Speaker 1: You are listening to History on Trial, a production of
Speaker 1: iHeart Podcasts. Listener Discretion advised, Hello, History on Trial listener.
Speaker 1: This is the second part of a two part series.
Speaker 1: If you haven't listened to part one yet, you'll want
Speaker 1: to begin there. Thank you for listening. The Fortescue family
Speaker 1: was used to getting away with things. When Grace Hubbard
Speaker 1: Bell later Grace Fordescue was a teenager, she and her
Speaker 1: friends roller skated down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: Completely blocking traffic. Another time, she stole a trolley car.
Speaker 1: While others might call these actions criminal, Grace and her
Speaker 1: family called them pranks, and thanks to her family connections.
Speaker 1: Grace's maternal grandfather, Gardner Hubbard, had founded Bell Telephone alongside
Speaker 1: Grace's father's cousin, Alexander Graham Bell, the police always looked
Speaker 1: the other way. Grace's future husband, Rolli, was just as mischievous.
Speaker 1: While a student at Yale, Rolly fired a gun near
Speaker 1: the head of one of his fraternity brothers. Surprisingly, no
Speaker 1: one else but Rolly thought this was funny. Rolly was expelled,
Speaker 1: but thanks to his family connections, Roly was a Roosevelt.
Speaker 1: He was soon admitted to the University of Pennsylvania. Grace
Speaker 1: and Rolly passed their unique senses of humor down to
Speaker 1: their daughters, and in nineteen twenty seven, their eldest daughter, Thalia,
Speaker 1: came up with the best joke of them all. Thaalia's
Speaker 1: future husband, Tommy Massey, was visiting the Fortescues on Long
Speaker 1: Island that summer, and the lovebirds decided to go see
Speaker 1: a movie. In the nineteen twenties, parents attending movies would
Speaker 1: leave their babies in theater lobbies. If a baby cried,
Speaker 1: an usher would come fetch the parents. Seeing all these
Speaker 1: abandoned babies, Tommy and Thalia thought of how absolutely hilarious
Speaker 1: it would be to hide one of these babies, making
Speaker 1: its parents think it had been kidnapped. If you're not laughing,
Speaker 1: neither were the babies distraught parents, who reported the kidnapping
Speaker 1: to the police. The police quickly found the baby and
Speaker 1: arrested Thalia and Tommy. Surely there would be consequences this time,
Speaker 1: but later that night, a judge who knew Thalia's family
Speaker 1: dismissed the case, calling Thalia and Tommy's crime only a
Speaker 1: quote parlor trick, stealing trolley's, shooting guns kidnapping infants. It
Speaker 1: seemed that there was nothing the Fordescue family couldn't get
Speaker 1: away with. But in January nineteen thirty two, Grace Fordescue
Speaker 1: would test the limits of just how far the law
Speaker 1: would stretch to accommodate a well connected white woman. Grace
Speaker 1: would find out whether a Fordescue could get away with murder.
Speaker 1: Welcome to history on trial. I'm your host, Mira Hayward.
Speaker 1: This week the Territory of Hawaii v. Grace Fordescue at al.
Speaker 1: When Thalia Massey's rape case ended in a mistrial in
Speaker 1: December nineteen thirty one, Admiral Yates Sterling, commandant of the
Speaker 1: United States Navy's fourteenth District, thought he knew just who
Speaker 1: to blame. I was informed reliably that the vote of
Speaker 1: the jury began and remained to the end. Sterling later
Speaker 1: wrote seven for not guilty and five for guilty. The
Speaker 1: exact proportion of yellow and brown to whites on the jury.
Speaker 1: Sterling was not wrong about the proportions, but he was
Speaker 1: wrong about race contributing to the decision. There had, in
Speaker 1: fact been only one white person on the jury, and
Speaker 1: that man had voted to acquit every time the jurors
Speaker 1: had never been split along racial lines. The truth didn't
Speaker 1: matter to Sterling or to many others. It hadn't mattered
Speaker 1: when they had pushed for the conviction of the five
Speaker 1: defendants who were obviously innocent, and it didn't matter now.
Speaker 1: What mattered was that no one was being punished for
Speaker 1: the alleged assault of a white woman. In the weeks
Speaker 1: immediately following the mistrial, unrest rippled through Honolulu. On December twelfth,
Speaker 1: the Honolulu Times published an article titled the Shame of Honolulu,
Speaker 1: which claimed that women were at quote risk of being
Speaker 1: assaulted and foully raped by gangs of lust mad youths,
Speaker 1: a phrase which echoed prosecutor Griffith White's description of the
Speaker 1: defendants as quote lust sodden beasts. The Times mailed a
Speaker 1: copy to every sailor at Pearl Harbor. That night, gangs
Speaker 1: of armed navy men took to the streets, starting fights
Speaker 1: at random. But not all the violence was random. A
Speaker 1: group of sailors kidnapped Horace Ida, one of the defendants
Speaker 1: Indhlia's trial, at gunpoint. They took Horace to a remote
Speaker 1: location and demanded a confession. When Horace refused, they beat
Speaker 1: him mercilessly using their belts and guns. The beating only
Speaker 1: stopped when Horace pretended to be unconscious. While many condemned
Speaker 1: the kidnapping, Hawaii, Chinese news questioned if the kidnappers quote
Speaker 1: stupid mob mind accorded with the quote the American principle
Speaker 1: that a man is innocent until he has been proved guilty.
Speaker 1: Many others celebrated it. Admiral Sterling said that the sailors
Speaker 1: had shown restraint in not killing Horace, who Sterling claimed
Speaker 1: had confessed Horace, of course, had done no such thing.
Speaker 1: The same day that Horace Do was kidnapped, Hawaii became
Speaker 1: connected to the United States by radio for the first time.
Speaker 1: The Massy story was quickly picked up by mainland news services.
Speaker 1: The Navy, hearing reports of these so called epidemic levels
Speaker 1: of crime in Hawaii, started to question if they ought
Speaker 1: to go forward with a scheduled Pacific Fleet exercise, which
Speaker 1: would have brought thousands of navymen and their wives to Hawaii.
Speaker 1: In February, it was estimated that the fleet's it would
Speaker 1: bring Honulou's merchants more than six million dollars in revenue
Speaker 1: or one hundred and thirty five million dollars in today's money.
Speaker 1: The territorial government, including Governor Lawrence Judd, desperately wanted that payday.
Speaker 1: They hoped that convicting the five defendants in a second
Speaker 1: trial would reassure the Navy, but that conviction was looking
Speaker 1: less and less likely. On December twenty ninth, Chief of
Speaker 1: Detectives John Macintosh held a press conference on the status
Speaker 1: of the investigation and revealed that no new evidence had
Speaker 1: turned up. Grace Fordescue, already furious over gossip about her
Speaker 1: daughter which insinuated that Thalia had made the whole thing up,
Speaker 1: was disturbed by Mackintosh's announcement. Under Hawaii law, if defendants
Speaker 1: were not convicted after two trials, the charges against them
Speaker 1: would be dismissed. Grace was determined not to let this happen,
Speaker 1: so she and her son in law, Tommy Massey started
Speaker 1: to think about how they might uncover some evidence of
Speaker 1: their own. The navyman's kidnapping of Horace Da provided the
Speaker 1: spark of inspiration, but Tommy heard from a lawyer that
Speaker 1: a confession from a man covered in cuts and bruises
Speaker 1: wouldn't cut it in court. Grace and Tommy would just
Speaker 1: need to use threats. Of the five defendants, they thought
Speaker 1: Joe Kahahai most likely to cave under pressure. But Joe
Speaker 1: was a big man six feet tall and heavily muscled,
Speaker 1: a former football star and amateur boxer, so Tommy and
Speaker 1: Grace decided to enlist helpers. Machinist's mate albert O Jones,
Speaker 1: or a deacon as everyone knew them, was their first call.
