At least 15 modern writers, some serious historians, perpetuate a narrative of the last Hawaiian King falling out with sugar tycoon Claus Spreckels over a card game. The story is debunked here in this longform post.
The Poker Breakup legend negatively impacts the legacy of Hawaiian King David Kalākaua. The story happened during a critical time in his reign. The break with Spreckels has historical significance and indirectly led to the loss of the King’s exclusive sovereign powers, and eventually cost the Hawaiians their independence. 135 years later, it’s time to stop disparaging Kalākaua with poorly conceived yarns.
Hawaiian King David Kalākaua (right)in his boathouse with Robert Lewis Stephenson (center). Chips at the center of the card table. Photo Feb 1889 by published by Kenneth Alexander (public domain photo)
Authors of history should avoid repeating the rumors as an explanation for the breaking of the relationship between the two men. It is speculative, and likely false based on the evidence, including a near identical card story from one month earlier which put the King in a much better light.
The Spreckels stories have been presented by scholars as ‘oral tradition’ or ‘persistent legend’. They are implausible at best. Their colorful imagery leaves the reader with an oversimplified and inaccurate image of David Kalākaua, which is reinforced by the existing unbalanced texts regarding the king. The racist tropes about Hawaiians and their leaders made it easier to steal their kingdom.
Dr. Tiffany Lang Ing detailed the one-sided legacy of David Kalākaua and offered balance from alternative and Hawaiian Language sources in her 2019 book Reclaiming Kalākaua.
“A close study of contemporary international and American newspaper accounts and other narratives about Kalākaua, many highly favorable, results in a more nuanced and wide-ranging characterization of the mō‘ī as a public figure. Most importantly, virtually none of the existing nineteenth-, twentieth-, and twenty-first-century texts about Kalākaua consults contemporary Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) sentiment for him.” -from the publisher.
Unfortunately, there are no less than 15 examples of the reproduction of versions of the Spreckels card game story. As it continues to be repeated by respected authors of history, the truth is lost. Some authors are more careful than others. In recounting the event, Julia Flynn Siler in Lost Kingdom uses the term ‘apocryphal’, meaning a story or statement of doubtful authenticity, although widely circulated as being true.
In some cases, the stories are not presented as rumors, but facts. A prime example is this disparaging commentary from 2014’s Captive Paradise a History of Hawaii by James L. Haley page 258:
“He had proved himself a capable representative of the kingdom when abroad, but at home he was a profligate gambler and capacious drinker who should have been more careful about the friends he kept. He finally parted with Claus Spreckels, not over Spreckels’s near-monopoly on the sugar industry, but because one night at cards when Kalākaua demanded to know where a missing king was, Spreckels carelessly remarked that he was the other king. It was an expensive divorce, but the king obtained it.”
The story almost always paints San Franciscan, and German immigrant Claus Spreckels as more clever, and the king as easily insulted.
Stories of card playing were fertile ground for newspaper readers for over one hundred years. In the late 1800s, Poker was described as America’s pastime before baseball. Embellishments were certainly part of the tradition.
The record supports David Kalākaua as an avid card player and gambler on boat races, horses etc. Stories of his exploits at poker and euchre were a popular subject of news stories from at least 1874. He gambled large sums, often while drinking large quantities of alcohol and smoking at his royal boathouse. Most recollections and contemporary references noted his gentlemanly ways, what a good loser he was, how he did not hold grudges, and how he was skilled at the finer points of the games, especially when he was sober.
“Kalakaua loved to play poker with men that he liked. He was a game loser and he was one of the most un-argumentative men imaginable when disputes arose as to the finer points of the game. He simply would not argue, and he invariably passed the pot over to the man of an argumentative disposition. not in an aggressive way, calculated to make the other fellow feel small for taking the money, but cheerfully and courteously. And that's one of the reasons that I always considered Kalakaua a high-grade man and a proper gentleman.” Dr. Edward Bedlow, US Consol to Canton via NY Telegraph April 1900
The more he drank, the bolder his bets, and the more he lost. He was often described as winning as much as he lost, but as his finances were strained late in his reign, he often issued IOUs rather than paying his gambling debts at the tables, which became collectors items. The Washington Post Sunday, February 12, 1905 , pg43 The Washington Times 05 Jan 1902, Sun Page 11
Card table opponents of Kalākaua mentioned in the press include Claus Spreckels, W.H. McInerny, Chun Afong, Conrad Hansen, Elijah Dumbees, Robert Garratt, Paul Neumann, Sam Parker, a Minstrel named Richards, Capt. Charles Burbank, Billy Emerson and Robert Lewis Stevenson.
Stories of being bested by Claus Spreckels were rumored in two different eras of Kalākaua’s reign. One was that Spreckels acquired Crown lands via card bet with the King. The second was at the break of his relationship with Spreckels in 1886, which eventually led to Kalākaua being forced to accept the Bayonet Constitution in 1887.
