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87 cHApter 4 “e paa oukou” (You hold it) Charging Queen Lili‘uokalani with Insanity and “Holding” the Trust Intact In 1915, Prince Kūhiō put forth a bill of complaint that charged Queen Lili‘uokalani with mental incompetence, escalating the fight for the Queen’s private property through what I call the “insanity trials.”1 This attack from within her own inner circle of family and friends was launched through western and American institutional forces that had been separating the Queen from her lands, and Hawaiians from place, resulting in a dismemberment of the parts from the whole. Questioning the Queen’s mental capacity was part of the larger project of deligitimizing the entire social structure and multigenerationalepistemologysheembodied .Ifthesovereignisproveninsane,thePapa/ Wākea narrative, the Kumulipo, and other creation chants are rendered illegitimate , because the Queen is the embodiment of a genealogy that is allinclusive and expansive. The insanity trials were an attempt to sever and make suspect this embodiment. Like the references to her as ex-Queen Lili‘uokalani, the insanity trials leveled the Queen. But can genealogy and generations of knowing really be “ex-ed”?Throughdiscursivepractices,theinsanitytrialscontinuedtheproject of keeping at bay the “restless ghosts of the national past,”2 as the policing powers of the usurping state once again intervened in the Queen’s private affairs. And nothing is more private than one’s mental state. Curtis P. Iaukea’s handwritten chapters, which I found in the basement of the state archives some eighty years after their composition, confirmed that my ancestor wanted the story of the Queen’s trust deed, and the defense of this trust in court to be told. The 1915 bill of complaint consists of well over 88 . “e pAA oukou” (you HolD it) one thousand pages of court documents and supporting testimonies. The magnitude of this case, and the multiplicity of voices and actors appearing in these papers, make it impossible to cover every aspect of the complaint here, so I will focus on key moments and details. My own voice punctuates this account of complicated legal texts, as I, and Hawaiians as a community, are fully implicated in these legal acts of nā kūpuna (our ancestors). And indeed one thing is certain—Queen Lili‘uokalani’s personal life was implicated in the larger social narrative, and the intertwining forces of ka ‘āina and mana informed the legal and interpersonal proceedings. I begin with a lengthy reflection on the case, by Curtis P. Iaukea. In this manuscript, he draws from Judge Humphreys. The late Queen Liliuokalani’s Deed of Trust with her last Will and Testament— And Revelations Behind the Scene. Pending the preparation of the trust deed and will, and details incident thereto which took all of the ensuing six days to complete for submission to the Queen, let me digress a bit and give my readers an insight into the workings and manipulations that went on within the Queen’s own family circle relative to the disposition of her property, with particular stress on “Washington Place.” Under the Queen’s last will and testament, then under revision as afore mentioned , the historic home and mansion was given to John Dominis Aimoku, namesake of Governor John O. Dominis, the Queen’s deceased husband, and from whom the property descended. As a matter of fact and within the knowledge of many then living and intimate with the family, John Aimoku was Governor Dominis ’ son, born through unlawful wedlock. To this, and the mere thought of having the old and historic Home which had been officially known and recognized as “Washington Place,” and named after the First President of the United States, turned into a private home, after the Queen’s demise, for the use and occupation of one who was not legally entitled to it, the Prince and heir at law of the Queen, Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, made strenuous objection. Saying to the Queen, in my presence, that unless she left and devoted the Home in such a way as to keep up the memory and sanctity of the place and promises for some beneficent and public purpose, he, as next of kin, would move and take steps to set aside her last will and testament. What the Prince threatened to do, only added fuel to the fire. For the Queen, from that time on, determined to adhere to what she had already decided on. To make a long story short, and notwithstanding all that was said and discussed about [18.118...

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