Speaker 1: You're listening to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Aaron Minky. Listener discretion advised. In eighteen eighty seven,
Speaker 1: Queen Victoria invited fifty foreign princes and monarchs from around
Speaker 1: the world to celebrate her Golden Jubilee. The jubilee marked
Speaker 1: fifty years for Victoria as the Queen of England. Her
Speaker 1: silver jubilee twenty five years earlier was barely commemorated at all.
Speaker 1: Just months before that, her beloved husband, Prince Albert, had
Speaker 1: died young of typhoid fever. Victoria had been bereft. She
Speaker 1: remained cloaked in black and shielded from the public life
Speaker 1: in mourning for decades. But now for her Golden Jubilee,
Speaker 1: she was re emerging for the first time, a newly
Speaker 1: minted Empress of India, a global queen, and one who
Speaker 1: deserved a celebration that exalted her in all of her
Speaker 1: international imperial glory. Among her foreign royal guests were crowned
Speaker 1: Princess Lilio Killani of Hawaii, the sister of the King
Speaker 1: and next in line for the throne. Lilio Kilani traveled
Speaker 1: with the King's wife and to their surprise when their
Speaker 1: ship arrived in Liverpool, they were met with all of
Speaker 1: the royal pomp and fanfare that England had to offer.
Speaker 1: Banners flapped happily, streamers danced in the wind rows of
Speaker 1: soldiers saluted in perfect unison. A military band played God
Speaker 1: Save the Queen. They were greeted by the Lord Mayor
Speaker 1: of Liverpool himself. In Hawaii, royalty enjoyed far less pomp
Speaker 1: and pageantry, especially since the white owners of the sugar
Speaker 1: plantations had installed themselves into government. Those men, mostly from
Speaker 1: the United States, England, and Germany, treated the native Hawaiian
Speaker 1: monarchy as something between a nuisance and a threat. But here,
Speaker 1: arriving to honor Queen Victoria, Lilio Collani and her sister
Speaker 1: in law were among the guests of honor, treated with
Speaker 1: splendor and majesty that most European monarchs took for granted.
Speaker 1: They were brought to London on a steamer train with
Speaker 1: an escort of one hundred soldiers, and granted use of
Speaker 1: Queen Victoria's own carriages, horses, and drivers for the duration
Speaker 1: of their stay. When Lilio Collani commented on the grandness
Speaker 1: of their welcome, their minister bowed deeply. They had come
Speaker 1: such a long way, he said. Her Majesty thought the
Speaker 1: special honors were the very least she could do. Lilio
Speaker 1: Collani was seated in the Royal Box at Westminster Abbey
Speaker 1: for the Jubilee service, and during the prayers for Queen Victoria,
Speaker 1: Lilio Collani saw a ray of light come through the
Speaker 1: high windows and fall directly upon Victoria's head. It was
Speaker 1: like God himself granting Victoria her blessing. She on. Lilio
Speaker 1: Klani and her sister in law arrived back at their
Speaker 1: residence that afternoon, their ears still ringing from the boom
Speaker 1: of military drums and the shouts of crowd, their heads
Speaker 1: still buzzing with the excitement of their private audience of
Speaker 1: Queen Victoria. But they were scarcely in the doorway before
Speaker 1: they knew something was wrong. Their household staff were staring
Speaker 1: at them stony faced. Lolio Collani let her eyes trace
Speaker 1: around the room, and she noticed that their bags were
Speaker 1: already packed. They needed to go back to Hawaii immediately.
Speaker 1: Someone said something had happened. A group of white businessmen
Speaker 1: had assembled a paramilitary group and forced the King. Lolio
Speaker 1: Collani's brother to sign away most of his power and
Speaker 1: turned the monarch into a powerless figurehead. What's more, the
Speaker 1: right to vote for the legislature in Hawaii would now
Speaker 1: include exorbitant property requirements, and explicitly refused that right to
Speaker 1: the many immigrants who had come to the island from
Speaker 1: Asia and who had been voting up until that point.
