenue 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.239 or one hundred and thirty five million dollars in today's money. 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:12.880 The territorial government, including Governor Lawrence Judd, desperately wanted that payday. 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.920 They hoped that convicting the five defendants in a second 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:20.040 trial would reassure the Navy, but that conviction was looking 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:24.159 less and less likely. On December twenty ninth, Chief of 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:27.440 Detectives John Macintosh held a press conference on the status 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:31.120 of the investigation and revealed that no new evidence had 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:35.479 turned up. Grace Fordescue, already furious over gossip about her 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:38.839 daughter which insinuated that Thalia had made the whole thing up, 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:44.280 was disturbed by Mackintosh's announcement. Under Hawaii law, if defendants 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.800 were not convicted after two trials, the charges against them 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:52.040 would be dismissed. Grace was determined not to let this happen, 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.680 so she and her son in law, Tommy Massey started 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.640 to think about how they might uncover some evidence of 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:03.200 their own. The navyman's kidnapping of Horace Da provided the 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.520 spark of inspiration, but Tommy heard from a lawyer that 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:09.160 a confession from a man covered in cuts and bruises 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.320 wouldn't cut it in court. Grace and Tommy would just 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.960 need to use threats. Of the five defendants, they thought 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:20.760 Joe Kahahai most likely to cave under pressure. But Joe 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:23.800 was a big man six feet tall and heavily muscled, 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:27.720 a former football star and amateur boxer, so Tommy and 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:32.480 Grace decided to enlist helpers. Machinist's mate albert O Jones, 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:35.600 or a deacon as everyone knew them, was their first call. 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:38.800 The Navy had sent Deacon to protect Salia after the 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:42.120 trial while Tommy went out on c duty again. Deacon 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:45.920 didn't like Thalia, who he said had quote the personality 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:49.240 of the bottom of your big toe, but he admired Grace, 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:53.440 who he called a quote tough old gal. Deacon, who 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.840 claimed to have participated in Horace DA's kidnapping, was only 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.920 too happy to join. Tommy and Grace's plan suggested bringing 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:04.600 on Fireman for his class Edward j Lord, too, another 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:08.600 of Eda's kidnappers. The foursome quickly settled on a plan. 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:12.080 Joe reported to his probation officer at the courthouse. Every 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:15.360 morning at eight am, the kidnappers would wait outside for 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.120 him and then use a falsified official summons to get 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:21.239 Joe into their car. Joe had served under a major 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.840 named Ross in the National Guard. Now Ross was helping 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:29.200 supervise the Guard's territorial police. The summons could be from Ross, 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:32.640 the kidnappers decided. Grace wrote out the text of the 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:35.160 summons on a piece of paper, and then, to make 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.360 things look more official, she pasted a newspaper clipping onto 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.760 the sheet. Tommy cut the seal off his Chemical Warfare 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:45.320 School diploma and added that too, there is something so 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:50.000 revealing about the ugly arts and crafts childishness of their forgery. 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.440 To me, it's a symbol of how lightly, almost gleefully, 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:58.480 they considered kidnapping a man. On Friday, January eight, Joe 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:02.800 Kahaa and his cousin Eddie Ulie set out for the courthouse. 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.360 Joe always tried to be punctual for his probation meetings 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.240 and to dress well. Even though Joe knew the charges 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:12.960 against him were false, His father, Joseph Senior, had encouraged 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:17.280 Joe to find the silver lining. These probation meetings meant structure, 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:19.920 and structure could be good for a restless young man. 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:24.080 Joe had just turned twenty two and his future stretched 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:27.559 before him. After a brief check in with William Dixon, 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.680 Joe's probation officer. Joe and Eddie headed out into the sunshine. 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:35.439 Eddie noticed a white woman pointing at Joe. It was 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:41.760 Grace Fordescue, signaling Deacon Jones, this was their man. Deacon 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.640 hurried after Joe. When Joe and Eddie got close to 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.480 the curb, Deacon grabbed Joe's arm and pulled him toward 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:50.560 a car idling at the curb. Tommy Massey sat at 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:54.280 the wheel disguised as a chauffeur. Deacon Wade the summons 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.520 in front of Joe's face, saying, get in the car. 