Chinese Witness Was Lynched in the Honomu Murder Case

In January 1889, the principal Chinese witness in the Honomu murder case was attacked near the plantation and died from his injuries. The Hawaiian Gazette reported that he was “lynched by his countrymen” and that police were pursuing suspects in what the paper called another case of “Highbinders’ law.” The killing appears to have been retaliation against a witness rather than a public spectacle lynching.