Speaker 1: The new wealth restrictions meant the vast majority of native
Speaker 1: Hawaiians could no longer vote either. The new law of
Speaker 1: the land was the so called Bayonet Constitution, so called
Speaker 1: because the king had been forced to sign at the
Speaker 1: end of Bayonets. The nation to which Lilio Kolani frantically
Speaker 1: returned was now falling into the grasp of business men.
Speaker 1: It was a nation on the precipice, and that was
Speaker 1: the nation the set and imperiled that she inherited when
Speaker 1: she became queen after her brother's death two years later.
Speaker 1: Queen Liliukillani tried to hold the bursting levies at bay
Speaker 1: for as long as she could, but the waves of
Speaker 1: imperialism came flooding in, swallowing Hawaii and eventually its last queen.
Speaker 1: I'm Danish Wartz and this is noble blood even before
Speaker 1: she was technically queen, Lilio Kalani made it clear that
Speaker 1: her loyalty would always be to the Hawaiian people and
Speaker 1: not to the business interests of white non natives. Back
Speaker 1: in she had been acting as regent for her brother
Speaker 1: while he was away on a diplomatic trip when Hawaii
Speaker 1: faced an outbreak of smallpox imported mainly from Chinese laborers
Speaker 1: who were brought in by businessmen to work in the
Speaker 1: sugarcane fields. A quick word about smallpox. It takes about
Speaker 1: two weeks for the symptoms of smallpox to show. In
Speaker 1: that time, a person might look perfectly healthy, all the
Speaker 1: while they're spreading the deadly disease in person, through the
Speaker 1: air and through the objects they touch. After that incubation period,
Speaker 1: the symptoms slowly emerge. It begins with the fever and
Speaker 1: a lingering, uncomfortable headache. Your limbs will become heavy, your
Speaker 1: back will ache, you might be vomiting. And then the
Speaker 1: red spots come Lesions that appear first on your face
Speaker 1: and hands, and then all over your body. Little spots
Speaker 1: that become blisters that fill with pus and then scaped
Speaker 1: reveal deep pitted scars. Its fatality rate was about one
Speaker 1: in three. That two week incubation period makes smallpox especially
Speaker 1: insiduous and contagious, and because native Hawaiians had no inborn immunity,
Speaker 1: the threat was a deadly serious one. As Queen Regent
Speaker 1: Lilio Kalani made the decision to shut down all ports
Speaker 1: and enforce a mandatory quarantine until the outbreak was contained.
Speaker 1: Vessels were prohibited from taking passengers between islands. The sugar
Speaker 1: growers were infuriated that she was putting a frieze on
Speaker 1: their business, but Lilio Kolani stood her ground. Though three
Speaker 1: hundred people died from the outbreak, there were zero additional
Speaker 1: cases outside the city of Honolulu, But Lilio Kolani was
Speaker 1: faced with perhaps even a greater crisis in eighteen ninety
Speaker 1: after she became Queen, the terrif Act. For decades, the
Speaker 1: United States had provided generous terms for sugar growers in
Speaker 1: Hawaii in order to encourage American plantation owners to settle there.
Speaker 1: While the Terriffact of eighteen ninety massively increased the tax
Speaker 1: on imported manufactured goods, it eliminated all tariffs on sugar,
Speaker 1: which meant that the American market was now flooded with
Speaker 1: cheap sugar from all over the world, the Hawaiian economy
Speaker 1: was crippled. Over decades, Hawaii's economy had constructed itself up
Speaker 1: around the of her both terms the US had given,
Speaker 1: and now the US had pulled that framework out in
Speaker 1: one single stroke, and the whole thing was threatening to collapse, unless,
Speaker 1: of course, Hawaii agreed to be annexed by the United States.
Speaker 1: That was the ultimate goal of a group of white
Speaker 1: American business owners led by a man named Lauren A. Thurston.
Speaker 1: They called themselves the Annexation Club. Annexation would make things
Speaker 1: a lot more convenient for them, but it would especially
Speaker 1: help when it came to making a tidy profit from
Speaker 1: their sugar plantations. So annexation might have been what the
Speaker 1: American businessmen wanted, but the same couldn't be said for
Speaker 1: the native population of Hawaii or for Queen Lilio Kolani.