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.360 Major Ross wants to see you. Joe got in the 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:01.920 back seat and waived for Eddie to join him, but 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:05.520 Deacon shoved Eddie away, flung himself into the back beside Joe, 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:10.560 and slammed the door. The car sped off. Eddie, stunned, 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:14.040 was immediately suspicious. Major Ross and the rest of the 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:17.640 Territorial police were based just across the street. There was 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.679 no reason to send a car for Joe with a 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.800 pit in his stomach. Eddie remembered how Horace da had 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.000 been kidnapped the month before. He sprinted into the courthouse 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:31.480 building and reported that his cousin had been taken. Two 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:35.640 hours later, at ten twenty am, Officer Thomas Kakua and 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:38.680 Detective George Harbottle, one of the detectives who had first 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:40.880 reported to Thalia Massey's house on the night of the 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.280 alleged assault, were chatting on the side of Wylai Avenue 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:47.599 when they saw a blue Buick drive by a bee on. 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:49.960 The lookout alert for a blue Buick thought to be 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:53.400 involved in the kidnapping of Joe Caabai had just blared 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:57.040 out of Harbottle's patrol car radio. The two officers stared 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:59.360 hard at the car, noticing that one of the rear 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:03.079 window shapes was pulled down. What were the occupants hiding? 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:07.560 Kikua and Harbottle set off in pursuit, following the buick 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:12.560 towards the coast near Hanama Bay. Harbottle pulled past the buick, 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.360 giving Kikua a chance to glance into the rear seat. 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:20.000 What the officer saw there horrified him. Harbottle signaled the 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:24.160 Buick's driver, a grayhaired white woman, to pull over. Instead, 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:28.200 she sped off after pulling a passing patrol car into 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:31.560 the chase. Harbottle managed to force the buick off the road. 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:34.800 The waves of the bay crashed against the shore. As 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:38.480 Harbottle approached, the buick gun drawn and ordered its occupants 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:42.319 to get out. The driver, grace Fordescue, and the passenger, 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:47.160 Tommy Massey, slowly left the car. Edward Lord was seated 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:50.040 in the back. As he swung the rear door open. 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:53.800 What Officer Kaikua had seen through the window became visible 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:58.160 to Harbottle, a bundle of white sheets, a human leg 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:03.920 poking out from the bottom. They had found Joe Cahahaai. 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:09.160 On Saturday, January tenth, Joe Kahavay's body was laid out 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:12.640 at the n Uannu Funeral parlor. The twenty two year old, 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:16.840 so vibrant in life, was silent and still in death. 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:21.560 His father, Joseph Cahahavai, Senor, and his mother Esther and 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:26.000 stepfather Pascual Anido sat by Joe's body all night as 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.760 thousands of mourners came to pay their respects. One of 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:34.840 those mourners was David Kama, a Hawaiian man. Four years earlier, 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:38.360 David's brother, William, a police officer, had been murdered by 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:42.240 an American soldier David knew better than most what Joe's 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:46.440 family was experiencing. With tears streaming down his face, David 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:51.040 spoke to Joe, saying, poor Cahahaai. These Howleyes murdered you 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:53.760 in cold blood. They did the same thing to my 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:57.800 poor brother. The Howleies shoot and kill us Hawaiians. We 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:01.560 don't shoot Howley's, but they treat us like this. Never mind, 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:05.880 the truth will come out. You were not wrong. If 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:09.200 you were, they would not catch these murderers. That is 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:13.120 why they were caught. Thank god they were caught. Poor boy, 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:18.240 God will keep you. We will do the rest. David 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:22.840 Comma was right about catching the murderers. Grace Fordescue, Tommy Massey, 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.280 Edward Lord, and Deacon Jones were all in custody. But 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:30.240 as for the rest, that was not so straightforward. The 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:33.760 killers had been charged with murder and the evidence seemed conclusive, 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:38.240 but there was the Navy to contend with. Only hours 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:41.920 after the murder, Admiral Yates Sterling showed up at police 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:46.520 headquarters and demanded custody of the prisoners. Sterling's demand had 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:50.080 no legal grounds. A recent agreement between the Navy and 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:54.360 the territorial government gave the civil authorities jurisdiction over murder cases, 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:58.120 no matter if the suspects were military or civilian, But 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:01.200 the territorial government was afraid of further upsetting the Navy. 