Speaker 1: The Navy had sent Deacon to protect Salia after the
Speaker 1: trial while Tommy went out on c duty again. Deacon
Speaker 1: didn't like Thalia, who he said had quote the personality
Speaker 1: of the bottom of your big toe, but he admired Grace,
Speaker 1: who he called a quote tough old gal. Deacon, who
Speaker 1: claimed to have participated in Horace DA's kidnapping, was only
Speaker 1: too happy to join. Tommy and Grace's plan suggested bringing
Speaker 1: on Fireman for his class Edward j Lord, too, another
Speaker 1: of Eda's kidnappers. The foursome quickly settled on a plan.
Speaker 1: Joe reported to his probation officer at the courthouse. Every
Speaker 1: morning at eight am, the kidnappers would wait outside for
Speaker 1: him and then use a falsified official summons to get
Speaker 1: Joe into their car. Joe had served under a major
Speaker 1: named Ross in the National Guard. Now Ross was helping
Speaker 1: supervise the Guard's territorial police. The summons could be from Ross,
Speaker 1: the kidnappers decided. Grace wrote out the text of the
Speaker 1: summons on a piece of paper, and then, to make
Speaker 1: things look more official, she pasted a newspaper clipping onto
Speaker 1: the sheet. Tommy cut the seal off his Chemical Warfare
Speaker 1: School diploma and added that too, there is something so
Speaker 1: revealing about the ugly arts and crafts childishness of their forgery.
Speaker 1: To me, it's a symbol of how lightly, almost gleefully,
Speaker 1: they considered kidnapping a man. On Friday, January eight, Joe
Speaker 1: Kahaa and his cousin Eddie Ulie set out for the courthouse.
Speaker 1: Joe always tried to be punctual for his probation meetings
Speaker 1: and to dress well. Even though Joe knew the charges
Speaker 1: against him were false, His father, Joseph Senior, had encouraged
Speaker 1: Joe to find the silver lining. These probation meetings meant structure,
Speaker 1: and structure could be good for a restless young man.
Speaker 1: Joe had just turned twenty two and his future stretched
Speaker 1: before him. After a brief check in with William Dixon,
Speaker 1: Joe's probation officer. Joe and Eddie headed out into the sunshine.
Speaker 1: Eddie noticed a white woman pointing at Joe. It was
Speaker 1: Grace Fordescue, signaling Deacon Jones, this was their man. Deacon
Speaker 1: hurried after Joe. When Joe and Eddie got close to
Speaker 1: the curb, Deacon grabbed Joe's arm and pulled him toward
Speaker 1: a car idling at the curb. Tommy Massey sat at
Speaker 1: the wheel disguised as a chauffeur. Deacon Wade the summons
Speaker 1: in front of Joe's face, saying, get in the car.
Speaker 1: Major Ross wants to see you. Joe got in the
Speaker 1: back seat and waived for Eddie to join him, but
Speaker 1: Deacon shoved Eddie away, flung himself into the back beside Joe,
Speaker 1: and slammed the door. The car sped off. Eddie, stunned,
Speaker 1: was immediately suspicious. Major Ross and the rest of the
Speaker 1: Territorial police were based just across the street. There was
Speaker 1: no reason to send a car for Joe with a
Speaker 1: pit in his stomach. Eddie remembered how Horace da had
Speaker 1: been kidnapped the month before. He sprinted into the courthouse
Speaker 1: building and reported that his cousin had been taken. Two
Speaker 1: hours later, at ten twenty am, Officer Thomas Kakua and
Speaker 1: Detective George Harbottle, one of the detectives who had first
Speaker 1: reported to Thalia Massey's house on the night of the
Speaker 1: alleged assault, were chatting on the side of Wylai Avenue
Speaker 1: when they saw a blue Buick drive by a bee on.
Speaker 1: The lookout alert for a blue Buick thought to be
Speaker 1: involved in the kidnapping of Joe Caabai had just blared
Speaker 1: out of Harbottle's patrol car radio. The two officers stared
Speaker 1: hard at the car, noticing that one of the rear
Speaker 1: window shapes was pulled down. What were the occupants hiding?
Speaker 1: Kikua and Harbottle set off in pursuit, following the buick
Speaker 1: towards the coast near Hanama Bay. Harbottle pulled past the buick,
Speaker 1: giving Kikua a chance to glance into the rear seat.
Speaker 1: What the officer saw there horrified him. Harbottle signaled the
Speaker 1: Buick's driver, a grayhaired white woman, to pull over. Instead,
Speaker 1: she sped off after pulling a passing patrol car into
Speaker 1: the chase. Harbottle managed to force the buick off the road.
Speaker 1: The waves of the bay crashed against the shore. As
Speaker 1: Harbottle approached, the buick gun drawn and ordered its occupants
Speaker 1: to get out. The driver, grace Fordescue, and the passenger,
Speaker 1: Tommy Massey, slowly left the car. Edward Lord was seated
Speaker 1: in the back. As he swung the rear door open.
Speaker 1: What Officer Kaikua had seen through the window became visible
Speaker 1: to Harbottle, a bundle of white sheets, a human leg
Speaker 1: poking out from the bottom. They had found Joe Cahahaai.
Speaker 1: On Saturday, January tenth, Joe Kahavay's body was laid out
Speaker 1: at the n Uannu Funeral parlor. The twenty two year old,
Speaker 1: so vibrant in life, was silent and still in death.
Speaker 1: His father, Joseph Cahahavai, Senor, and his mother Esther and
Speaker 1: stepfather Pascual Anido sat by Joe's body all night as
Speaker 1: thousands of mourners came to pay their respects. One of
Speaker 1: those mourners was David Kama, a Hawaiian man. Four years earlier,
Speaker 1: David's brother, William, a police officer, had been murdered by
Speaker 1: an American soldier David knew better than most what Joe's
Speaker 1: family was experiencing. With tears streaming down his face, David
Speaker 1: spoke to Joe, saying, poor Cahahaai. These Howleyes murdered you
Speaker 1: in cold blood. They did the same thing to my
Speaker 1: poor brother. The Howleies shoot and kill us Hawaiians. We
Speaker 1: don't shoot Howley's, but they treat us like this. Never mind,
Speaker 1: the truth will come out. You were not wrong. If
Speaker 1: you were, they would not catch these murderers. That is
Speaker 1: why they were caught. Thank god they were caught. Poor boy,
Speaker 1: God will keep you. We will do the rest. David
Speaker 1: Comma was right about catching the murderers. Grace Fordescue, Tommy Massey,
Speaker 1: Edward Lord, and Deacon Jones were all in custody. But
Speaker 1: as for the rest, that was not so straightforward. The
Speaker 1: killers had been charged with murder and the evidence seemed conclusive,
Speaker 1: but there was the Navy to contend with. Only hours
Speaker 1: after the murder, Admiral Yates Sterling showed up at police
Speaker 1: headquarters and demanded custody of the prisoners. Sterling's demand had
Speaker 1: no legal grounds. A recent agreement between the Navy and
Speaker 1: the territorial government gave the civil authorities jurisdiction over murder cases,
Speaker 1: no matter if the suspects were military or civilian, But
Speaker 1: the territorial government was afraid of further upsetting the Navy.