Two prominent historians lent credibility to the rumors by printing them but prefacing them as legends in their histories. Jacob Adler, the author of Claus Spreckels The Sugar King in Hawaii 1966 mentions both rumors. Gavan Daws, the author of the best-seller Shoal of Time a Hawaiian History 1974, has given the latter story credibility. Later authors cite these two very respected historians and repeat the stories as rumors or facts to explain the fallout between Claus Spreckels and King David Kalākaua. Here are some examples of texts that include the stories:
1) Claus Spreckels Sugar King in Hawaii 1966 Jacob Adler pg. 30
2) Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands - Page 232 Gavan Daws · 1974
3) Poker & Pop Culture: Telling the Story of America's Favorite Card Game Martin Harris 2019 page 27
4) The World That Trade Created: Society, Culture and the World ...2014 Kenneth Pomeranz, Steven Topik · pg 145
5) California Rich-The Lives, the Times, the Scandals, and the Fortunes of the Men & Women Who Made & Kept California's Wealth By Stephen Birmingham · 2016
6) To Steal a Kingdom - Page 159 Michael Dougherty · 1992
7) The Fantastic Life of Walter Murray Gibson: Hawaii's ... - Jacob Adler, Robert M. Kamins 1986 page 227
8) Waikiki Beachnik - Page 236 Harry Allen Smith · 1961
9) Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America's First Imperial Venture Julia Flynn Siler · 2012
10) Kalakaua: Renaissance King - Page 134 Helena G. Allen · 1995
11) Dolphin Guide to Hawaii - Page 206
12) Hawaii: An Informal History -Gerrit Parmele Judd · 1961 Page 98
13) Captive Paradise a History of Hawaii by James L. Haley page 258
14) Empire Builder, John D. Spreckels and the Making of San Diego Sandra Bonura 2019, page 31
15) Claus Spreckels: Robber Baron and Sugar King Uwe Spiekermann Immigrant Entreprenuership
http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entries/claus-spreckels-robber-baron-and-sugar-king/ German Historical Institute June 7, 2011
The Suspect Stories:
Story 1, Admirals and Euchre. First published by the Associated Press as part of sympathetic long-form life history at the death of Claus Spreckels in 1908, 22 years after the actual event:
The Quarrel With Kalākaua
The incidents in connection with the quarrel between Claus Spreckels and King Kalākaua, although frequently related by those who were present and knew the facts, have never been published. They are these, showing that events of historic importance can originate in things of no moment in themselves. The King, Claus Spreckels and two admirals visiting in port, an American and a Britisher, were engaged in a game of euchre at the home of a mutual friend, in 1886. The relations between the two principal characters had been strained a trifle that afternoon, Spreckels having been negotiating with the King for the control of the city wharves, the city waterworks and the city lighting franchise, in exchange for which he had agreed to renew tne loan he had made to the Kingdom of $600,000 and increase it to a million.
The King, for the first time in their relations, had demurred. They were good friends yet, however, and partners against the admirals in the card game. In the course of the play, while Berger's Royal Hawaiians played outside, Spreckels had dealt to him a hand containing three kings, an ace and one smaller card. Turning it towards one of the admirals, he remarked: "If this were poker I have the winning hand here."
The admiral had three aces in-his own hand and jestingly offered to bet, at the same time showing his hand. "My four kings would still win over your aces." said Spreckels. "Where is the fourth "king!" asked Kalākaua. . "I am the fourth king," answered, the Sugar King, while just then, as Kalākaua rose, angered at being slighted, the Berger musicians struck up "God Save the King" and Spreckels bowed to the band leader.
Kalākaua broke up the game end left the house, attended by Colonel George Macfarlane, his chamberlain. That night the two “consulted”. The next morning a loan bill was introduced into the Legislature, and, is spite of Spreckels' opposition, the measure carried and Colonel Macfarlane left on the next steamer for London to float the loan. From that time on, for a couple of years, there was active hostility between Kalakaua and Claus Spreckels.
Story 2, Poker: First published in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin Honolulu, Hawaii Sat, 24 Aug 1935 as “Adventures in Hawaiian History number 21- Kalākaua the Merry Monarch” By Donald Biliam Walker mimics the earlier story, but shifts the game to poker.
From the section: -Poker Was a Passion
“The stakes ran high at the boat-house. Such might be on-horses, such might he on anything which struck the fancy and upon which wagers could, be laid. More often than not,' though, it was on' cards, poker particularly. Kalākauas fondness for poker was almost a passion and many are the tales told about the games in which he sat. It is said that in one night's play, Spreckels once lost $85,000 to Kalākaua. But don't worry about Spreckels--you may be sure, that he got if back one way or another. One of. the most widely told. of the Kalākaua poker tales has a good many versions. The general run of this tale is to the effect that once in a round table game, the stakes mounting high, all players dropped out except Kalakaua and Spreckels. When the call was made, Spreckels laid down four aces. Kalākaua laid down his cards four kings then started to gather in the chips and cash. Spreckels remonstrated. Kalakaua replied: "Five kings beat four aces any day. Four kings in my hand and as for - the fifth king, well, that's me."
Billiam-Walker, the author of this piece was not a historian. At the time he was 23 year-old reporter, born in England, the son of the first Episcopal Deacon in Hawaii and raised in Hawi on the Big Island. The history series he authored was a continuation of a popular series of recollections of Emma Ahuena Taylor. Taylor’s recollections as a young girl of the court helped to cement a popular revival of Hawaiian history started by George Carter, Ralph Kuykendall, and Emma Taylor’s late husband A.P. Taylor. The early 20th-century historians used sources not accessible to Forander and Alexander who documented Hawaiian history in the prior generation. Ahuena’s tales did meet with some criticism for not being disciplined history. One notable objector was the sister of the Rebel and Congressional Representative Robert Wilcox who called out Ahuena for imbalanced reporting in regard to her brother.
Billiam-Walker also married the daughter of Henri Berger, the 50-year veteran band leader of the Royal Hawaiian band who would also have been able to contribute secondary recollections.
A version of Story 1, Admirals and Euchre appears in both Shoal of Time and in Claus Spreckels The Sugar King in Hawaii. Both are near word-for-word repeats of the 1908 story. There are several reasons to dispute this story by the clues given in the text.
1) The appearance of admiral(s),
2) The timing of the break with Spreckels,
3) The legislative record and newspaper editorials that frequently used the reference of Spreckels as king,
4) The rules of euchre
5) The existence of a very similar report with another card player one month prior to the rumored game.