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:04.720 Attorney General Harry Hewitt said he would agree to Sterling's 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.440 request on the condition that the Navy gave them access 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.120 to the suspects at any time. Sterling agreed to Hewitt's 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:14.319 terms and transferred the prisoners to the USS Alton, a 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:19.720 decommissioned ship used as a hotel for dignitaries visiting Pearl Harbor. There, 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:24.160 the four killers lived in luxury. At the same time, 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:27.800 the four surviving defendants from the first trial, horas Ida 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:31.680 Ben Ahaquello, David Takai, and Henry Chang sat in the 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.680 city jail. The police had told the men that the 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:37.320 jail was the only place they could protect them and 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.280 preserve order. Unlike the Navy's prisoners, who had meals cooked 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:43.800 for them by the officer's mess the men in the 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.200 city jail were told that their families would have to 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:49.040 bring food for them if they wanted to eat, and 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:53.160 the police weren't shy about exploiting the men's vulnerability. They 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:56.920 soon began conducting interrogations, trying to get the men to 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:01.320 turn on one another and give evidence in the rape. 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:05.800 On January twentieth, twelve days after Joe's death, Officer D. W. 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:10.680 Watson interrogated Ben Ahaquelo, telling him quote, all the howlies 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:13.800 on the mainland are blaming the Hawaiians. Ben, and these 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:17.320 people that killed Joe, blame you, fellows. They got one 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:21.560 Hawaiian and Ben, you are going to be next. They're 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.920 going to get you. Joe got off easy. They just 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:29.240 shot him. The next time, Ben, they're going to torture you, fellows. 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:33.800 It's gonna be hell. But even under this enormous pressure, 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:37.360 which each of the men faced in turn, they all 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:41.600 continued to swear their innocence. On board the USS Alton, 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:46.360 Flowers sent by supporters filled the decks, admiring letters poured 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:50.400 in from across the country congratulating the killers. It's hard 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:53.960 to understand this, but, as David Stannard writes in his 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:58.280 book on the case, Honor Killing, quote the unwritten law, 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:00.640 the belief that a man has a right to kill 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:04.280 another man who has assaulted his wife was still widely 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:09.160 subscribed to by Americans, especially when the rape victim was 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:14.240 white and the rapist was not. Some people called this 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:19.960 honor killing, others called it lynching, and oftentimes the victims, 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:24.680 like Joe Kahai, were only suspected of a crime, not 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:28.120 proven to be guilty. This kind of killing was not 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:32.480 just about individual justice. It was also about maintaining a 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:36.560 white supremacist power structure through a campaign of terror and violence. 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:40.960 Many white Americans, if they thought about Hawaii at all, 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:45.320 had thought about it as an idealized, exotic paradise where 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:51.000 friendly Native Hawaiians obediently served white tourists. But now these 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.600 same white Americans saw the territory as a place in 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.640 need of racial subjugation, thanks to articles like the one 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:02.280 in Time magazine on jail Danuary eighteenth, which called Hawaii 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:07.160 quote a restless purgatory of murder and race hatred fueled 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:11.200 by quote the lust of mixed breeds for white women. 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:17.959 Editorials throughout the country supported Joe's killers. They also advocated 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:21.800 for a crackdown on Hawaii, arguing that its territorial government 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:24.960 was too much in thrall to native Hawaiians and Asians. 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:28.680 This was good news for Navy officials like Admiral Sterling, 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.480 who had long called for military control of the territory, 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:35.080 but it was a nightmare to Hawaii's Hawley elite, who 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:38.359 liked the current status quo. Responding to the calls for 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:43.640 martial law or a government reorganization, one territorial senator said, quote, 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.120 we must show that we need no legislation in Washington. 