One of the many arrested was Aloha ‘Āina leader, Joseph K. Nāwahī. On Dec. 9, 1894 an arrest and search warrant was executed on his estate. The republic accused him of hiding guns and “wickedly devising and intending to levy war against the Republic of Hawai‘i”**. Held in jail without bail for two months, Nāwahī contracted tuberculosis and later died.
A January 1895 attempt to restore the queen, led by Robert Wilcox, would result in the arrest of dozens of Royalist leaders, supporters, and also the Queen herself. On January 16, Queen Lili‘uokalani was placed under arrest by the Republic of Hawai‘i for misprision of treason. She and this group of her closest supporters and friends faced the ultimate penalty of death. The Queen would later write in her book Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen: “The only charge against me really was that of being a queen; and my case was judged by these, my adversaries, before I came to court.” At trial, the Queen was found guilty and sentenced to the maximum penalty of five years of hard labor and a fine of $5,000. Queen Lili‘uokalani was imprisoned for eight months in a single room on the second floor of ‘Iolani Palace. She spent the next five months under house arrest at Washington Place until she was pardoned on October 23, 1896. The Republic had managed to keep the Queen from actively seeking recognition of her right to rule, but upon her release, she would travel to Washington D.C. where she and other Po‘e Aloha ‘Āina (patriots) would successfully lobby against passage of the second treaty of annexation.
*Provisional Government Meeting Minutes. Dec.14, 1893 Vol.4, p.25. Hawai‘i State Archives.
**Warrant of Arrest. John E. Bush and Joseph Nawahi. Criminal Case Record #2106. First Circuit. Hawai‘i State Archives.
Location: Bishop Museum Archives
Call Number: SP 201837