Speaker 1: Attorney General Harry Hewitt said he would agree to Sterling's
Speaker 1: request on the condition that the Navy gave them access
Speaker 1: to the suspects at any time. Sterling agreed to Hewitt's
Speaker 1: terms and transferred the prisoners to the USS Alton, a
Speaker 1: decommissioned ship used as a hotel for dignitaries visiting Pearl Harbor. There,
Speaker 1: the four killers lived in luxury. At the same time,
Speaker 1: the four surviving defendants from the first trial, horas Ida
Speaker 1: Ben Ahaquello, David Takai, and Henry Chang sat in the
Speaker 1: city jail. The police had told the men that the
Speaker 1: jail was the only place they could protect them and
Speaker 1: preserve order. Unlike the Navy's prisoners, who had meals cooked
Speaker 1: for them by the officer's mess the men in the
Speaker 1: city jail were told that their families would have to
Speaker 1: bring food for them if they wanted to eat, and
Speaker 1: the police weren't shy about exploiting the men's vulnerability. They
Speaker 1: soon began conducting interrogations, trying to get the men to
Speaker 1: turn on one another and give evidence in the rape.
Speaker 1: On January twentieth, twelve days after Joe's death, Officer D. W.
Speaker 1: Watson interrogated Ben Ahaquelo, telling him quote, all the howlies
Speaker 1: on the mainland are blaming the Hawaiians. Ben, and these
Speaker 1: people that killed Joe, blame you, fellows. They got one
Speaker 1: Hawaiian and Ben, you are going to be next. They're
Speaker 1: going to get you. Joe got off easy. They just
Speaker 1: shot him. The next time, Ben, they're going to torture you, fellows.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be hell. But even under this enormous pressure,
Speaker 1: which each of the men faced in turn, they all
Speaker 1: continued to swear their innocence. On board the USS Alton,
Speaker 1: Flowers sent by supporters filled the decks, admiring letters poured
Speaker 1: in from across the country congratulating the killers. It's hard
Speaker 1: to understand this, but, as David Stannard writes in his
Speaker 1: book on the case, Honor Killing, quote the unwritten law,
Speaker 1: the belief that a man has a right to kill
Speaker 1: another man who has assaulted his wife was still widely
Speaker 1: subscribed to by Americans, especially when the rape victim was
Speaker 1: white and the rapist was not. Some people called this
Speaker 1: honor killing, others called it lynching, and oftentimes the victims,
Speaker 1: like Joe Kahai, were only suspected of a crime, not
Speaker 1: proven to be guilty. This kind of killing was not
Speaker 1: just about individual justice. It was also about maintaining a
Speaker 1: white supremacist power structure through a campaign of terror and violence.
Speaker 1: Many white Americans, if they thought about Hawaii at all,
Speaker 1: had thought about it as an idealized, exotic paradise where
Speaker 1: friendly Native Hawaiians obediently served white tourists. But now these
Speaker 1: same white Americans saw the territory as a place in
Speaker 1: need of racial subjugation, thanks to articles like the one
Speaker 1: in Time magazine on jail Danuary eighteenth, which called Hawaii
Speaker 1: quote a restless purgatory of murder and race hatred fueled
Speaker 1: by quote the lust of mixed breeds for white women.
Speaker 1: Editorials throughout the country supported Joe's killers. They also advocated
Speaker 1: for a crackdown on Hawaii, arguing that its territorial government
Speaker 1: was too much in thrall to native Hawaiians and Asians.
Speaker 1: This was good news for Navy officials like Admiral Sterling,
Speaker 1: who had long called for military control of the territory,
Speaker 1: but it was a nightmare to Hawaii's Hawley elite, who
Speaker 1: liked the current status quo. Responding to the calls for
Speaker 1: martial law or a government reorganization, one territorial senator said, quote,
Speaker 1: we must show that we need no legislation in Washington.
Speaker 1: We must show that we can clean up our own situation.
Speaker 1: To that end, the territorial legislature passed two new bills,
Speaker 1: one which made rape a capital offense and another that
Speaker 1: removed the corroborating evidence requirement for rape convictions. Politicians hoped
Speaker 1: that this would stave off criticism of them being too
Speaker 1: soft on crime, But there was one crime that many
Speaker 1: prominent Howleyes did not want punished, and that, of course,
Speaker 1: was the killing of Jo kah By. The pressure that
Speaker 1: these power brokers exerted became clear in the grand jury
Speaker 1: hearings in late January, when, despite the obvious case against
Speaker 1: Joe's killers, the predominantly white grand jury initially voted nine
Speaker 1: to twelve not to indict. The case could have ended there,
Speaker 1: but Judge Albert M. Christie refused to accept the jury's
Speaker 1: report and told them to deliberate, again reminding them that
Speaker 1: it didn't matter quote whether from some inner feeling of
Speaker 1: your own, you might have committed the same crime. But
Speaker 1: it was not just sympathy blocking the indictment. Many of
Speaker 1: the jurors were clearly frightened of the consequences. When jury
Speaker 1: even asked Judge Christie if quote, in case the grand
Speaker 1: jury is discharged, has any member of the jury the
Speaker 1: right to show the records as to how he stood
Speaker 1: as a protection for himself and the community in which
Speaker 1: he lives. It was only on the second day of deliberations,
Speaker 1: after the jurors on editorial in the Honolulu Star Bulletin,
Speaker 1: which argued that indictment was inevitable given the evidence, that
Speaker 1: the grand jury finally voted to indict. Even then, the
Speaker 1: vote was only twelve to eight and several jurors resigned
Speaker 1: in anger. Grace Fordescue, Tommy Massey, Edward Lord, and Deacon
Speaker 1: Jones would be tried for the murder of Joe Kahahabai,
Speaker 1: but many worried if the grand jury had been this difficult,
Speaker 1: what would happen at trial. Grace Fordescue, for one, felt
Speaker 1: confident about the trial. She still seemed to be treating
Speaker 1: this as one of the Fordescue family's famous pranks. In
Speaker 1: her first official interview, given to The New York Times
Speaker 1: on February seventh, the report described her as joking and
Speaker 1: laughing with Tommy Deacon and Edward. Perhaps Grace was right
Speaker 1: to relax. Her family connections had always come through for her,
Speaker 1: and this time was no exception. Not long after the indictment,
Speaker 1: Grace's brother in law managed to recruit one of the
Speaker 1: most famous lawyers in America, Clarence Darrow. We've met Clarence
Speaker 1: Darrow before in our episode about the Leopold and Loeb trial.
Speaker 1: In that case, Darrow had defended unsympathetic wealthy clients on
Speaker 1: a murder charge. But there was a major difference between
Speaker 1: that trial and this one. This time, the murder victim
Speaker 1: wasn't white. Clarence Darrow had long thought of himself as
Speaker 1: a champion for racial equality. How could he justify defending
Speaker 1: the killers of Joe Cahavai. But as in the Leopold
Speaker 1: and Loeb trial, Darrow had a compelling reason to join
Speaker 1: the Fordescue case. Money. The Great Depression had wiped out
Speaker 1: the Darrow family's coffers after two exhausting years touring the
Speaker 1: country as a speaker, Darrow had managed to make enough
Speaker 1: money to pay off his adult son's debts, but he
Speaker 1: and his wife Ruby were barely keeping themselves afloat. He
Speaker 1: told grace Fordescue that he required forty thousand dollars in
Speaker 1: payment plus expenses for context Babe. Ruth's salary in nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty two was only seventy five thousand dollars. Grace Fordescue,
Speaker 1: despite her aristocratic pretensions, had no money of her own,
Speaker 1: but fortunately she had dozens of wealthy friends, all eager
Speaker 1: to help her out, not to mention the enlisted men
Speaker 1: at Pearl Harbor who collected seven thousand dollars for her.
Speaker 1: Soon enough, the money was raised and Darrow came on board.
Speaker 1: He then immediately tried to back out, stung by his
Speaker 1: friend's fury at his decision, But in the end Darrow
Speaker 1: wanted the money and he wanted to see Hawaii. George S. Leisure,
Speaker 1: a New York attorney and darrow superfan, agreed to join
Speaker 1: the case for free in exchange for a chance to
Speaker 1: work with his hero. Leisure and Darrow would be facing
Speaker 1: John Kelly, the recently appointed Honolulu City and County Attorney.
