That was the year that Levi Strauss started marketing blue jeans with copper rivets, the price was $13.50 per dozen. And yes, in the East, William Marcy "Boss" Tweed of Tammany Hall in New York City was convicted of defrauding the City of New York out of $6,000,000 (Six Million Dollars). Tweed was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his crime.
That year saw the Texas State Capitol turned into an armed camp with two rival legislatures. The outgoing Texas governor refused to surrender his office. Then when President U.S. Grant refused to support the outgoing governor's request for troops, he conceded and the new governor was inaugurated.
In 1874, Comanche chiefs Quanah Parker and Lone Wolf were defeated at Adobe Walls where one of the defenders was a man that the Old West would come to know as Bat Masterson.
It was the year that Joseph F. Glidden patented barbed wire, which later led to range wars across the West.
And yes, it was when law officers killed Jim Reed, who was the first husband of Myra Maybelle Shirley. She of course was better known as the famous bandit queen Belle Starr.
As for what else was going on that year that was of interest to Americans?
Well, in 1874, Americans saw the first time that U.S. Marines would land in Honolulu, Hawaii, to protect the King.
Most people in Hawaii, or from there, have heard about the U.S. Marine involvement during the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani in 1893.
But in reality, the 1893 use of the Marines was the second time the United States Marines were involved in settling a Hawaiian political problem. Fact is, that if it wasn't for the United States Marines, there might not have been the beloved Merrie Monarch King Kalakaua.
When King Kamehameha V, the last ruler of the House of Kamehameha died on December 11, 1872 without naming a successor, the Kingdom of Hawaii faced a political crisis.
The solution was an election between William Lunalilo and David Kalakaua.
David Kalakaua served the royal families under two previous Kings, but was defeated during that election for King. William Lunalilo was elected as King, and was very popular with the people.
But King Lunalilo then died on February 3, 1874, again with no successor, and a crisis was at hand once again. The stage was set for another election. This time the Hawaiian electoral process began with Queen Emma, the widowed wife of King Lunalilo, running against Kalakaua.
The election was horrible and at one point David Kalakaua and his sister, who herself would become a Queen, Liliuokalani criticized Queen Emma's claim of descent from Kamehameha's brother and subsequently the Kamehameha bloodline as false.
I read somewhere that Liliuokalani actually voiced her concern that Queen Emma being a quarter British, which she was, made her ineligible to take the throne.
While it seemed the people supported Queen Emma, the Hawaiian Legislative Assembly which actually elected the new monarch had favored David Kalakaua. He won the election 39 to 6.
News of her defeat raced through Honolulu like a wild fire and it triggered large-scale rioting. Queen Emma with her contentious pro-British supporters violently opposed Kalakaua.
It was February 12, 1874, and it is known as the Honolulu Courthouse Riot of 1874.
"The Honolulu Courthouse Riot" took place when Hawaiian followers of Queen Emma, known as Emmaites, attacked the supporters of King Kalakaua on election day and riots broke out across Honolulu.
To say that Queen Emma was unhappy with the decision would have been an understatement.
The election proceedings were held at the Honolulu courthouse which is where Queen Emma decided to lead an angry mob of over a hundred followers, although some say many many more, from her Nuuanu Valley home to the courthouse.
Since the Hawaiian Army had been disbanded after a Mutiny against the officers and Royal family some months earlier, and the local militias were considered unreliable because they were filled with foreigners, there was no one to stop the riots that were spreading out of control.
What about the Hawaiian police? Well, the Honolulu police force deserted and many of them actually joined in the riot against Kalakaua. Fact is that many Hawaiian Army soldiers and Honolulu police officers ended up actually fighting against each other.
It was a fight about political ideologies as much as it was about who won and who lost. It was sort of a Red State versus Blue State, if you know what I mean.
Queen Emma's followers surrounded and attacked the Honolulu courthouse and then proceeded to attack the occupants of other buildings, other Hawaiians, which spread the riot throughout most of the city.