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:49.800 We must show that we can clean up our own situation. 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:54.159 To that end, the territorial legislature passed two new bills, 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:57.800 one which made rape a capital offense and another that 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:02.920 removed the corroborating evidence requirement for rape convictions. Politicians hoped 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:05.800 that this would stave off criticism of them being too 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.280 soft on crime, But there was one crime that many 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:13.320 prominent Howleyes did not want punished, and that, of course, 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.280 was the killing of Jo kah By. The pressure that 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:19.520 these power brokers exerted became clear in the grand jury 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:23.639 hearings in late January, when, despite the obvious case against 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:27.919 Joe's killers, the predominantly white grand jury initially voted nine 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:33.480 to twelve not to indict. The case could have ended there, 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:37.320 but Judge Albert M. Christie refused to accept the jury's 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:40.760 report and told them to deliberate, again reminding them that 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:44.119 it didn't matter quote whether from some inner feeling of 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:47.280 your own, you might have committed the same crime. But 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:50.639 it was not just sympathy blocking the indictment. Many of 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:54.919 the jurors were clearly frightened of the consequences. When jury 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:58.400 even asked Judge Christie if quote, in case the grand 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.280 jury is discharged, has any member of the jury the 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:03.600 right to show the records as to how he stood 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:06.640 as a protection for himself and the community in which 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:10.359 he lives. It was only on the second day of deliberations, 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:14.000 after the jurors on editorial in the Honolulu Star Bulletin, 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:18.040 which argued that indictment was inevitable given the evidence, that 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:22.199 the grand jury finally voted to indict. Even then, the 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:26.160 vote was only twelve to eight and several jurors resigned 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:31.639 in anger. Grace Fordescue, Tommy Massey, Edward Lord, and Deacon 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:34.880 Jones would be tried for the murder of Joe Kahahabai, 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:39.120 but many worried if the grand jury had been this difficult, 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:48.199 what would happen at trial. Grace Fordescue, for one, felt 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:51.680 confident about the trial. She still seemed to be treating 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:55.560 this as one of the Fordescue family's famous pranks. In 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:58.159 her first official interview, given to The New York Times 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:01.760 on February seventh, the report described her as joking and 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:05.960 laughing with Tommy Deacon and Edward. Perhaps Grace was right 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:09.760 to relax. Her family connections had always come through for her, 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:14.120 and this time was no exception. Not long after the indictment, 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:16.960 Grace's brother in law managed to recruit one of the 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:23.200 most famous lawyers in America, Clarence Darrow. We've met Clarence 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.520 Darrow before in our episode about the Leopold and Loeb trial. 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:30.960 In that case, Darrow had defended unsympathetic wealthy clients on 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.199 a murder charge. But there was a major difference between 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:37.800 that trial and this one. This time, the murder victim 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:41.600 wasn't white. Clarence Darrow had long thought of himself as 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:45.360 a champion for racial equality. How could he justify defending 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:49.160 the killers of Joe Cahavai. But as in the Leopold 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:52.120 and Loeb trial, Darrow had a compelling reason to join 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:55.880 the Fordescue case. Money. The Great Depression had wiped out 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:59.879 the Darrow family's coffers after two exhausting years touring the 0:20:59.880 --> 0:21:02.480 country as a speaker, Darrow had managed to make enough 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:05.280 money to pay off his adult son's debts, but he 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:09.159 and his wife Ruby were barely keeping themselves afloat. He 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:12.919 told grace Fordescue that he required forty thousand dollars in 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:17.960 payment plus expenses for context Babe. Ruth's salary in nineteen 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:22.800 thirty two was only seventy five thousand dollars. Grace Fordescue, 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:26.400 despite her aristocratic pretensions, had no money of her own, 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:30.760 but fortunately she had dozens of wealthy friends, all eager 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:33.520 to help her out, not to mention the enlisted men 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:36.680 at Pearl Harbor who collected seven thousand dollars for her. 