Speaker 1: The forty six year old Kelly, a native Montanan, was
Speaker 1: a brilliant, tenacious lawyer, but this would be his first
Speaker 1: case in his new role and it would not be
Speaker 1: an easy one. Kelly was glad to have the assistance
Speaker 1: of Barry Ulrich. Ulrich had been hired by the Honolulu
Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce to assist Kelly with the retrial of
Speaker 1: Thalia Massey's alleged rapists. When the Chamber realized that the
Speaker 1: murder trial would come first, they pulled their funding for Ulrich,
Speaker 1: but Ulrich decided to stay on in an unofficial, unpaid capacity.
Speaker 1: Darrow Leisure, Ulrich, and Kelly would be battling in the
Speaker 1: court room of Judge Charles S. Davis. After the grand
Speaker 1: jury proceedings. The defense had filed claims of bias against
Speaker 1: Judge Christie. Christie strenuously denied any bias, but said that
Speaker 1: in order to prevent any appearance of impropriety in the
Speaker 1: upcoming trial, he would step aside. The forty two year
Speaker 1: old Davis was his replacement. On April fourth, jury selection began.
Speaker 1: The lawyers immediately encountered a hurdle. No one wanted to
Speaker 1: serve on the jury. Aware of the stakes this case
Speaker 1: had for Hawaii, and concerned about the impact the wrong
Speaker 1: verdict might have on their lives, many jurors tried to
Speaker 1: get out of serving by claiming to have fixed opinions
Speaker 1: on the case. Fed up after hearing this excuse repeatedly,
Speaker 1: Clarence Darrow asked one juror just when he had formed
Speaker 1: his fixed opinion night before last, right after being summoned.
Speaker 1: The juror replied. Finally, after seven days of jury selection,
Speaker 1: a panel was formed. To be more precise, it was
Speaker 1: actually more like three and a half days. Throughout the
Speaker 1: trial court would adjourn at twelve each day, out of
Speaker 1: consideration for the seventy five year old Clarence Darrow's well being. Darrow,
Speaker 1: out of consideration for this consideration, spent most afternoons on
Speaker 1: the beach. On April eleventh, John Kelly delivered the prosecution's
Speaker 1: opening argument. Watching Kelly's adroit presentation, in which he declared
Speaker 1: that the crime was premeditated and discussed the evidence you
Speaker 1: would use to prove this, you wouldn't have guessed that
Speaker 1: the prosecutor was panicking, But Kelly had recently received bad
Speaker 1: news when he and Darrow had first met in late March.
Speaker 1: Darrow had rejected the suggestion that he was considering an
Speaker 1: insanity defense, but on April eighth, Kelly read in The
Speaker 1: New York Times that Darrow had hired two famous psychiatrists
Speaker 1: to testify. Kelly was furious with himself for falling for
Speaker 1: Darrow's charade and was scrambling to find experts of his
Speaker 1: own who could get to Hawaii in time. For now,
Speaker 1: all Kelly could do was present the best case he had. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: for him, that case was a very good one. Kelly's
Speaker 1: first witnesses, including Joe's cousin Eddie Ulie, and various police
Speaker 1: officers who had arrested the defendants, laid out the timeline
Speaker 1: of the abduction, murder, and attempted disposal of Joe's body.
Speaker 1: Kelly used these witnesses to bring in a plethora of exhibits.
Speaker 1: There were the pictures of grace Fordescue's bedroom with the
Speaker 1: sheets missing from the bed and the sheets found wrapped
Speaker 1: around Joe's body which were missing, laundry tags, and the
Speaker 1: laundry tags a prison matron had found in grace Fordescue's
Speaker 1: coat pocket. There was the coil of rope found in
Speaker 1: Grace's house, which had a unique purple strand interlaced in it,
Speaker 1: and then the identical rope found around Joe's body, And
Speaker 1: then there was the gun. The murder weapon had not
Speaker 1: been found and never would be. Thirty years later, Ballia's
Speaker 1: younger sister, Helene would tell a reporter, Peter Van Slingerland,
Speaker 1: that she'd helped hide the gun, throwing it into a
Speaker 1: pool of quicksand at an out of the way beach.
Speaker 1: So John Kelly had to make do with what he had.
Speaker 1: A thirty two caliber bullet casing and the magazine clip
Speaker 1: for a thirty two caliber automatic with one bullet missing,
Speaker 1: both found on Deacon Jones after his arrest. The clip
Speaker 1: had been and the fake summons used to lure Joe
Speaker 1: into the car. At trial, Kelly produced thirty two caliber
Speaker 1: slug taken from Joe's body and showed that it fit
Speaker 1: perfectly into the clip. Throughout the course of three days
Speaker 1: and twenty five witnesses, the prosecution meticulously painted a picture
Speaker 1: of the crime. After abducting Joe from outside the courthouse,
Speaker 1: the defendants had driven him to Grace Fordescu's house, where
Speaker 1: they'd interrogated him at gunpoint. At some point one of
Speaker 1: them shot him. The lack of injuries on Joe's body
Speaker 1: and the angle of his bullet wound. City and County
Speaker 1: physician doctor Robert B. Faus testified, indicated that there had
Speaker 1: been no struggle and that Joe had been sitting when
Speaker 1: he was shot. Then the defendants had wrapped Joe's body
Speaker 1: in the sheets from Grace's bed and driven him towards
Speaker 1: the coastline, where they planned to dump his body into
Speaker 1: the sea. With his last witness, Kelly, imbued this evidentiary
Speaker 1: picture with emotion. On the warning of Thursday, April fourteenth,
Speaker 1: Joe's mother, Esther Anito, took the stand. Esther identified Joe's
Speaker 1: bloodstained clothing, describing how she had mended and cleaned each
Speaker 1: garment as the image of a mother lovingly laundering her
Speaker 1: son's clothes, unaware that he would soon die in them.
Speaker 1: Hung over the courtroom. The prosecution rested. On Friday, April fifteenth,
Speaker 1: Clarence Darrow began the defense's case. Darrow was famous for
Speaker 1: his courtroom speeches, but to everyone's surprise, he waived his
Speaker 1: opening statement and moved straight into testimony, calling Lieutenant Tommy
Speaker 1: Massey to the stand. It didn't take long for Darrow
Speaker 1: to begin asking Tommy about the rape case. John Kelly
Speaker 1: immediately objected. Throughout the trial, Kelly had fought to keep
Speaker 1: the rape case out, arguing that quote, as a matter
Speaker 1: of law, Joseph Kajahavai could be as guilty as any
Speaker 1: man could be, and still that does not provide an
Speaker 1: excuse for killing him. Darrow, of course wanted the case
Speaker 1: in and now he argued that it was necessary as
Speaker 1: part of an insanity defense for quote the one who
Speaker 1: shot the pistol. Judge Davis allowed Darrow to continue. At first,
Speaker 1: Darrow didn't make it clear just who the one who
Speaker 1: shot the pistol was. Instead, he had Tommy tell the
Speaker 1: story of Thalia's alleged assault. In Tommy's account, Joe kaha
Speaker 1: Bai had been the ringleader, and Thalia had not been
Speaker 1: the only one traumatized. Tommy himself suffered for months, unable
Speaker 1: to eat or sleep, so concerned was he about his
Speaker 1: wife and so angry about the rumors that claimed Thalia
Speaker 1: was making it all up. With this history established, Darrow
Speaker 1: now revealed to the court that Tommy was the killer,
Speaker 1: well not the killer, per se in Darrow's words, quote
Speaker 1: the gun was in his hand when the shot was fired.
Speaker 1: Whether he knew what he was doing at the time
Speaker 1: is another question. According to Tommy's subsequent testimony, the answer
Speaker 1: to that question was no, he did not know what
Speaker 1: he was doing. Tommy described abducting Joe and interrogating him.