These reasons support the premise that these ‘legends’ are not the proper building blocks to explain the motives of Kalākaua at this critical time. The stories also perpetuate the racist caricatures of David Kalākaua, overemphasizing the impact of gambling on his stewardship of his kingdom over a more nuanced view of the King.
1) Limited visits by Admiralty: As an island nation, the comings and goings of important people were recorded in the ship’s logs and newspapers. This makes the identification of time easier to pinpoint. In addition, as a naval rank, Admirals are rare. There was a visit by British Admiral Michael Seymour on May 10, 1886, with the RBMS Triumph. This was when Claus Spreckels was in Honolulu, but well before the final loan legislation was introduced. If there was a euchre game in 1886 this was the timing. The only other admiral reported to visit the islands in 1886 was Russian Admiral Shestakoff in September with Spreckels in SF. (The Honolulu Advertiser Honolulu, Hawaii 11 May 1886, Tue Page 3) Research has not uncovered a period of two admirals simultaneously being in Hawaii in 1886. The story as told in 1908 also has the loan bill written and passed “the next morning” and McFarlane immediately sailing off to London…
2) Timing of break: Kalākaua and Spreckels continued to work together after the May Admiral visit, proving they could not have broken up over a euchre game in May with the Admiral. Here are several examples proving the continued working relationship between the men:
a. Claus Spreckels claimed that Kalākaua had wanted to borrow $10 million to raise a standing army and navy. Spreckels lectured Noble Samuel Parker and Speaker of the House John Lota Kaulukou that the king could not afford the $600,000 in annual interest on such a large loan. “I told them to tell the King from me that I would rather see him going barefoot, as an independent King, than to see him rolling in luxury for a few years and then to find his kingdom slipping from under his feet.”
Several districts, including Lorrin Thurson’s on Molokai offered resolutions condemning the concept of a $10 million loan. This notice of the resolution was presented in the Daily Honolulu Press on Mon, May 10, 1886, as having been introduced on the 9th. Since the Triumph arrived with the Admiral on the 10th, and was reported on the 11th, the proposed loan, and opposition were well known before the card game could have taken place.
b. Gibson’s budget in May contemplated a loan of $2,000,000. Spreckels intervened and there were sudden calls for economy from the King. (Adler)
c. Spreckels threw a dinner party aboard his ship, the steamer Australia with the King and many of the legislators, but with Lorrin Thurston and Walter Minister Murray Gibson notably absent. When he made his speech, Claus called for thrift. He also had his attorney John Dare give the toast to the women. His friends William Irwin and Paul Neumann also spoke. (Daily Honolulu Press Honolulu, Hawaii 01 Jun 1886, Tue Page 3)
d. By the end of June, Kalākaua had replaced his cabinet again, this time with Spreckels SF friends Dare and Creighton. It was apparent to everyone that Kalākaua had been influenced by Spreckels. The Gazette printed: “…It does not seem likely on the face of it that Mr. Gibson spent very much time in persuading Mr. Creighton who had taken out his letters of denization it is aid on June 29th or Mr. Dare who came here with as he said promises of preferment to become members of the reconstructed “Spreckels Alien Cabinet”. It was pure unadulterated cheek to try to palm off upon the people of this country so brazen a falsehood. The object however was not for this country It was for abroad. Mr. Spreckels left for Maui last Tuesday having arranged this little shuffle of the knaves in the pack to suit himself. He wants to be able to say, “The change came in my absence”. It is an old trick but it is too old. It is played out. Is Spreckels going to rule the Islands?” (The Hawaiian Gazette Honolulu, Hawaii 06 Jul 1886, Tue Page 4)
Spreckels and Kalākaua had their falling out in the Fall of 1886, not in May
a. After the June change of cabinet influenced by Spreckels, Gibson adjusted his budget and the loan disappeared from the discussion.
b. Claus left Hawaii at the end of July, comfortable that his friends were in the cabinet, with a promise from Gibson the loan issue was dead. The King and Queen and the Royal Hawaiian band saw them off. But while he sailed home, he passed H.R. Armstrong in the ocean. Armstrong came as a result of a letter from Gibson in March. Abraham Hoffnung, had sold his company to Skinner & Co and they were ready to put a syndicate together in London to float a Hawaiian loan as suggested before Gibson and the King had their minds changed. Without Spreckels presence to argue against it, and the King’s affinity for the English, Armstrong spent considerable time with the King at luaus and Royal breakfasts. (The Honolulu Advertiser Honolulu, Hawaii Thu, Jul 29, 1886 Page 2), (Adler)
c. Gibson had promised Spreckels the loan idea was dead, so he dithered. But the King now clearly wanted a London loan and Noble McFarlane helped draft a new loan bill authorizing the borrowing at the end of August. The king signed the legislation. McFarlane sailed immediately and met with Spreckels and Armstrong in San Francisco. At the meeting, Spreckels did not lose his temper and agreed to take some of the loan if he could have some favorable amendments to the bill. Shortly after, Claus obviously had second thoughts and got back on a steamer.
d. On October 2, Spreckels was back in Hawaii to argue to take the whole loan. Kalākaua welcomed him and awarded him the insignia of a Grand Officer of the Order of Kapiolani, at a ceremony with his partner William Irwin. Honolulu Advertiser Honolulu, Hawaii Fri, Oct 08, 1886 Page 2
e. Claus argued that the British bankers were not working for free and with the syndicate fee of 5% the loans would cost the kingdom more. (Claus would be proven right. With the market discount and the fee, the Government would eventually get 10% less than the principal amount of the loan.) The Brits wanted recourse debt. Claus was an unsecured creditor and he wanted certain protections if they wouldn’t give him the entire loan. He used Dare to write a third amendment of the bill backed by Creighton. Gibson was caught between the King and Spreckels. He owed his loyalty to the King and he owed Spreckels $35,000.