Speaker 1: In fact, since her ascension, she had spent nearly all
Speaker 1: her energy trying to build a new constitution for Hawaii,
Speaker 1: one that gave the monarchy back its power, and one
Speaker 1: that once again granted Native Hawaiian's immigrants of color the
Speaker 1: right to vote. In eighteen ninety two, Queen Lilio Collani
Speaker 1: traveled throughout the country on horseback, riding from village to
Speaker 1: village and talking to her people. She may have lost
Speaker 1: most of her political power, but she was still the
Speaker 1: country's queen, and she used her power and influence to
Speaker 1: listen to the voices of the people who no longer
Speaker 1: had a voice in government. Thousands of people signed her
Speaker 1: petition for a new constitution, and finally, on January fourteenth,
Speaker 1: eighteen ninety three, Lilio Collani presented the draft of the
Speaker 1: proposed constitution to the government's ministers. This version of the
Speaker 1: constitution would increase the number of elected representatives and eliminate
Speaker 1: the property requirements for voters. Non citizen American and European
Speaker 1: residents would lose the right to vote. A massive crowd
Speaker 1: of Native Hawaiians gathered outside in front of Iolani Palace,
Speaker 1: where the meeting was taking place. They were waiting for
Speaker 1: the queen to emerge and proclaim that Hawaii had a
Speaker 1: new constitution, but the weight was taking longer than they expected. Inside,
Speaker 1: the queen's ministers all refused to sign the new constitution,
Speaker 1: believing it would spark unrest. After hours of debate, the
Speaker 1: queen finally gave in, and so when the queen finally
Speaker 1: emerged to the crowd waiting outside, their cheers caught in
Speaker 1: their throats. As soon as they saw her face. Lilio
Speaker 1: Kalani told her people that they should return peacefully to
Speaker 1: their homes. Later, some of the Queen's ministers met with
Speaker 1: the business men to tell them what had happened in
Speaker 1: the palace that day. The informants shared what had been
Speaker 1: in the queen's constitution, how she was building power to
Speaker 1: take back Hawaii. They spoke of the crowd of supporters
Speaker 1: that had come to cheer for her. It was time
Speaker 1: for Lord Thurston and his coterie to strike before they
Speaker 1: lost or chance. Looking at a photo of Lauren A. Thurston,
Speaker 1: he doesn't look like he was born in eighteen fifty eight.
Speaker 1: Take away the old fashioned style of his suit, the
Speaker 1: massive Victorian era, and not in the tie, the narrow lapels,
Speaker 1: and he looks like he could be a stern manager
Speaker 1: at whatever company you work for today. With his full
Speaker 1: but neat beard and slight receiving hairline, he might even
Speaker 1: be considered handsome if it weren't for his black eyes
Speaker 1: and the unsettling intensity of his gaze. Thurston was born
Speaker 1: in Honolulu, the grandson of two American missionaries, two of
Speaker 1: the very first Christian missionaries to Hawaii. He had been
Speaker 1: the one who had written the Bayonet Constitution that Liliuokalani's
Speaker 1: brother had been forced to sign. On January fo Liliuokalani
Speaker 1: proposed her new constitution to her ministers. That very evening,
Speaker 1: after hours in a law office in Honolulu, Lauren Thurston
Speaker 1: gathered twelve elite white businessmen. These thirteen men, all members
Speaker 1: of the Annexation Club, formed a new group, the Committee
Speaker 1: of Safety. Their plan was to gather weapons and raise
Speaker 1: a militia and, with the support of the American military,
Speaker 1: overthrow the Hawaiian monarchy altogether. On January six, the Queen's
Speaker 1: Minister of the Kingdom, Charles Burnett Wilson, received a tip
Speaker 1: that a coup was imminent. He requested arrest warrants for
Speaker 1: the thirteen members of the Committee of Safety, all incredibly wealthy,
Speaker 1: well connected men. Fearing all out warfare, the cabinet denied
Speaker 1: the arrest warrants. The next day, when a native Hawaiian
Speaker 1: policeman tried to inspect crates of weapons that were being
Speaker 1: gathered by the Committee's paramilitary group. He was shot. The
Speaker 1: policeman survived, and his was the only bloodshed in the
Speaker 1: overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. The queen had watched from
Speaker 1: the palace as the USS Boston approached the shore with
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty two marines on board. The U
Speaker 1: S S. Boston had orders to protect American business interests.
