This date in 1881 saw the hanging of a native Hawaiian named Po’olua for a homicide of domestic jealousy tinged by almost tragic remorse.

This case is described in the 1991 essay “A Short History of Hawaiian Executions, 1826-1947” by Joseph Theroux.

In 1881, the Hawaiian [Po’olua] grew enraged when his when his common-law wife, according to the papers, “paraded her infidelity” before him and slaughtered her with a “big butcher knife.” Then, in a fit of remorse, he draped his house in mourning with black crepe paper.

… The experts of the day — family doctors and preachers — were conducted in to interview the bewildered man. They questioned him and concluded that he was not insane. Po’olua himsel agreed that he was sane but “darkened in my mind.” … the Reverend H.H. Parker explained the man’s actions this way: “A Hawaiian would do many things which a white man would not.”

When it as found that Po’olua had a heart abnormality and that he would likely die soon anyway, letters of clemency were circulated on his behalf. But he was hanged on May 20, 1881. Permission was sought for a post mortem to investigate the state of his heart, but officials denied the request. The Advertiser remarked that it “should have been done. Being attended to, might have laid him quiet in his grave; but being forbidden, his spirit will rise up Banquo-like for many a day to come.”

On this day..

• 1527: Hans Hergot, immovable type
• 1952: Jan Bula, Czechoslovakian priest
• Feast Day of St. Baudilus
• 1622: Sultan Osman II
• 1691: Mark Baggot, Jacobite spy
• 1799: Simon Taylor, for indulging in drunkenness
• 1795: Ignac Martinovics and the Magyar Jacobins
• 2001: An adult actress stoned to death in Evin prison
• 1943: Wilhelm H., pensioner and vandal
• 1987: Edward Earl Johnson, "I guess nobody is going to call"
• 2001: Zhang Jun and his gang
• 1820: Karl Ludwig Sand, a curious strand of German history