f. When Dare’s amendment was debated in the legislature, Hawaiian members openly wondered why Spreckels was dictating terms. The critics of the administration, led by Thurston, also wanted to reduce Claus’ influence. The amendment was defeated on the strength of the argument that there should be only one king and “The Millionaire” needed to be stopped. Creighton and Dare and the rest of the cabinet resigned that evening. Gibson who begged for reappointment never enjoyed the same stature. Spreckels returned all of his decorations and left Honolulu in a huff, without the band or the King to send him off. Evening Bulletin Thu, Oct 14, 1886 page2, The Daily Herald Fri, Oct 22, 1886 · Page 2
g. Spreckels became vengeful and immediately went to work to undermine the King. When he spoke to reporters at the dock in San Francisco upon arrival he said to the Call, “The King for a long time has been led by gin-drinking adventurers. Men with nothing to lose and everything to gain by leading His Majesty into escapades and upon a course of wildest dissipation. He is easily approached when sought at the drinking or gaming table.”
"Kalākaua is a man that cannot be reached by calm reason, but can be ruled by the gin bottle; that is his divinity, and whoever worships at the shrine of Baccus will find an open-armed welcome from him”. The words were meant to impugn the king’s character with lenders and the general public. But in case they did not get the message he added “I have tried to hold him in check, and have on all occasions pointed out the importance of reducing rather than increasing the expenses of the Kingdom. The finances of the Government, as managed at present must lead to ultimate bankruptcy.” Evening Bulletin Honolulu 18 Nov 1886, Thu · Page 2
3) Others were openly calling Spreckels ‘King’ before and during this time.
a. British Minister Wodehouse wrote in 1886: “The King is no longer a free agent. Mr. Spreckels goes about saying that he is the real King and that as this Government owes him money which they cannot pay, he has a right to change Cabinets if he chooses to do so.”
b. A nationally syndicated letter from SF was printed in newspapers throughout the US in January 1885 tells it best: “Claus Spreckels, commonly known as the "Sugar King of the Sandwich Islands”, wields a power more autocratic, if not greater, than any other monopolist in the world.” The Burlington Free Press Burlington, Vermont Tue 06 Jan 1885, Page 1
c. As shown above, the references to Claus Spreckels as a King were widespread. If Spreckels used it as a joke in poor taste with the King, it certainly would not have been so shocking or novel. It is entirely plausible that the constant reminder of Claus’s power was an incentive for the king to reduce his exposure to him.
4) The Rules of Euchre: Euchre is a game like bridge, also similar to whist and pinocle, where the object is to win “tricks” of cards, with a trump suit and high to low ranking of cards. Unlike Poker, a hand holding matching kings or aces has no significance. The jest supposedly made by Spreckels would make no sense in the context of a euchre game. Nor would it be appropriate for Claus to show his hand before playing it unless he had what players call a farmer’s hand, consisting exclusively of 9s and 10s to declare a misdeal.
5) Contemporaneous reporting -Billy Emerson and the better story
A survey of available 1886 newspapers shows no accounts of the rumored card game or the straining of relations in May. However, another story appeared widely. One month earlier, in April 1886, Billy Emerson, who ran a traveling minstrel act arrived in Honolulu en route to San Francisco on the steamer Almeda after an extensive tour of Australia. He had claimed to have won $40,000 on horseracing in Melbourne and was invited to play poker with the King.
Emerson, born William Emmerson Randolph in Belfast Ireland in 1847, grew up in Utica NY and began his career as a singer in the 1860’s. After achieving modest fame, he formed his own company of minstrels. Minstrel acts were a popular inexpensive live theater that used blackface and exaggerated African-American characters for comic relief around singers and dancers. Emerson performed in and owned the Standard Theater in SF.
While there are multiple stories of the card game, Emerson seems to have put one version into his act, which he performed at the Opera house in front of Kalākaua who laughed at it. As a joke, the version that made it into the act seems modified relative to the direct telling to a news reporter in San Francisco when he arrived home:
Quoted Story via interview with Emerson
BILLY EMERSON. His Varied Story as to His Game of Poker with King Kalākaua, San Francisco Chronicle June 1886:
"Yes," said Billy Emerson, " I was lucky in Australia awful lucky. I bad a bully time, lots of fun, and piled in the money. Did you hear of my little experience with King Kalākaua?"
"No; what was that?"
" Well, I met the King at Honolulu, and we had a little game of poker. The King's a good boy, I tell you, and he plays to win, and don't you forget it. There ain't no cold feet in him. We had a game of poker, me and the King. There was about a couple of thousand dollars, I guess, on my side. "Honor bright. Yes, sir. Well. I says to the King, ' Your Majesty, I guess I'll have to raise that twenty-five."
" ' Well,' said the King, all right. Sir William. I'll have to see your twenty-five an' go you fifty more.' " Your Majesty,' says I, 'I'm sorry; but I'm compelled to see that and put another hundred on." " He was game, and finally he called me. I had four aces he had four kings. "'Sir William," says he, 'you can say you're the only man in the world who ever beat five kings in a square game.'"
I wish to annotate this story. The fact of the poker game is correct, authentic, but 1 am sorry to say that in different stages of enthusiasm Mr. Emerson has varied the amount from $1,500 to $3,500, and I only claim for this version the merit of being, perhaps, the best one to tell.
