Thalia Fortescue Massie (1911–1963) was a member of a socially prominent family who became the genesis of a series of heavily publicized trials in Hawaii.
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Thalia Fortescue was born February 14, 1911 in Washington, DC. Her mother was Grace Hubbard Fortescue (1883–1979) and father was Granville Roland Fortescue (1875–1952). She married Navy lieutenant Thomas Hedges Massie (1905–1987) who was stationed at Pearl Harbor.
In September, 1931, Thalia Massie was found by a passing car, driven by Eustace Bellinger, wandering along Ala Moana Road in Honolulu at about 1 am on a Sunday morning. She had been beaten and had suffered a broken jaw after being abducted while leaving a party at a nearby Japanese Tea House. When questioned by Bellinger and his passenger George Clark, Jr., she stated that a group of 5 or 6 Hawaiian boys had assaulted her. Later at the hospital she claimed to police that she had been raped as well as assaulted, although the evidence did not entirely support the rape claim.[1]
Subsequently, five young men, Horace Ida, Henry Chang, Joseph Kahahawai, Benny Ahakuelo, and David Takai, two of Hawaiian ancestry, two of Japanese ancestry, and one of half Chinese/Hawaiian ancestry were initially arrested for assaulting a Hawaiian woman, Agnes Peeples, earlier that same night and they were later charged with the rape of Massie. Joseph Kahahawai, a boxer, admitted to the earlier assault on Peeples, whom he had slugged and knocked over during a road rage incident at King and Liliha Streets, but all defendants denied having been involved in the assault on Mrs. Massie. The men were represented by two of the foremost criminal lawyers in the islands, William Heen and William B. Pittman, and the mixed race jury deadlocked along racial lines. The five defendants were released on bail to await retrial at a later date.
Thalia's mother, Grace Fortescue, was deeply disturbed by the release of the defendants and many U.S. Navy personnel at Pearl Harbor were outraged. A short time later, Joseph Kahahawai was abducted when leaving the courthouse after a probation hearing and was found shot dead in the back seat of Grace Fortescue's car. Defended by attorney Clarence Darrow, of the Scopes Monkey Trial fame, Fortescue, Thalia's husband Thomas Massie, and two Navy sailors were eventually tried and convicted of manslaughter in the death of Kahahawai. Originally sentenced to 10 years, their sentence was commuted to one hour in the executive chambers of Governor Lawrence Judd of the Territory of Hawaii.
The commutation of Fortescue's sentence was perceived by native Hawaiians and other citizens as a gross miscarriage of justice in the Territory. Thalia's dubious claim of rape and the subsequent events were seminal in strengthening the labor-union movement in Hawaii and in inspiring concerned citizens to form the Hawaii Democratic Party.
Thomas and Thalia Massie divorced on February 23, 1934 in Reno, Nevada. Thalia died of an overdose of barbiturate pills[2] in Palm Beach, Florida on July 3, 1963.[1]
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Gardiner Greene Hubbard (1822–1897) |
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Gertrude McCurdy (1827–1909) |
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Cornelius Roosevelt (1794-1871) |
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| Charles Bell (born 1858) |
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Roberta Hubbard (1859-1885) |
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Mabel Hubbard (1857–1923) |
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A. G. Bell (1847–1922) |
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Robert Roosevelt (1829–1906) |
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Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. (1831–1878) |
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Grace Hubbard Fortescue (1883–1979) |
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"Rolly" Fortescue (1875–1952) |
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Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) |
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Thomas H. Massie (1905–1987) |
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Thalia Massie (1911–1963 ) |
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Julian Louis Reynolds (born 1910) |
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Helene Whitney (1914–1990) |
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