Speaker 1: Chaos is bad for business. They would only get involved
Speaker 1: if there was fighting, which sounds well and good, except
Speaker 1: it meant in practice that the queen and her supporters
Speaker 1: were paralyzed, powerless when it came to defending themselves against
Speaker 1: the coming insurrection. Almost five hundred men were rallied to
Speaker 1: protect the queen. The Committee of Safety had fifteen hundred,
Speaker 1: all white and heavily armed. Under the strict gaze of
Speaker 1: the ship of American marines in the harbor, Lalio Kolani surrendered.
Speaker 1: Lauren Thurston made Sanford B. Dole President of the provisional
Speaker 1: Government of Hawaii. The Dole had declined to officially be
Speaker 1: a member of the Committee of Safety that technically overthrew
Speaker 1: the queen. The United States minister who had approved the
Speaker 1: marine presence during the coup, wrote the Secretary of State,
Speaker 1: the Hawaiian pair is now fully ripe, and this is
Speaker 1: the golden hour for the United States to pluck it.
Speaker 1: But unfortunately for the conspirators, something inconvenient was happening in
Speaker 1: the United States a presidential election. Though Benjamin Harrison had
Speaker 1: been eager to annex Hawaii, his successor, Grover Cleveland, was
Speaker 1: staunchly anti imperialist. Cleveland was in his second of his
Speaker 1: two nonconsecutive terms, and upon taking office, he immediately with
Speaker 1: true the treaty for annexation that Benjamin Harrison had sent
Speaker 1: to the Senate. Cleveland also appointed former Congressman James Blount
Speaker 1: to investigate what exactly had happened during the overthrow of
Speaker 1: the Hawaiian monarchy. The results of that report were crystal clear.
Speaker 1: Blount determined that the U. S. Minister to Hawaii had
Speaker 1: landed the U S. S. Boston under false pretenses in
Speaker 1: order to support the coup, and the coup was carried
Speaker 1: out against the wishes of the majority of the Hawaiian population.
Speaker 1: The involvement of the U. S. Military was unauthorized, and
Speaker 1: Queen Liliuokolani should be restored to the throne. In an
Speaker 1: address to Congress, President Cleveland stated that the Hawaiian government
Speaker 1: had been overthrown by quote, an act of war committed
Speaker 1: with the participation of a diplomatic representative of the United
Speaker 1: States and without the authority of Congress. President Cleveland's representative
Speaker 1: met with Lilio Kolani and shared the good news. The
Speaker 1: United States would be willing to help her return to
Speaker 1: the throne under one condition that you give a full
Speaker 1: pardon to the group of conspirators who had tried to
Speaker 1: depose her. Lilio Klani refused. She believed that she would
Speaker 1: need to consult with her counsel and punish the traders,
Speaker 1: most likely with banishment and the confiscation of their property.
Speaker 1: The American representative was aghast. By the time he made
Speaker 1: it back to Washington, the story had become twisted and distorted.
Speaker 1: Propaganda in the papers shifted public opinion until Liliuokalani was
Speaker 1: seen as a dark skinned barbarian queen who wouldn't be
Speaker 1: satisfied until she saw the American businessman beheaded in the streets.
Speaker 1: Lu Kalani wrote about that experience in her memoir about
Speaker 1: hearing second hand that she was calling for beheadings. She wrote,
Speaker 1: there's an old proverb which says that a lie can
Speaker 1: travel around the world while the truth is putting on
Speaker 1: its boots. That offensive charge was repeated to my hurt
Speaker 1: as often as possible, although I immediately sent my protest
Speaker 1: that I had not used the words attributed to me.