The story as it appeared in the Emerson act in Honolulu in April 1886
“Billy Emerson, who recently stopped at the islands on his way back here from the Australian colonies. Emerson is one of the noted poker players of the coast, and. being a jolly good fellow, the King invited him to the palace, where the two were soon deep in the mysteries of the game. How much the minstrel won is not known, but the nature of one game may be gained from Emerson's account of it the next night at the theater in Honolulu. As "end man" he asked the conundrum: "When will three aces beat four kings at poker?" and he explained that he held the aces while in the hand against him were the king of spades, the king of clubs, the king of hearts, and King Kalākaua. This climax brought down the house, the King, who was in a box, laughing heartily at the joke.”
The story was syndicated in many cities all over the country in 1886. It appears far more likely that this story was bolted onto the Spreckels legend than actually happening all over again one month later. Note that in Emerson’s words (not in his act), David Kalākaua was graceful in defeat, and the king’s joke seems to be far cleverer than the concocted version of a euchre game, where kings and aces only matter in suits.
The break with Spreckels has historical significance and indirectly led the loss of the King’s exclusive sovereign powers, and eventually cost the Hawaiian’s their independence.
The card game rumors are part of the historical record. Authors of history should avoid repeating them as the explanation for the breaking of the relationship without further evidence or context. They are likely false, and at best an oversimplification of a ten-year relationship between two dynamic men, both of whom were critical to the trajectory of the politics of the Hawaiian islands.
More on Background
The Bayonet Constitution, named because it was promulgated by force upon Hawaiian King David Kalākaua at 2AM on July 6, 1887 by the sons of American missionaries, organized as the Hawaiian League. It removed forever the absolute power held by the Moi since the kahuna Pā‘ao brought the Alii social order to the Hawaiian chain from Tahiti around 1200 AD. It was the first step towards annexation by the United States.
Claus Spreckels was halfway around the world seemingly uninvolved. But he was a prime mover. He cultivated and indulged the extravagance of the King, and when Claus didn't get his way, he left the king without support surrounded by enemies. Enemies whose careers were made by the business activities of Claus Spreckels.
David Kalākaua was elected moi by the Hawaiian legislature over Queen Emma in 1874. Emma, widow of Kamehameha V, who died without naming an heir, had a relationship with Queen Victoria of England, and was considered unsuitable to the American business interests in Honolulu. Kalākaua ran a US style campaign to win over the legislators.
Edwin Drake struck rock oil in 1859 at Oil Creek Pa, which spelled the eventual end of the whale oil industry. The whaling industry had been a prime source of foreign exchange for the islands. The US Civil War had decimated the domestic sugar industry in Louisiana and freed the 120,000 slaves who had provided its planters with wage-free labor under brutal conditions, sharply increasing sugar prices.
US politicians were open to the prospect of a closer relationship with the strategic central pacific nation as steamships were shrinking the distance between continents. Kalākaua was able to gain the duty-free importation of raw sugar to the United States in exchange for duty-free import of American goods.
By giving Hawaiian sugar an advantage that no other country enjoyed, Kalākaua opened the door to Claus Spreckels.
Spreckels was on the ship which delivered news of the US Congress’ ratification of the treaty. As the largest sugar refiner in the West, he salivated at the prospect of a two-cent per pound discount on a product that sold for eight cents. He bought up the next year’s crops before the market adjusted to the new economics and made Hawaii his primary source for cane for the next twenty years.
But he was not a passive participant in the Hawaiian market. He enlisted his son, John, first to acquire sugar plantations, and then to develop a steamship line that dominated the transport between the Island nation and the West Coast. He partnered with William Irwin to act as agent and purchase the crops of the plantations he did not control. He expended vast resources to redirect the rains from the mountains to irrigate the dry plains of Maui. He imported railroads, electrical generation equipment, and improved the wharves. His companies enjoyed a virtual monopoly, and the economy that grew around him was dominated by the American-educated sons of the New England missionaries.
Kalākaua enjoyed the relationship with Spreckels which was both personal and professional. The King was affable and well-educated. Spreckels enjoyed the intimacy of the King’s boat house, cigars, cards and gin when he visited. Spreckels freely lent money to the Kingdom and Kalākaua personally.
Spreckels needed a friendly government to operate, and so he indulged the King’s desire to be on par with the monarchs of Europe. The missionary Amos Cooke and his wife educated the Alii in the etiquette of European aristocracy, and David embraced the formality and expensive tastes of his contemporaries who enjoyed greater wealth. The Hawaiian Alii were land rich but struggled with obtaining hard currency to match their taste for European made goods. Kalākaua also did not enjoy the same access to personal revenue-generating land enjoyed by the Kamehameha kings. Traditionally the Alii lived off the tributes of the Kanaka, but the Hawaiians had diminished in numbers and relative prosperity, while the foreigners and Haole Hawaiians capitalized on the tremendous growth of the sugar industry.
Spreckels continued to lend the king significant money, and soon he was the chief holder of sovereign debt. He was supportive of the King’s global excursion in 1881, and facilitated the issuance of Hawaiian first coinage with Kalākaua’s image stamped on the face. The King often sought international recognition for his kingdom. While he succeeded, some viewed his desire for recognition, pomp and formality as indulgence. Kalākaua drew criticism for holding an elaborate coronation ceremony almost nine years into his reign and building a Palace worthy of much larger nations.
In exchange for Spreckels’ support, Kalākaua changed cabinets at the request of Spreckels. If the tycoon did not like a law or needed an accommodation, he lobbied the King until the law was changed in his favor.
Claus brought his Bohemian and German friends from San Francisco to populate key positions in the courts and the cabinet. When Spreckels thought the King was getting out of hand, he reigned him in.
Just as he was attracted to the ambitious Spreckels, the king also aligned himself with others who appeared forward-thinking. Walter Murray Gibson and Celso Moreno both pushed Kalākaua into schemes that would be unpopular with his critics. These critics included the more conservative Hawaiians, the supporters of Queen Emma, and the Haole business community. They often used the legislative process to hold the king in check, but were often frustrated at the balance of power in the Hawaiian Constitution. The King held the absolute veto and the right to make and break cabinets at will.
