JAP’S CRIME

Hokitika Guardian, 25 September 1928, Page 5

JAP’S CRIME

HIS MOTIVE EXPLAINED. AMBITION TO BE 4 NOVELIST. (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright}. v v HONOLULU, Sept. 23. The ! youth Fukunaga told a press correspondent that the principal mo—tive of his crime .was to make “my parents happy.” He explained that ‘ he had. planned to collect the ransoniV and then to migrate to California and * to return to Honolulu after some ’ months, saying that he had made a" fortune there, and then send his par-? ents to Japan, where they always , dreamed of going. Then, when his 1 parents were comfortably settled he intended to surrender himself to the i authorities. ■ 1 -1 He said: “I choose the Hawaiian ? Trust, instead of the other banks, be- ’ cause I felt that that company has oppressed my parents, but it was just a freak of my picking on Jameson.” Fukunaga told of his y boyhood dreams of becoming the author of love stories with plenty of adventure. He added that his religion was 4 e * rived from Nature—“ All beautiful things.” . * • ’ -v

FUKUNAGA’S LITERARY HISTORY CRIME PLANNED CAREFULLY. . HONOLULU, §ept. 2j. The Japanese ycuthV i Ihikunaga’s confession revealed’ his premeditation since last. The player,, ?said that when he was employed at, a r seaside' hotel, ;he discovered . a secluded spot in some brush nearby.. •, -He thought it would he tfine ph|ce to commit some crime. The. youth? frequently retired to thisf spot to read. Later on, he murdered the hoy, Gile Jameson there. ' - '■■■■'■ ' , It has been revealed that through * his wide reading of. fiction, poetry and biography, Fdkunaga is able to re-U| peat long passages from Shakespeare and other poets from memory. He . had also read Robert Louis Steven- * son’s “Kidnapped.” and neivs stories .. of the Loeb-Leppold crime, tbe Hiok- y man murder arid other crimes, which he admitted had influenced ihiin in the details of his crime. He had never read the Bible, but wrote on his . ransom f letter forgive them! They know not what they do!” v This was thesub-title in yay cinema , film of “Ben Hur.’ ? ? ‘ - . '■ Fukunaga said that" -he the signature “Three Kings” which he appended to his ransom letter and other communications, from a. pigarette package found hear theyscene of . the crime. . ... r . . t -• j The motive of the crime appeapd somewhat obscure, but fie said that 1 he first conceived the crime when the Hawaiian Trust Coy., of which the boy’s father, Mr Jameson, is VicePresident, pressed his father for rent. He also said that he wanted money to send his parents to Japan. The officers found Fukunaga in a room with an entire plan of the crime, y which was evidently earefuliy pre- . pared. He killed the hoy about one hour after abducting him, and neady twelve hours before collecting the ransom. • ‘ ‘ • ‘ • The youth said that ,he killed the hoy because he bad to.. 'kidnappings have never been successful without killing,” 4Pufcuna^..; ; ihsisted. The . Japanese insisted, that he was sane. ; Physicians also admitted him. , to be sane, buti to be emotionally | unstable.,-' ' .. ;'• . y. s , £* . There, is every indication of jthe ,y speedy trial and the hanging of Fukn-O riaga if he is convicted. : The slayer was calm, but he now .y continually repeats the words , “I’m sorry!”'/.- * ” His teachers recalled the Japanese ,y as‘ being a brilliant student.