Speaker 1: Tommy said Joe had refused to confess until finally, after
Speaker 1: being threatened with a beating, which Tommy claimed was only
Speaker 1: a bluff, Joe admitted, quote, yes, we done it, And
Speaker 1: then Tommy said his mind went blank. He could not
Speaker 1: remember anything from that moment until the moment he came
Speaker 1: to an hour later on the side of the road
Speaker 1: being arrested. He did not know how he had gotten there.
Speaker 1: He did not know what had happened to Joe or
Speaker 1: to the gun. John Kelly wasn't buying it. For the
Speaker 1: rest of the day. On cross examination, he pushed Tommy
Speaker 1: on the story, trying to get him to slip up,
Speaker 1: but Tommy maintained his composure and claimed to remember nothing.
Speaker 1: It was only the next Monday when court resumed that
Speaker 1: Kelly finally got under tommy skin. Mister Massey, Kelly asked,
Speaker 1: have you ever been implicated in a kidnapping plot before
Speaker 1: this case, No, Sir, Tommy said, what about the summer
Speaker 1: of nineteen twenty seven when a baby went missing from
Speaker 1: a movie theater. Tommy immediately became defensive and tried to
Speaker 1: deny the story. When he finally admitted to having been
Speaker 1: arrested for kidnapping, he claimed that Thalia had just taken
Speaker 1: the baby for a little walk to try to soothe it, which,
Speaker 1: sure Tommy's evasiveness on the kidnapping question didn't look good,
Speaker 1: but that was about the only point Kelly got over
Speaker 1: on him. The rest of the cross examination was uneventful.
Speaker 1: With their next two witnesses, the psychiatrist's doctor Thomas j.
Speaker 1: Orbison and doctor Edward H. Williams, the defense hoped to
Speaker 1: give some scientific legitimacy to Tommy's amnesia claim. Both doctors
Speaker 1: claimed that Tommy suffered from a glandular condition that caused
Speaker 1: him to experience temporary insanity, which they called dementia, triggered
Speaker 1: by the extreme emotions brought on by sale as assault.
Speaker 1: Annie Lowry, a columnist for Hirst, summed up many people's
Speaker 1: skepticism about this testimony when she asked in an editorial quote,
Speaker 1: do people with dementia take a mother in law into
Speaker 1: sailors along as a usual thing? But the actual testimony
Speaker 1: of the psychiatrists was less important to Darrow than the
Speaker 1: opportunity they offered. On cross examination, prosecutor Barry Ulrich asked
Speaker 1: doctor Williams, quote, isn't it true that insanity please are
Speaker 1: used to introduce evidence that could not be brought in otherwise.
Speaker 1: Doctor Williams responded that this did happen sometimes, but never
Speaker 1: thinks to doctors only lawyers. Ulrich, sliding his eyes toward
Speaker 1: the defense table, said, as in this case, this case
Speaker 1: doesn't come into argument at all. Darrow exclaimed. Ulrich had
Speaker 1: clearly hit a nerve. This was exactly what Darrow was
Speaker 1: doing in this case. Introducing the insanity angle allowed the
Speaker 1: defense to discuss the rape case in the context of
Speaker 1: Tommy Massey's psychologue background. The rape case, in turn allowed
Speaker 1: the defense to appeal to the jury's sympathy for the
Speaker 1: Massy family and speak to the unwritten law of avenging
Speaker 1: one's wife. Darrow could deny his strategy all he liked.
Speaker 1: His next witness confirmed just what he was doing. It
Speaker 1: was Thalia Massey. John Kelly objected to Thalia telling the
Speaker 1: story of her alleged assault. Judge Davis instructed Thalia to
Speaker 1: limit her testimony to things she said to her husband
Speaker 1: that might have affected his mental state. Darrow was undaunted
Speaker 1: by this limitation, walking Thalia through the entire story. When
Speaker 1: Kelly objected, which he did frequently, Darrow would argue that
Speaker 1: it went to Tommy's state of mind, and Judge Davis
Speaker 1: would allow it. After telling the story of her alleged
Speaker 1: assault in emotional detail, Thalia described how Tommy had cared
Speaker 1: for her, depicting him as a devoted husband distraught over
Speaker 1: her suffering. During a brief recess, she stumbled into Tommy's
Speaker 1: arms and he soothed her as she nuzzled her head
Speaker 1: head into his neck. Her testimony was enormously moving, many
Speaker 1: watching pride. On cross examination, John Kelly took things slow,
Speaker 1: asking Thalia about minor details of her story. Then, several
Speaker 1: minutes in, he asked Thalia if Tommy was always as
Speaker 1: kind to her as she'd testified. Of course he was,
Speaker 1: Dahlia replied, pulling out a sheaf of papers. Kelly then asked,
Speaker 1: did you have a psychopathic examination at the university last summer. Yes,
Speaker 1: Thahlia acknowledged, I went to see Professor Kelly. Professor Lowell
Speaker 1: Kelly was the psychologist Thalia had briefly consulted with the
Speaker 1: previous summer. Under his care, she had filled out a
Speaker 1: long survey about her marriage, detailing how much she and
Speaker 1: Tommy resented each other, how unhappy their marriage was, and
Speaker 1: how poorly they treated one another. Now, Kelly passed a
Speaker 1: copy of this survey to Thalia and asked, is this
Speaker 1: your handwriting? There came a transformation, wrote a New York
Speaker 1: Times reporter watching in the courtroom, quote from the pathetic
Speaker 1: looking figure into a woman who, with low voice but
Speaker 1: blazing face, turned on the prosecutor. Where did you get this?
Speaker 1: Thlia asked, I'm asking the questions, not answering them. Kelly
Speaker 1: shot back, has her husband always been kind to you?
Speaker 1: Thalia stared Kelly down, saying, don't you know this is
Speaker 1: a confidential communication between doctor and patient. You have no
Speaker 1: right to bring this into the courtroom. And then she
Speaker 1: began tearing the paper, slowly at first, and then more frantically,
Speaker 1: until it lay in shreds beneath her hands. It was
Speaker 1: quite the display the white women in the audience began
Speaker 1: to applaud John Kelly, less impressed, dismissed Thalia from the stand,
Speaker 1: saying quote, thank you, missus Massey, at last you have
Speaker 1: shown yourself in your true colors. After getting Judge Davis
Speaker 1: to strike Kelly's dig the defense rested, but the case
Speaker 1: was not quite over. The prosecution had several rebuttal witnesses.
Speaker 1: John Kelly had managed to get psychiatric experts of his own.
Speaker 1: The first two experts testified that they did not believe
Speaker 1: that Tommy was insane and disputed Williams and Orbison's conclusions.
Speaker 1: Their testimony didn't add much. The third expert, doctor Joseph Catton,
Speaker 1: was a different story. A personable, well spoken psychiatrist with
Speaker 1: a knack for explaining complicated medical concepts. Catton quickly caught
Speaker 1: and held the jury's attention. He provided them with a
Speaker 1: new narrative of Tommy Massey's actions. He was not insane,
Speaker 1: Catton argued, he was just angry. For all of Catton's
Speaker 1: persuasive powers, the final witness made the biggest impact. This
Speaker 1: was doctor Robert Fauss, the City and County attorney. He
Speaker 1: had already testified earlier in the case, but was back
Speaker 1: to provide some important medical evidence. Previously, use had explained
Speaker 1: that the bullet had penetrated Joe's pulmonary artery, causing massive hemorrhage,
Speaker 1: but Kelly wanted Faus to explain what exactly death in
Speaker 1: this manner would look like. In your opinion, he asked
Speaker 1: how long after Khahabiah was shot would it take before
Speaker 1: death would ensue. After Joe was shot, Faus testified he
Speaker 1: was likely conscious for three to five minutes and lived
Speaker 1: for fifteen to twenty minutes in total. In other words,
Speaker 1: the defendants had time to call for help. When Barry
Speaker 1: Ulrich delivered the prosecution's first closing argument the next morning,
Speaker 1: he was quick to invoke Faus's testimony, saying, quote, Obviously,
Speaker 1: the defendants had no way of knowing he was going
Speaker 1: to die, that the bullet had pierced a vital spot.