After the death of Emma in April of 1885 Kalākaua looked to solidify his control of the Legislature. Using Gibson’s strategy of “Hawaii for the Hawaiians”, he heavily lobbied for royalist candidates for the 1886 elections. Kalākaua even traveled to polling places in Kona to defeat his staunchest conservative critic George Washington Pilipo. While celebrations at the polls with alcohol was a long-standing practice in the US, Kalākaua was publicly thrashed by the missionary set for providing gin at the polls.
The victory was hard won. In addition to the hay made over the gin, the opposition made the influence of Claus Spreckels their primary rallying cry. The king was accused of being a tool of Spreckels and speeches made references to the legislature being “led by their nose”. Kalākaua was accused of ”letting the genie (Spreckels) out of the bottle.”
Unlike the Nobles who were unpaid, and often had large holdings, many Native Hawaiian Representatives often had no other significant sources of income, and through the strength of their elected positions found government employment. The kingdom’s payroll had steadily risen as patronage jobs were created and salaries raised.
At the start of the legislative session In May 1886 Kalākaua gave a speech that suggested he wanted the freedom to spend more liberally. A good portion of Honolulu had burned in the Chinatown fire, and the general health of the people was mentioned as a spending priority. He also wanted to extend Hawaii’s influence over the other nations of Polynesia, having Hawaii set the standard for good rule and developing good relations with larger nations.
Claus Spreckels later claimed that Kalākaua had wanted to borrow $10 million to raise a standing army and navy. Spreckels lectured Noble Samuel Parker and Speaker of the House John Lota Kaulukou that the king could not afford the $600,000 in annual interest on such a large loan. “I told them to tell the King from me that I would rather see him going barefoot, as an independent King, than to see him rolling in luxury for a few years and then to find his kingdom slipping from under his feet.” Several districts, including Thurson’s on Molokai offered resolutions condemning the concept of a $10 million loan. Page 292 — The Hawaiian kingdom, vol. 3, 1874-1893 Kuykendall
When Gibson introduced his budget, it contemplated a loan of $2,000,000. Once again Spreckels intervened and there were sudden calls for economy from the King. Spreckels threw a dinner party aboard the Australia with the King and many of the legislators, but with Lorrin Thurston and Walter Murray Gibson notably absent. When he made his speech, Claus called for thrift. He also had his attorney John Dare give the toast to the women and his friends William Irwin and Paul Neumann also spoke.
By the end of June, Kalākaua had replaced his cabinet again, this time with Spreckels friends Dare and Creighton. It was apparent to everyone that Kalākaua had been influenced by Spreckels. The Gazette printed:
“…It does not seem likely on the face of it that Mr. Gibson spent very much time in persuading Mr. Creighton who had taken out his letters of denization it is aid on June 29th or Mr. Dare who came here with as he said promises of preferment to become members of the reconstructed “Spreckels Alien Cabinet”. Page 292 — The Hawaiian kingdom, vol. 3, 1874-1893
“It was pure unadulterated cheek to try to palm off upon the people of this country so brazen a falsehood. The object however was not for this country It was for abroad. Mr. Spreckels left for Maui last Tuesday having arranged this little shuffle of the knaves in the pack to suit himself. He wants to be able to say, “The change came in my absence”. It is an old trick but it is too old. It is played out. Is Spreckels going to rule the Islands?” The trick would be used one more time.
British Minister Wodehouse wrote: “The King is no longer a free agent. Mr. Spreckels goes about saying that he is the real King and that as this Government owes him money which they cannot pay, he has a right to change Cabinets if he chooses to do so.”
Gibson adjusted his budget and the loan disappeared from the discussion. Claus left Hawaii at the end of July with his friends in the cabinet, and a promise from Gibson the loan issue was dead. The King and Queen and the Royal Hawaiian band saw them off. But while he sailed home, he passed H.R. Armstrong in the ocean. Armstrong came as a result of a letter from Gibson in March. Abraham Hoffnung, had sold his company to Skinner & Co and they were ready to put a syndicate together in London to float a Hawaiian loan as suggested before Gibson and the King had their minds changed. Without Spreckels presence to argue against it, and the King’s affinity for the English, Armstrong spent considerable time with the King at Luaus and Royal breakfasts.
Gibson had promised Spreckels the loan idea was dead, so he dithered. But the King wanted a London loan and Noble McFarlane helped draft a new loan bill authorizing the borrowing. The king signed the legislation. McFarlane sailed immediately and met with Spreckels and Armstrong in San Francisco. Claus did not lose his temper and agreed to take some of the loan if he could have some favorable amendments to the bill. Claus obviously had second thoughts and got back on a steamer. On October 2nd he was back in Hawaii to argue to take the whole loan. Kalākaua welcomed him and awarded him the insignia of a Grand Officer of the Order of Kapiolani.
“There were then introduced by the Vice Chamberlain the following gentlemen, whom His Majesty had signified his intention of distinguishing by a special mark of his Royal favor, namely: Colonel Claus Spreckels, who was invested with the insignia of Grand Officer of the Royal Order of Kapiolani; Major Hon. S. Parker, invested with the insignia of Grand Officer of the Royal Order of the Crown of Hawaii; Hon. V. G. Irwin, invested with the insignia of Knight Commander of the Roj-al Order of Kapiolani; John Ena, Esq., invested with the insignia of Officer of the Crown of Hawaii. To each gentleman, upon presenting their decoration, His Majesty addressed suitable words of approval and confidence.”The Honolulu Advertiser 08 Oct 1886, Fri Page 2
Claus argued that the British bankers were not working for free and with the syndicate fee of 5% the loans would cost the kingdom more. (Claus would be proven right. With the market discount and the fee, the Government would eventually get 10% less than the principal amount of the loan) The Brits wanted recourse debt. Claus was an unsecured creditor and he wanted certain protections if they wouldn’t give him the entire loan. He used Dare to write a third amendment of the bill backed by Creighton. Gibson was caught between the King and Spreckels. He owed his loyalty to the King and he owed Spreckels $35,000.
