Jere Krischel at 08:44, 5 February 2006

2006-02-05T08:44:25Z

Ken Conklin at 09:02, 4 February 2006

2006-02-04T09:02:10Z

Jere Krischel at 05:12, 12 December 2005

2005-12-12T05:12:07Z

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104(5 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
Mr. REEDER. NO; I was not in the Government building; 1 was
there in the vicinity.
The CHAIRMAN. At what time did you first get the impression that
the political movement that had been started in Hawaii or in Honolulu
would result in dethroning the Queen and the establishment of a new
government?
Mr. REEDER. I had no means of knowing. Things moved along
pretty rapidly. I had no means of knowing when that point arrived—
when she would be dethroned.
The CHAIRMAN. That does not answer my question. I want to know
when you first heard the rumor that there .was a movemeut on foot to
dethrone the Queen.
Mr. REEDER. 1 absolutely did not get that impression until Tuesday;
it did not develop itself until Tuesday, the 17th.
The CHAIRMAN. What was the information which you received on
Tuesday, which you say led you to the conclusion that there was a
revolution on foot which would result in dethroning the Queen?
Mr. REEDER. On Tuesday the proclamation for a new government
was read.
The CHAIRMAN. Was that the first information that you had about
it?
Mr. REEDER. I had been keeping track of it all along, but that was
the first information that I secured that was evidence to me that the
Queen was to be dethroned.
The CHAIRMAN. I suppose you would say that that was the first time
you believed or felt that the movement was really a serious one?
Mr. REEDER. Yes; that was the first time.
The CHAIRMAN. Although, I believe from your statements, you bad
heard some intimations of it or discussion about it?
Mr. REEDER. NO; I heard no intimation.
The CHAIRMAN. Nothing at all?
Mr. REEDER. Nothing at all; because the meetings of the committee
of safety were kept secret, and at that meeting on Monday afternoon at
2 o'clock there were certain speeches made in which there was not an
intimation of any kind that I could gather that they were designing
anything of that kind.
The CHAIRMAN. YOU heard those speeches!
Mr. REEDER. Not all of them.
The CHAIRMAN. You heard some?
Mr. REEDER. Yes.
The CHAIRMAN. Did you mix in the crowd?
Mr. REEDER. I was around and amongst the crowd. .
The CHAIRMAN. How many English-speaking people did you hear
converse?
Mr. REEDER. Tliere were two meetings. You are speaking of the
one conducted on the part of the revolutionists?
The CHAIRMAN. Yes.
Mr. REEDER. They were pretty much all English-speaking people.
The CHAIRMAN. You did not gather, if I understand you correctly,
at that meeting, from speeches or conversations that you heard in the
crowd, that the movement to dethrone the Queen at the time of that
meeting was a serious one?
Mr. REEDER. NO; I did not gather that they had determined on that
project at that time. In fact, tliere was nothing said of it in the seven
speeches. After the seven speeches, all went along in the line of complaints.
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 1047
The CHAIRMAN. Of what?
Mr. REEDER. Complaints that the Government of the Queen was
not a suitable Government; that she had been refusing all along to
keep within bounds of the authority of the constitution.
The CHAIRMAN. Of the constitution of 1887?
Mr. REEDER. Of 1887—that there had been, I think they said, seven
uprisings in five years of one kind or another—I could not particularize
what they were, and that the Government was not a stable one; that
she could not give one; that there was too much friction. That was
the line of the speeches.
The CHAIRMAN. Hid you hear any statements made by the speakers,
or did the persons in the crowd make any, to the effect that the Queen
had attempted to abrogate the constitution of 1887 and substitute for
it one of her own ?
Mr. REEDER. I heard nothing except what grew out of the talk.
She got up on the portico of Iolani palace-
The CHAIRMAN. You did not hear that; you were not there.
Mr. REEDER. YOU are speaking of what I know personally?
Senator GRAY. And impressions that you gathered from actual contact
with the people.
The CHAIRMAN. In this public meeting, in this crowd in which you
mixed, did you hear any statement as to a matter of fact that the
Queen had attempted to abrogate the constitution of 1887 and substitute
for it one of her own getting up?
Mr. REEDER. Yes; that was the talk in that meeting—that was part
of the complaint.
The CHAIRMAN. Was there any complaint in those speeches about
the opium bill and the lottery bill?
Mr. REEDER. Yes, they were talked of, too.
The CHAIRMAN. Was anything said about voting out the cabinet?
Mr. REEDER. Yes, that was talked of, too. That was part of the
complaint.
The CHAIRMAN. A sort of enumeration of grievances?
Mr. REEDER. Yes. The speeches were not very long. The whole
meeting did not last to exceed an hour and a half. They opened at 2
o'clock and adjourned at a half after 3.
The CHAIRMAN. That was before you formed a definite conclusion
that there was to be a revolution there?
Mr. REEDER. Yes. I was not informed that they were going to overturn
the Government. On Tuesday afternoon I came to the conclusion
that there was going to be something done. As I understood it, they
read from the steps of the Government building this proclamation
Senator FRYE. Were you there?
Mr. REEDER. NO ; I was not right there.
The CHAIRMAN. Were you out in view of Iolani Palace at the time
the Queen was up on the palace somewhere, the portico, and presented
some constitution and made some speech to her people?
Mr. REEDER. I was near there, but I could not understand the language;
she did not present a constitution; she made a speech.
The CHAIRMAN. Was there a large crowd about the Queen at that
time?
Mr. REEDER. The crowd in both places seemed just about alike as
to numbers.
The CHAIRMAN. I spoke of that occasion. Was there a large crowd
about Iolani Palace at the time the Queen appeared on the portico—
whatever j^ou may call it?

Template:1046-1047 - Revision history

Jere Krischel at 08:44, 5 February 2006

Ken Conklin at 09:02, 4 February 2006

Jere Krischel at 05:12, 12 December 2005