A carriage that was waiting outside of the courthouse to deliver the news of the verdict to David Kalakaua, who was waiting at his home, was torn apart by an an angry mob of Queen Emma's anti-American forces tore it apart and rushed the courthouse. And no, it all happened before the Hawaiian Electoral Committee could tell the driver to go tell the new King the news of his victory.
David Kalakaua's followers put up little to no resistance, and the decision was made quickly by the Hawaiian Legislator to request help from the American Minister Henry A. Peirce.
Peirce, who had a lifetime of involvement in Hawaii, understood the seriousness of the situation and in turn requested immediate aid from the United States Navy and from the British Royal Navy commanders there on the island.
There were two United States sloops-of-war, the USS Tuscarora and the USS Portsmouth, anchored in Honolulu Harbor. Both were there on an expedition of negotiation to see if an agreement could be reached to allow the exportation of sugar to the United States duty-free.
The agreement had been in negotiations for years, and was definitely something Kalakaua supported during his campaign because he felt stronger ties with the United States assured economic growth to the islands.
When the call came in for help, both commanders agreed to intervene by sending in their detachments of U.S. Marines on board. I really don't know how many people realize that Marines have been stationed aboard U.S. Navy ships since the Revolutionary War.
So a force of 150 American Marines and a handful of Sailors under the command of Lieutenant Commander Theodore F. Jewell were put ashore. They formulated a plan to work in concert with the eighty or more British troops, most likely British Royal Marines, commanded by a Captain Bay from the sloop-of-war HMS Tenedos.
The American Marines headed straight for the Honolulu Courthouse with the objective of securing it. Once there that is exactly what took place.
Pushing back the rioters, they placed guards and occupied the city armory, the treasury, the station house, and the Honolulu jail which was filled with angry prisoners.
The prisoners were angry and wanted out to support Queen Emma who said she would free them if they supported her.
British forces marched up Nuuanu Valley to Queen Emma's house where they dispersed a large crowd with force. The fighting lasting into the night. After that, they went to Honolulu to man the Palace and the barracks.
By sundown some of the rioters had been captured, but not all. Many still traveled the city trying to stir up support for Queen Emma. Later the city was mostly quiet with the exception of sporadic gunfire and the sounds of locals looting businesses.
Several people were killed or injured in the conflict, including many foreign citizens. No American Marines were hurt seriously, nor were British troops injured too seriously during the conflict.
Though Queen Emma was never exiled or punished by the Hawaiian government for her role in the riot, she remained at her home in the valley for several years with her followers and friends. Her idea of overthrowing the Hawaiian Government by force failed, the riot she urged on gained nothing for her.
For the rest of her life she remained bitter and did not communicate with King Kalakaua, his wife Queen Kapiolani, or later with Queen Liliuokalani when she assumed the throne.
Thankfully that is not the legacy of Queen Emma. Her legacy lives on today thanks to her wonderful work back in 1859 while she was Queen. That was when Emma established Queen's Hospital in Honolulu. She visited patients there almost daily whenever she was in residence in Honolulu.
Today, it is now called the Queen's Medical Center.
As for David Kalakaua, he took the oath on February 13, and his right to the throne was no longer in jeopardy. King Kalakaua had no further opposition.
The United States Marines ended their occupation at the end of February that year, essentially America's involvement in the establishment of a Hawaiian King had ended.
After the riots and the bitter partisanship, King Kalakaua traveling to all of the islands with Queen Kapiolani. He did this to try to gain the trust of the Hawaiian people, while at the same time assuring his subjects with popular proposals that led to an increase in Hawaiian Patriotism at that time.
He negotiated a reciprocity treaty allowing Hawaiian goods into the United States duty-free. The Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 allowed for American use of Pearl Harbor in exchange for the elimination of tariffs on Hawaiian goods.