When Dare’s amendment was debated in the legislature, Hawaiian members openly wondered why Spreckels was dictating terms. The critics of the administration, led by Thurston, also wanted to reduce Claus’ influence. The amendment was defeated on the strength of the argument that there should be only one king and the Millionaire needed to be stopped. Creighton and Dare and the rest of the cabinet resigned that evening. Gibson who begged for reappointment never enjoyed the same stature. Spreckels returned all of his decorations and left Honolulu in a huff, without the band or the King to send him off.
He became vengeful and immediately went to work to undermine the King. When he spoke to reporters at the dock in San Francisco upon arrival he said to the Call, “The King for a long time has been led by gin drinking adventurers. Men with nothing to lose and everything to gain by leading His Majesty into escapades and upon a course of wildest dissipation. He is easily approached when sought at the drinking or gaming table” …”Kalākaua is a man that cannot be reached by calm reason, but can be ruled by the gin bottle; that is his divinity, and whoever worships at the shrine of Baccus will find an open-armed welcome from him”. The words were meant to impugn the king’s character with lenders and the general public. But in case they did not get the message he added “I have tried to hold him in check, and have on all occasions pointed out the importance of reducing rather than increasing the expenses of the Kingdom. The finances of the Government, as managed at present must lead to ultimate bankruptcy.”
Claus Spreckels was loved as an employer, and many associates spoke highly of his humble beginnings, hard work ethic and loyalty to old friends. But if you scorned him, he could be a ruthless and vengeful man. Grocers who tried to save a few pennies by buying sugar from another manufacturer found themselves unable to buy from Spreckels ever again. Kalakaua was about to see how much Claus would go out of his way to harm the King.
He canceled plans for the Pacific Yacht Club to send boats to race as part of Kalākauas 50th birthday celebration (his son John was the past Commodore). He sued McFarlane to delay him in Honolulu and he foreclosed on McFarlane’s Waikiki property. When the King’ s wife, Kapiolani and sister Liliuokalani traveled to SF in the winter of’ 87 on their way to Victoria’s Jubilee in England, they were ignored by the family. When Claus traveled in his private rail coach to visit Europe at the same time the Royals were crossing the US, he did not offer to host them as he had for Kalakaua during his world tour. When they sailed out of New York on the same day, Claus was certain to be on a different ship and to further denigrate the King to reporters as a drunk and wasteful spender. He even insinuated the Queen’s trip was to borrow money:
“He is now a bitter enemy to King Kalākaua. He predicts that it will be only a short time until the United States annexes the Sandwich Islands. Herr Speckles was at the Hoffman House last evening, "The-Queen's expensive trip," said he. with warmth, "will make trouble and the people will not stand for it. The only way to make a Kanaka behave himself is to stand over him with a club. Well, the United States. must have Hawaii, and it will not be long before such a consummation will be brought about." Spreckels is watching the dusky queen, and he goes to Europe for that purpose. Queen Kapiolani expects to complete a loan and Spreckels will lie there when it is done, for out of the proceeds of the new loan he expects, in fact demands, that his money shall be paid back. If that debt is not liquidated with promptness he may seize the islands on his mortgage and offer the crown for sale to the highest bidder.- In any case, trouble will ensue and a revolution is likely to break out in Hawaii.” – Times Leader Wilkes Barre PA May 26, 1897.
The vacuum without Spreckels guiding hand shook the confidence of the business community. “With Mr. Spreckels behind the scenes we felt safe…but know I fear we are on an unknown sea drifting.”
Creighton remained in Hawaii. As editor of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser, the former organ of the Palace Party was turned against the king. Now all of the major English language papers were set against him.
The first foray into Polynesia was a disaster for the reputation of the Kingdom. The Samoan affair was to establish relations with King Malietoa, and while the Samoan king was happy to receive the delegation and agree to a confederation with Kalkaua, England, Germany and the United States were negotiating over control of Samoa. The conference of the great nations in Washington in Spring 1887 roused the bad feelings over the interference of Hawaii. The drunken celebration of the Hawaiian delegation was rehashed to embarrass Kalākaua and Gibson. The confederation was dismissed as a travesty, and to be ignored by the treaty powers. Malietoa would be deposed. Secretary Bayard wrote from Washington “It was obviously absurd for the King [Kalākaua] to bring himself in conflict with the wishes of the German Government.”
The scandal around the sale of opium licenses was another triggering event. Opium had been legal, but years earlier the missionary faction argued it should not be sold. The industry went underground and as the sugar industry brought more Asians to the islands, they found their drug of choice available on the black market. The king needed sources of government money, and a license fee would bring in hard currency and put order on the market.
Chun Afong was the wealthiest Chinese merchant in Honolulu and his wife Julia Fairweather shared a wet nurse with Kalākaua. His son Chung Lung, a Punahou Oahu College graduate (1871) and Yale (1875) was awarded the exclusive right to sell opium to the Chinese from the King. This was only after another man Aki, a rice farmer had made two secret payments of $71,000 in gold coin as well as two pigs to the king through an intermediary Junius Kaae, the registrar of deeds. The king was silent on the issue, but Aki had put together a group of investors who cried foul, and they went public. Affidavits by parties fueled the press accounts with outrage. Kalākaua’s strategy was to stay silent on the subject, and Gibson, at this point terminally ill, was not there to clean things up for him.
