Abstract:
In March 1914, four fitafita (“native” police) from Tuamasaga stole some money from indentured Chinese laborers. Afraid they would be heavily punished, they then broke into the colonial jail and took arms and ammunition. The German colonial rulers of Sāmoa had just gone through a difficult six years, and had fancied that Samoan unrest was behind them. Lauaki Namulau‘ulu Mamoe’s Mau a Pule had been routed and dissembled; he and other leaders had been exiled. But this action of four supposedly colonial operatives seemed to send shivers through the colonial community in Apia. Local settlers as well as a number of Samoans began to form posses. Leading the chase was Herr von Egidy, and soon the rogue fitafita were holed up and surrounded. A shootout began and lasted from mid-morning till mid-afternoon (Westbrook nd; Schultz- Ewerth 1926, 138).