The Reciprocity Treaty was something that previous Hawaiian Kings had been unable to accomplish. Hawaii's treaty with the United States granted exclusive trading rights between America and Hawaii.
Soon King Kalakaua's reputation grew and he gained a reputation as a man who enjoyed drinking and gambling, parties and dancing, horse racing, sailing and canoe regattas at the Royal Boat House at Honolulu Harbor.
He did not like Missionaries who he felt looked down on the King because of his ways. But that did not stop the King from accomplishing his goals of restoring Hawaii's cultural that had been so demonized by the Missionaries.
He brought back the music and dance of the land, hula and the art of the chant. Above all else he tried to reverse the dwindling Native Hawaiian population by encouraging births and staying in Hawaii. Many of the Native Hawaiians had been leaving Hawaii for opportunities elsewhere for many years.
The bloodlines of the Hawaiian people was being mixed with those who were being brought there. By the time of King Kalakaua, Hawaiians were becoming more and more a mixed race. The King wanted to reverse that, but simply couldn't.
Though he had became extremely popular during his 17 year reign, it's also true that his administration licensed the sale of opium, created a lottery, and even tried to mint Kalakaua coins to use in lieu of the English pound or the American dollar. Some of these things were not always popular with the Hawaiian people, but business in Hawaii flourished.
At the same time this was going on, the King's powers were weakened due to so-called "Reformists" who worked to undermine the monarchy. These people eventually took control of the Hawaii legislature.
In 1887, King Kalakaua was forced to sign the 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii which essentially stripped the King of much of his authority.
The 1887 Hawaii Constitution was signed under threat of violence, it is known as the "Bayonet Constitution". After that King Kalakaua was reduced more or less to a figurehead.
Some say that other than maybe King Kamehameha the first, King Kalakaua who was known as the Merrie Monarch remains the best known and loved of Hawaii's Kings.
Fact is that he had prepared himself to rule. Though not of Kamehameha bloodline, Kalakaua was educated, wise, and comfortable with both the Hawaiian and the Western cultures. He understood and respected both ways of life.
He reigned for 17 years until his death in 1891. Early that year during a trip to San Francisco that he took especially to improve his health, the King died of a stroke, kidney failure, and liver cirrhosis.
In keeping with King Kalakaua's wishes, his sister Liliuokalani ascended the throne becoming Queen.
Less than two years later, in 1893, Queen Liliuokalani announced plans for a New Constitution. That was when a group of mostly European, American, Hawaiian business leaders and residents who formed a "Committee of Safety" with the mission to overthrow the Kingdom and seek annexation by the United States.
United States Government Minister John L. Stevens, responding to a request from the "Committee of Safety," and requested that the a company of Marines aboard the USS Boston be sent to the palace.
So again the United States Marines were called out. But this time, the Marines stationed themselves across the street from the palace grounds.
There were 162 United States Marines, and again a handful of Sailors, who came ashore. All of course were battle ready, but they were also under strict orders to assume a position of neutrality.
Unlike in 1874, when the Marines took over Hawaiian government buildings and the Honolulu jail, this time the Marines did not ever enter the Palace grounds or take over any buildings what so ever.
In fact, unlike in 1874, this time the Marines did not fire a single shot.
Some say they effectively intimidated the Hawaiian royalist defenders, who in fact were numbered at over 500 men and were under the command of the Marshal of the Kingdom Charles Wilson.
There are others who believe that since the Marines were there under strict orders to assume a position of neutrality, that they were there for the same reason as they were almost 20 years earlier.
They were there by request to put down any riot and establish order if need be.
It is interesting that history shouts that the United States Marines were supposedly the factor used to oust Queen Liliuokalani, but never a word is said about how the United States Marines helped install without question the most popular monarch in Hawaiian History.
Yes, the Merrie Monarch, King Kalakaua can thank his throne to the United States Marines.
Story by Tom Correa
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