The commercial class felt there was no recourse as the legislature was solidly in Hawaiian hands and they would do nothing to remedy the situation. Vicious parodies appeared as picture pamphlets in Honolulu. The “Gynberg Ballads” mocked Gibson (as Nosbig, Gibson backwards) and pictured him as a man with a yellow dog’s body. King Skewering, (A bad and racist parody of Kalkakaua) was shown accepting the bribe of a wheelbarrow of coins from an Asian man in a rice hat. Another image showed the King aboard the HHMS Kaimiloa, for its voyage to Samoa (Renamed the Conundrum), with gin bottles replacing the guns. He was also shown giving out liquor at the polls to buy votes. Gibson sued in an attempt to stop the pamphlets from being distributed. It only made them more popular when he lost in court.
The Hawaiian League, with many members also in the Honolulu Rifles recruited over 400 men, many with radical ideas of overthrow, murder, and republic. These permeated the mood in May-July.
In June, with Claus gone, his son John D. continued the barrage, openly calling for revolt in a June 29 interview with Charles Nordhoff for the Herald.
"The condition of affairs there is very similar to that of a man smoking on a powder barrel. One spark Is all that's needed to explode the whole thing. For years Kalākaua's extravagance has been such that the people have been encumbered with debt. The King is exactly like a child. Give him a dollar and he wants to spend it at once, and the only thing that prevents his spending millions is his inability to find things to buy in Hawaii. My opinion is that he will abdicate directly any show of armed rebellion is made. Four months ago he came to me and asked me if we would have any objection to shipping arms to Honolulu for the protection of the whites. My answer was the only objection would be the non-payment of the freight. These arms were shipped, and were seized by the Government as contraband, but have since, I understand, been released. What disposition will be made of this last and largest consignment I cannot say what will be done.”
A David Mc’Duncan an 18-year resident of Honolulu left just before the constitution was foisted on the King, His openly racist rant predicted the assassination of the King, and victory for Spreckels.
“Kapiolani may as well make the most of her junketing tour of America and Europe. She won’t be Queen much longer, and while I am not given to prophetizing, she will be in big luck indeed if her title does not vanish before she has time to return to the Hawaiian Kingdom which she and her copper-colored liege King ‘Dave’ or Kalākaua preside over with such bad taste and extravagance…. Spreckels and the King fell out and in my judgment is what precipitated the present troubles. The king could not curtail his expenses and as he could get no more money from Spreckels, he began to squeeze the Chinese… It will not be long before there is a dearth of royalty in the Hawaiian Group with the dethronement of Kalākaua and the establishment of some other form of government which will manage affairs without bankrupting the country and its people. The victory of Spreckels and the Chinese will be complete.” (Detroit Free Press July 27 1887)
So with his wife and his sister, heir apparent Liliuokalani out of the country at Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, Queen Emma, Princess Ruth and Princess Likelike all deceased in a relatively short period of time, Kalākaua found himself isolated and without the two men he had leaned on to deal with the American Business community. Claus Spreckels was estranged and in Europe, and Walter Murray Gibson was ill and fighting trumped-up charges he and his son had embezzled a land deal.
The King dismissed Gibson, but it was too late. A mass meeting of the Hawaiian League called for more change and they drafted a new constitution and under threat of violence, forced it upon Kalākaua. They knew their actions were not constitutional nor lawful.
Lorrin Thurston, later said “Unquestionably the constitution was not in accordance with law; neither was the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Both were revolutionary documents, which had to be forcibly effected and forcibly maintained”.
But the King capitulated and signed the new constitution and with it surrendered his primary veto powers, and significantly reduced the participation of Hawaiians at the polls. Asians were also denied the vote. He retained the trappings of his office until his death in 1891. Liliuokalani’s attempt to undo this constitution six years later would lead to the ultimate annexation of the Islands by the United States.
Claus Spreckels was not there, just as he was not in Honolulu when Kalākaua changed cabinets a year earlier. In speaking to a NY Herald reporter in London just before he sailed home,
“I can give the Herald no news on Hawaiian affairs," he said. "Rather it can give them to me. I left the United States last May and have been on the continent engaged ever since with sugar problems." But he was quick to point out he felt he no longer needed Hawaii if he could develop the sugar beet industry. “I am convinced that beet sugar making with my new machinery will create one of the greatest industries the United States ever had. I shall never rest until I have made the United States the greatest beet sugar producer, manufacturer and market in the world.” San Francisco Examiner, September 16, 1887
Following a two-year absence from the kingdom, Spreckels returned to Hawaii. Kalākaua and Spreckels enjoyed several meetings and shared the Royal box at events, mostly brokered by William Irwin, Spreckels’ partner. Kalākaua came to San Francisco in 1891 to further advance the Hawaiian sugar industry in light of the McKinley tariff. He found the red carpet rolled out for him and the Spreckels family was intimately involved in his tour of California. He suffered a stroke and the doctors suspected Bright’s disease, kidney failure. He lingered, then died at the Palace Hotel with Claus Spreckels at his bedside. Claus purchased the coffin that would hold the king at the chapel before the state funeral. Thousands of people lined the streets to see the military groups and Masons who paraded from the church to the pier. 38 carriages of mourners also followed before the coffin. Claus and his family occupied three of them. Kalakaua was given full military honors before the ship sailed off to Hawaii with his body.
-Vincent Dicks 2022
Some text from Forsaken Kings Emma Spreckels the Surfer of Asbury Park 2022 by Vincent Dicks, The Hawaiian Kingdom Ralph Kuykendall University of Hawaii Press, 1953, and Claus Spreckels Sugar King in Hawaii Jacob Adler 1966