Speaker 1: They had a telephone, There are plenty of doctors in town.
Speaker 1: Why didn't they do something if they didn't want him
Speaker 1: to die? They let him die because they wanted him
Speaker 1: to die. The defense has told you a lot about
Speaker 1: the presumption of innocence. What presumption of innocence did they
Speaker 1: give that Hawaiian boy? After reminding the jurors of the
Speaker 1: evidence of premeditation, like the multiple loaded guns the defendants
Speaker 1: had brought or the rope they had on hand, Ulrich
Speaker 1: reminded jurors of the stakes, saying, far more hangs on
Speaker 1: this trial than the fate of these four defendants. Our
Speaker 1: power of self government is being questioned you, jurors, the judge.
Speaker 1: The people of this territory are on trial, charged with
Speaker 1: not being able to govern ourselves. No, twelve people in
Speaker 1: the territory are charged with a greater responsibility than you.
Speaker 1: But Ulrich was certain that the jury would meet that responsibility,
Speaker 1: concluding quote, the defendants are guilty. It is a plain
Speaker 1: and obvious fact. They not only admit it, they proclaim it.
Speaker 1: The eyes of the world are upon Hawaii, and you
Speaker 1: must answer that challenge. We ask you to convict these
Speaker 1: four defendants of murder. George Leisure was up next. He
Speaker 1: had clearly trained in the Griffith White school of closing arguments.
Speaker 1: His brief argument brimmed with overwrought phrases and dramatic imagery.
Speaker 1: By the end, he'd worked himself up to the point
Speaker 1: of justifying Joe's death, saying his death was just under
Speaker 1: the laws of God and a direct consequence of his
Speaker 1: own acts. Do you suppose the cruel appetite of this
Speaker 1: man would have been satiated by one drunken debauch. No,
Speaker 1: his next victim might have been your wife or sister.
Speaker 1: Clarence S. Darrow was left to do clean up after
Speaker 1: this charming performance. Fortunately, he was a closing specialist, known
Speaker 1: for his epic arguments. Like Leisures and Whites, Darrow's arguments
Speaker 1: were often based on emotional appeals, but they were less crude,
Speaker 1: as David Stanner describes it. Quote at the core of
Speaker 1: Darrow's courtroom technique with his insistence that a rigidly, narrow
Speaker 1: minded and punitive approach to the law was foolish and cruel,
Speaker 1: that true justice demanded an understanding of the facts as
Speaker 1: they appeared to the defendants at the time they did
Speaker 1: whatever it was they were accused of doing. And while
Speaker 1: for the most part I sympathize with this philosophy, it's
Speaker 1: hard to apply it in this case. But Darrow did
Speaker 1: his best. He portrayed the Massies and Grace Fortesquieu as
Speaker 1: beleaguered victims attacked on all sides by the ravages of fate.
Speaker 1: Like Barry Ulrich, he reminded jurors of the stakes for
Speaker 1: all of Hawaii, but Darrow took a different angle. Convicting
Speaker 1: the defendants. He said, would quote place a blot upon
Speaker 1: the fair name of these islands, that all the Pacific
Speaker 1: seas would never wash away. He urged jurors to listen
Speaker 1: to quote every instinct that moves human beings, every feeling
Speaker 1: that within you. You can't fight against it. If you do,
Speaker 1: you will fight against nature. You are in a position
Speaker 1: to heal. Darrow concluded, you are not a people to
Speaker 1: take and destroy. I ask you to be kind, understanding, considerate,
Speaker 1: both to the living and to the dead. John Kelly
Speaker 1: had the last word. Acknowledging everyone's exhaustion, he promised to
Speaker 1: be brief, and he was. He attacked Tommy Massey, saying, quote,
Speaker 1: the best you can say for Massy is that he
Speaker 1: lied like a gentleman and had a very convenient memory.
Speaker 1: The defense must take you for a bunch of morons.
Speaker 1: Is there going to be one law for strangers in
Speaker 1: our midst and another for you and me? And if
Speaker 1: Tommy Massey got away with this, what was next? Kelly
Speaker 1: asked if the serpent of lynch law is allowed to
Speaker 1: raise its head in these islands, Kelly warned, watch out.
Speaker 1: He emphasized the cruelty of the killing, saying, quote, three
Speaker 1: able men and a cold, calculating woman let that man
Speaker 1: bleed to death in front of them, inch by inch.
Speaker 1: They let him die. They dragged him into the bathroom
Speaker 1: like a dog and let him die. If the defense
Speaker 1: wanted to appeal to sympathy, Kelly would do the same.
Speaker 1: Mister Darrow has spoken of mother love, Kelly said, repeatedly.
Speaker 1: He has spoken of missus Fordescue as the mother in
Speaker 1: this courtroom. Well, there is another mother in this courtroom.
Speaker 1: Has Missus Fordescue lost her daughter? Has Massey lost his wife?
Speaker 1: Kelly gazed at Esther and Pascual Anito and Joseph Cahajave
Speaker 1: Senior for a long moment, then turning back to the jury,
Speaker 1: he asked one final question, where is cahaha I? Judge
Speaker 1: Davis gave the jury careful and thorough instructions. He explained
Speaker 1: that they could find the defendants not guilty or in
Speaker 1: Tommy's case, not guilty by reason of insanity if they
Speaker 1: wished to acquit. If they decided to convict, they could
Speaker 1: find the defendants guilty of first degree murder, which required premeditation,
Speaker 1: second degree murder, which required malice a forethought, or manslaughter,
Speaker 1: which required neither premeditation nor malice a forethought, only unlawful killing.
Speaker 1: At four thirty pm on Wednesday, April twenty seventh, Davis
Speaker 1: dismissed the jurors to deliberate. The jurors had technically been
Speaker 1: sequestered throughout the trial, but they were not completely cut
Speaker 1: off from the outside world. The hotel they'd been lodged
Speaker 1: at was filled with reporters, and the jurors, many of
Speaker 1: whom had connections to the Navy or to Hawaii's powerful
Speaker 1: sugar companies, knew all too well the potential consequences for
Speaker 1: themselves and their families should they not make the right decision.
Speaker 1: With all of that in mind, they embarked on their deliberations,
Speaker 1: which rolled through Wednesday evening into Thursday, and then Friday.
Speaker 1: By Friday afternoon, Judge Davis was becoming concerned that no
Speaker 1: verdict was forthcoming. He told Kelly and Darrow that he
Speaker 1: planned to check in with the jurors if they told
Speaker 1: him that a verdict was unlikely, He would dismiss them
Speaker 1: and declare a mistrial. Clara and Starow pushed back. He
Speaker 1: and many others had heard rumors that the jury was
Speaker 1: currently ten to two for acquittal. He didn't want to
Speaker 1: cut them off before they got all the way there.
Speaker 1: At four pm, the jurors filed back into the courtroom.
Speaker 1: In response to Judge Davis's question, Jury Foreman Johnstone told
Speaker 1: the court that he believed they would reach a verdict.
Speaker 1: Davis sent them off to do so. Their decision came
Speaker 1: only an hour later. By the time everyone had made
Speaker 1: it back to the courtroom, it was five thirty pm.