Speaker 1: Even so, in order to restore the monarchy, that December,
Speaker 1: Liliuokalani agreed to Cleveland's original terms a full pardon. But
Speaker 1: by then the provisional government had consolidated its hold on
Speaker 1: the islands and Cleveland power when it came to the
Speaker 1: issue of Hawaii had weakened. Congress, controlled by Cleveland. Republican
Speaker 1: foes commissioned their own investigation, the Morgan Report, chaired by
Speaker 1: former Confederate general and Jim Crow proponent John Tyler Morrigan.
Speaker 1: That report concluded that America had done nothing wrong in
Speaker 1: the coup, and so to the American government at least
Speaker 1: the issue was closed. When counter revolutionaries tempted to overthrow
Speaker 1: the new white government, Liliukolani was arrested, her home ransacked
Speaker 1: by soldiers from Garrett to seller. Every drawer wrenched open,
Speaker 1: their contents spilled onto the floor and swept into bags
Speaker 1: for evidence. Though she had not been directly involved in
Speaker 1: the counter revolution, She was brought in front of a
Speaker 1: military court and convicted of misprision of treason, meaning she
Speaker 1: had been aware of potential treason but hadn't reported it.
Speaker 1: Hundreds of her supporters were arrested, and six were scheduled
Speaker 1: to be hanged in order to spare their lives. Liliukolani
Speaker 1: formally abdicated the throne, or so it appeared. When she
Speaker 1: was presented with the formal contract, she signed her name
Speaker 1: as Liliukolani Dominus, her husband's last name, which she had
Speaker 1: never taken legally. It was the only small act of
Speaker 1: rebellion left to the queen, who was always willing to
Speaker 1: sack advice for her people. That might be the end
Speaker 1: of Queen Lilio Collani's reign, but there's still more in
Speaker 1: her story. Stick around after a few brief words from
Speaker 1: our sponsors to hear about it. If the name Dole
Speaker 1: sounded familiar, chances are you're familiar with Sandford's cousin, James Dole.
Speaker 1: James Dole had been about nine years old growing up
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts with his colonial pedigree family. When the monarchy
Speaker 1: in Hawaii was overthrown. When James turned twenty two, he
Speaker 1: decided to move to Hawaii, where his cousin with the
Speaker 1: governor and began the pineapple growing business that blossomed into
Speaker 1: the multinational Doll Food Company. But Lilio Colani has a
Speaker 1: legacy that survives to the modern day as well. You see,
Speaker 1: in addition to being a queen, Lilio Kalani was a
Speaker 1: gifted musician and composer. She sang and played guitar, piano, organ, ukulele,
Speaker 1: and the zither. While imprisoned, Lilio Collani was denied books
Speaker 1: and newspapers, but she continued composing music in transcribing music
Speaker 1: that she had already composed. One of the songs she
Speaker 1: wrote was called Aloha Ai. You almost certainly know it.
Speaker 1: It's been covered by Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley and
Speaker 1: Johnny Cash, But if you're my age, you probably know
Speaker 1: it for a slightly different reason. The instrumental version of
Speaker 1: the song has been used in countless episodes of one
Speaker 1: of America's most popular cultural exports. A certain cartoon character
Speaker 1: who lives under the sea in a pineapple doll or
Speaker 1: otherwise SpongeBob SquarePants. The song aloha Ai was inspired when
Speaker 1: Lilio Collani saw a and some Hawaiian colonel embracing a
Speaker 1: young woman after the coup, when Hawaii went from a
Speaker 1: monarchy to a republic, and then from a territory to
Speaker 1: a state. For many, the song became a more meaningful
Speaker 1: ballad mourning for the loss of Hawaii as it had
Speaker 1: been in English. The title of Lohai translates to farewell
Speaker 1: to the one fond embrace before I depart until we
Speaker 1: meet again. Noble Blood is a co production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Aaron Minkey. The show was written and
Speaker 1: hosted by Dana Schwartz and produced by Aaron Mankey, Matt Frederick,
Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Trevor Young. Noble Blood is on social
Speaker 1: media at Noble Blood Tales, and you can learn more
Speaker 1: about the show over at Noble blood Tales dot com.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows. H