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:40.600 Soon enough, the money was raised and Darrow came on board. 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:44.000 He then immediately tried to back out, stung by his 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:47.680 friend's fury at his decision, But in the end Darrow 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:53.479 wanted the money and he wanted to see Hawaii. George S. Leisure, 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:57.000 a New York attorney and darrow superfan, agreed to join 0:21:57.040 --> 0:21:59.159 the case for free in exchange for a chance to 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:02.400 work with his hero. Leisure and Darrow would be facing 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:06.920 John Kelly, the recently appointed Honolulu City and County Attorney. 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:10.000 The forty six year old Kelly, a native Montanan, was 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:13.639 a brilliant, tenacious lawyer, but this would be his first 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:16.000 case in his new role and it would not be 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:19.240 an easy one. Kelly was glad to have the assistance 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:22.480 of Barry Ulrich. Ulrich had been hired by the Honolulu 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:25.240 Chamber of Commerce to assist Kelly with the retrial of 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:29.000 Thalia Massey's alleged rapists. When the Chamber realized that the 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:32.280 murder trial would come first, they pulled their funding for Ulrich, 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:36.719 but Ulrich decided to stay on in an unofficial, unpaid capacity. 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:40.679 Darrow Leisure, Ulrich, and Kelly would be battling in the 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:44.400 court room of Judge Charles S. Davis. After the grand 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:47.800 jury proceedings. The defense had filed claims of bias against 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:51.920 Judge Christie. Christie strenuously denied any bias, but said that 0:22:52.040 --> 0:22:54.680 in order to prevent any appearance of impropriety in the 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:58.119 upcoming trial, he would step aside. The forty two year 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:03.080 old Davis was his replacement. On April fourth, jury selection began. 0:23:03.720 --> 0:23:07.520 The lawyers immediately encountered a hurdle. No one wanted to 0:23:07.520 --> 0:23:10.680 serve on the jury. Aware of the stakes this case 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:14.320 had for Hawaii, and concerned about the impact the wrong 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:17.720 verdict might have on their lives, many jurors tried to 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:20.639 get out of serving by claiming to have fixed opinions 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:24.159 on the case. Fed up after hearing this excuse repeatedly, 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:27.879 Clarence Darrow asked one juror just when he had formed 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:32.040 his fixed opinion night before last, right after being summoned. 0:23:32.160 --> 0:23:36.440 The juror replied. Finally, after seven days of jury selection, 0:23:36.800 --> 0:23:39.919 a panel was formed. To be more precise, it was 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:42.879 actually more like three and a half days. Throughout the 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:45.960 trial court would adjourn at twelve each day, out of 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:50.400 consideration for the seventy five year old Clarence Darrow's well being. Darrow, 0:23:50.480 --> 0:23:54.359 out of consideration for this consideration, spent most afternoons on 0:23:54.440 --> 0:23:58.920 the beach. On April eleventh, John Kelly delivered the prosecution's 0:23:58.960 --> 0:24:03.440 opening argument. Watching Kelly's adroit presentation, in which he declared 0:24:03.480 --> 0:24:06.399 that the crime was premeditated and discussed the evidence you 0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:08.960 would use to prove this, you wouldn't have guessed that 0:24:09.040 --> 0:24:13.280 the prosecutor was panicking, But Kelly had recently received bad 0:24:13.359 --> 0:24:17.280 news when he and Darrow had first met in late March. 0:24:17.600 --> 0:24:20.520 Darrow had rejected the suggestion that he was considering an 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:24.359 insanity defense, but on April eighth, Kelly read in The 0:24:24.400 --> 0:24:28.120 New York Times that Darrow had hired two famous psychiatrists 0:24:28.160 --> 0:24:31.879 to testify. Kelly was furious with himself for falling for 0:24:31.960 --> 0:24:35.239 Darrow's charade and was scrambling to find experts of his 0:24:35.320 --> 0:24:38.760 own who could get to Hawaii in time. For now, 0:24:38.960 --> 0:24:43.560 all Kelly could do was present the best case he had. Fortunately, 0:24:43.600 --> 0:24:46.960 for him, that case was a very good one. Kelly's 0:24:46.960 --> 0:24:51.479 first witnesses, including Joe's cousin Eddie Ulie, and various police 0:24:51.480 --> 0:24:55.240 officers who had arrested the defendants, laid out the timeline 0:24:55.240 --> 0:24:58.840 of the abduction, murder, and attempted disposal of Joe's body. 0:24:59.359 --> 0:25:03.280 Kelly used these witnesses to bring in a plethora of exhibits. 0:25:03.960 --> 0:25:07.040 There were the pictures of grace Fordescue's bedroom with the 0:25:07.080 --> 0:25:10.040 sheets missing from the bed and the sheets found wrapped 0:25:10.080 --> 0:25:13.480 around Joe's body which were missing, laundry tags, and the 0:25:13.600 --> 0:25:17.160 laundry tags a prison matron had found in grace Fordescue's 0:25:17.160 --> 0:25:20.280 coat pocket. There was the coil of rope found in 0:25:20.359 --> 0:25:24.320 Grace's house, which had a unique purple strand interlaced in it, 0:25:24.800 --> 0:25:28.879 and then the identical rope found around Joe's body, And 0:25:29.000 --> 0:25:32.439 then there was the gun. The murder weapon had not 0:25:32.560 --> 0:25:36.720 been found and never would be. Thirty years later, Ballia's 0:25:36.760 --> 0:25:40.000 younger sister, Helene would tell a reporter, Peter Van Slingerland, 0:25:40.080 --> 0:25:42.800 that she'd helped hide the gun, throwing it into a 0:25:42.800 --> 0:25:45.000