Speaker 1: The bailiff ordered the four defendants to stand. Dalia stood
Speaker 1: up beside them. The bailiff told her to sit. Foreman
Speaker 1: Stone handed the jury's verdict to the court clerk, who
Speaker 1: passed them to Judge Davis. Whence the judge had read them,
Speaker 1: he indicated for the clerk to read them aloud. The
Speaker 1: defendants each received their own individual verdict. Tommy Massey's came first,
Speaker 1: then Grace Fordescu's, then Deacon Jones and Edward Lords. Each
Speaker 1: verdict said the same thing. In the death of Joe Kahahaai,
Speaker 1: we the jury find the defendant guilty of manslaughter. Leniency
Speaker 1: recommended the guilty verdicts, though they might seem inevitable to us,
Speaker 1: given the facts of the case, came as a surprise
Speaker 1: to almost everyone in nineteen thirty two. Like Clarence Darrow,
Speaker 1: most people had expected an acquittal or a hung jury.
Speaker 1: They had expected the seven white jurors to block a conviction,
Speaker 1: but interviews with the jurors revealed that the deliberations had
Speaker 1: been more nuanced than that. While the jurors had initially
Speaker 1: voted along racial lines, seven to acquit, five to convict,
Speaker 1: none of the jurors believed that Tommy Massey was insane,
Speaker 1: nor did they believe that Joe Kahavi's killing was justified.
Speaker 1: Whether or not he was guilty, The jurors who wanted
Speaker 1: to acquit felt bad for the Massies and did not
Speaker 1: believe that the killing was premeditated or committed with malice
Speaker 1: of forethought. On the second day of deliberations, a compromise
Speaker 1: was reached manslaughter. By the time Judge Davis summoned the
Speaker 1: jury to the courtroom on Friday afternoon, the jurors were
Speaker 1: eleven to one in favor of conviction. The holdout. Juror
Speaker 1: finally agreed for conviction as long as a request for
Speaker 1: leniency was included in the verdict. As juror Theodor Char
Speaker 1: put it about the compromises they made, quote, Cahavai was killed,
Speaker 1: and we could not allow ourselves to be swayed by emotions.
Speaker 1: Law and order must prevail for the sake of the
Speaker 1: best interests of Hawaii. Many people in Hawaii agreed with Char.
Speaker 1: The verdict is regarded here as in strict conformance with
Speaker 1: the law, perfectly supported by the evidence, and the best
Speaker 1: thing that could happen in the islands, wrote the Chicago
Speaker 1: Tribunes Philip Kinsley. Reactions were much less measured. On the mainland.
Speaker 1: White commentators were furious and convinced that the verdict proved
Speaker 1: the need for martial law in the islands. Write or
Speaker 1: why are your representatives in the Senate and the House
Speaker 1: to do what they can? Implored NBC radio broadcaster Floyd Gibbons,
Speaker 1: not only to knock down that verdict, but to make
Speaker 1: life safe for our American women in Hawaii. Congress was
Speaker 1: way ahead of Gibbons. Within hours of the verdict, more
Speaker 1: than a hundred congressmen had signed a petition urging Governor
Speaker 1: Lawrence Judd to pardon the convicted killers. Afraid that Congress
Speaker 1: would impose martial law or perhaps a boycott of Hawaiian products,
Speaker 1: jud began to con sitter his options. On Wednesday, May fourth,
Speaker 1: the defendants appeared in front of Judge Davis for sentencing.
Speaker 1: Though the jurors had included a request for leniency in
Speaker 1: their verdict, leniency was not within Judge Davis's power, even
Speaker 1: should he wish to grant it. The law in Hawaii
Speaker 1: mandated ten years of hard labor for manslaughter, and this
Speaker 1: is what he sentenced each of the defendants to. In turn,
Speaker 1: you'd expect this sentence to sober Grace, Fortescue and the others,
Speaker 1: But as confused onlookers noted, the defendants seemed delighted. The
Speaker 1: reason for their happiness soon became clear. Forty minutes later,
Speaker 1: at a press conference, Governor Judd announced quote, the four
Speaker 1: defendants were sentenced this morning, in accordance with territorial law,
Speaker 1: to ten years in prison. Acting on a petition of
Speaker 1: the four defendants, joined by counsel for the defendants, and
Speaker 1: in view of the recommendations of the jury, I am
Speaker 1: commuting the sentence to one hour. The remainder of the
Speaker 1: defendants so called sentence, was spent taking pictures and chatting
Speaker 1: with the reporters behind Iolani Palace. Clarence Darrow made a
Speaker 1: point of thanking the press, who quote, have given this
Speaker 1: case wide publicity so that it went before a jury
Speaker 1: of one hundred million people, most of whom are not
Speaker 1: hampered by absurd rules of law and do not believe
Speaker 1: statutes are better than human beings. Many in Hawaii, however,
Speaker 1: were furious at Judd. Princess Abigail Kavana Nakoa, who had
Speaker 1: helped ben Ahaquelo's mother Aggi find a good lawyer, declared, quote,
Speaker 1: with this commutation, the verdict of a jury composed of
Speaker 1: men with intelligence, sound judgment, and good character, with the
Speaker 1: facts and the law before them, becomes a farce. Three
Speaker 1: days later, Clarence Darrow was on board Esteemship waving goodbye
Speaker 1: to Honolulu. With him were Grace Fordescue, and Tommy and
Speaker 1: Thalia Massey. There had been a brief kerfuffle during boarding
Speaker 1: when a Honolulu police officer had tried to serve Thalia
Speaker 1: with a subpoena to testify in her rape Case's retrial,
Speaker 1: but a helpful Navy officer held the police officer off.
Speaker 1: Though many people had wanted to see the rape case retried,
Speaker 1: including the defendants who wished to clear their names, Darrow
Speaker 1: had counseled Thalia not to testify again. He later claimed
Speaker 1: he'd done so to protect both Thalia and quote the
Speaker 1: island that I had learned to love. But perhaps he
Speaker 1: had doubts about Thalia's story. Even then, if he did
Speaker 1: doubt Salia, he had good reason to. Several months after
Speaker 1: Thalia left Hawaii, John Kelly convinced the territorial government to
Speaker 1: hire the Pinkerton Detective Agency to conduct a new investigation
Speaker 1: of her case. The Pinkertons undertook a three month investigation
Speaker 1: in the summer of nineteen thirty two, interviewing hundreds of
Speaker 1: witnesses and review all available evidence. In the end, they
Speaker 1: concluded that quote it is impossible to escape the conviction
Speaker 1: that the kidnapping and assault was not caused by those accused,
Speaker 1: as they quote had no opportunity to commit the kidnapping
Speaker 1: and the rape. Moreover, quote, we have found nothing in
Speaker 1: the record of this case, nor have we, through our
Speaker 1: own efforts, been able to find what in our estimation
Speaker 1: would be sufficient corroboration of the statements of Missus Massey
Speaker 1: to establish the occurrence of rape upon her. In other words,
Speaker 1: none of it was true. Governor Judd tried to suppress
Speaker 1: the Pinkerton Report, but John Kelly forced his hand. On
Speaker 1: February thirteenth, nineteen thirty three, Kelly filed a motion to
Speaker 1: dismiss the charges against the four surviving defendants, Horace Ida,
Speaker 1: Ben Ahaquello, Henry Chang, and David ta Kai. Kelly attached
Speaker 1: a summary of the Pinkerton Report to his motion. Soon
Speaker 1: the report's conclusions were national news. Thalia publicly attacked the
Speaker 1: Pinkerton Report, seeming to enjoy the renewed spotlight. She spun
Speaker 1: elaborate stories to reporters of a vast Hawaiian conspiracy against her,
Speaker 1: which no one took seriously. A year later, Thalia was
Speaker 1: back in the news, this time because she and Tommy
Speaker 1: were divorcing. She told reporters that Tommy had initiated the divorce,
Speaker 1: which was granted on February twenty third, nineteen thirty four,
Speaker 1: the same night Thalia attempted suicide. She would attempt suicide
Speaker 1: several more times over the next year. For the rest
Speaker 1: of her life, she moved across the country, supported by
Speaker 1: an allowance from her mother, and racking up a variety
Speaker 1: of criminal charges, mainly for public drunkenness, drunk driving, or
Speaker 1: once for severely beating her pregnant landlord. Thalia Massey died
Speaker 1: from an overdose of barbituates on July seven, nineteen sixty three.
Speaker 1: Tommy Massey remarried after his divorce and continued on with
Speaker 1: his navy career, but in nineteen forty he started displaying
Speaker 1: erratic behavior. Eventually sent to a naval hospital, Tommy was
Speaker 1: diagnosed with manic depressive psychosis. He was discharged from the
Speaker 1: Navy later that year and lived in San Diego for
Speaker 1: the rest of his life. On January eighth, nineteen eighty seven,
Speaker 1: exactly fifty five years after Joe Kavy's murder, Tommy Massey died,
Speaker 1: aged eighty eight. Whether or not symptoms of Tommy's mania
Speaker 1: and psychosis had been present in nineteen thirty two and
Speaker 1: played a role in Joe's kidnapping is unknown, but they
Speaker 1: certainly did not play a part in Joe's murder, because,
Speaker 1: despite the defense's claims, Tommy Massey was not the shooter.
Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty six, journalist Peter Van Slingerland interviewed Deacon
Speaker 1: Jones for his book on the case, Something Terrible Has Happened.
Speaker 1: Deacon seemed delighted to reminisce over the crime and to
Speaker 1: provide Van Slingerland with his version of what exactly had happened.
Speaker 1: On January eighth, nineteen thirty two, according to Deacon, he
Speaker 1: and Tommy Massey had driven Joe back to Grace's house.
Speaker 1: While they waited for Edward and Grace to arrive, they
Speaker 1: were driving in another car. Deacon and Tommy interrogated Joe.
Speaker 1: Although Deacon claimed that quote, I didn't fear the black bastard,
Speaker 1: he still kept his gun trained on Joe. Then, Deacon explained,
Speaker 1: quote Massey asked him a question, and cahahabe lunged at him.
Speaker 1: I say lunged. Somebody else might say he just leaned forward.
Speaker 1: And then Van Slingerland asked, I shot him, Deacon said,
Speaker 1: echoing Darrow's insanity defense. Van Slingerland asked, did you know
Speaker 1: what you were doing when I shot that son of
Speaker 1: a bitch? Deacon replied, I knew what I was doing.
Speaker 1: Deacon also explained that it had been Clarence Darrow's idea
Speaker 1: for Tommy to take the blame, since quote Tommy had
Speaker 1: a motive and the reason. After all, it was his wife.
Speaker 1: Having already been convicted for manslaughter and served his sentence.
Speaker 1: As it was, Deacon Jones would face no consequences for
Speaker 1: his confession. Grace Fordescue, too, seemed free of any pangs
Speaker 1: of conscience. After leaving Hawaii, she wrote her own account
Speaker 1: of the murder and the trial, which she titled and
Speaker 1: I wish I was making this up quote the Honolulu Martyrdom. Later,
Speaker 1: with her financial troubles ended by a large inheritance, Grace
Speaker 1: built a mansion in Palm Beach, which she called Ile
Speaker 1: Home because it was decorated in a Hawaiian theme. Grace
Speaker 1: Fordescue died on June twenty fourth, nineteen seventy nine, in
Speaker 1: Palm Beach. Joe Cahajave's friends and co defendants, Horace Da
Speaker 1: Ben Ahaquelo, Henry Chang, and David Takai, did not have
Speaker 1: the luxury of moving on so completely. After the initial
Speaker 1: burst of news about the Pinkerton Report, stories about the
Speaker 1: report's conclusion had been intentionally suppressed, leaving many people unaware
Speaker 1: that the men had been comprehensively exonerated. Ben Ahaquillo was
Speaker 1: the only one to ever speak publicly about the case,
Speaker 1: granting an interview to the Honolulu Star Bulletin in June
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight. My family has carried the burden of
Speaker 1: this for thirty five years, Ben said. He explained that
Speaker 1: he'd tried to keep the story from his children, but
Speaker 1: that they had learned about it from friends. Another defendant,
Speaker 1: David Standard, writes quote was urged on his deathbed to
Speaker 1: tell the truth about what really happened. Some of Joe
Speaker 1: Cahahavai's family members changed their last name to avoid painful associations.
Speaker 1: Though the Massy case is replete with tragedy, it has
Speaker 1: its inspiring moments too. Despite pressure from the mainland press
Speaker 1: and despite interventions of the local Howy elite, including a
Speaker 1: police captain who manufactured evidence, a prosecutor who suppressed facts,
Speaker 1: and a governor who commuted a sentence, the juries in
Speaker 1: both trials stood by their own consciences, refusing to punish
Speaker 1: innocent men or exonerate guilty ones. The events of nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty one and nineteen thirty two, writes David's Stannard changed
Speaker 1: Hawaii permanently. In the nineteen twenties, Life for most non
Speaker 1: whites in the islands had been a nightmare, especially for
Speaker 1: those laboring on the plantations or locked away in the slums,
Speaker 1: pitted against one another as they struggled to survive. In
Speaker 1: the midst of the Massy Fortescue turmoil. However, and especially
Speaker 1: after the killing of Joe Kahahavai, krack started to appear
Speaker 1: in what for years had been a monolithic social order. Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese,
Speaker 1: and Filipino community leaders began meeting and finding more common
Speaker 1: ground than ever before. This new interracial solidarity ushered in
Speaker 1: political reforms, labor victories, and a sense of community in
Speaker 1: the islands. The changes wrought by the Massy Fortescue trials
Speaker 1: are not comprehensive. Native Hawaiians are still fighting to regain
Speaker 1: the lands stolen from them by the American government, for example,
Speaker 1: but they are profound. In the weeks after Joe Kahahaai's funeral,
Speaker 1: rain storms battered Oahu. Nineteen thirty one had been a
Speaker 1: dry year. January of nineteen thirty two saw ceaseless rain
Speaker 1: in the hills. The dry red soil found itself lifted
Speaker 1: and carried downhill, where it slid into streams, coloring them
Speaker 1: a deep red. In Hawaiian, this rain is called Uacoco
Speaker 1: blood rain. These red waters, spilling over the banks of rivers,
Speaker 1: carried with them the memory of violent death, but they
Speaker 1: carried promise to enriching the earth so something new and
Speaker 1: beautiful could grow. Thank you for listening to History on Trial.
Speaker 1: To see images of the people and places in this episode,
Speaker 1: check out our instagram at History on Trial. My main
Speaker 1: sources for this episode were David E. Stannard's book Honor Killing,
Speaker 1: Race Rape, and Clarence S. Darrow's Spectacular Last Case, as
Speaker 1: well as the trial transcripts published by the University of
Speaker 1: Minnesota Law Library's Clarence Darow Digital Collection. For a full bibliography,
Speaker 1: as well as a transcript of this episode with citations,
Speaker 1: please visit our website History on Trial podcast dot com,
Speaker 1: where you can also subscribe to our newsletter. History on
Speaker 1: Trial is written and hosted by me Mira Hayward. The
Speaker 1: show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising
Speaker 1: producer Trevor Jung and executive ducers Dana Schwartz, Alexander Williams,
Speaker 1: Matt Frederick, and Mira Hayward. Learn more about the show
Speaker 1: at History on Trial podcast dot com, and follow us
Speaker 1: on Instagram at History on Trial and on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Underscore History on Trial. Find more podcasts from iHeartRadio by
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Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.