PlantsmanThe The suspicious death of Davıd Douglas Of the misfortunes that befell 19th-century plant hunters, the death of David Douglas in a bull pit in Hawaii is perhaps the best known. The circumstances were questioned at the time and Gordon Mason now re-examines the evidence
avid Douglas (1799-1834) Curtis’s Botanical Magazine was the pre-eminent plant David Douglas died aged 35 Dcollector of his day. Employed by the Horticultural Society (later, RHS), he travelled widely across North America and particularly the Pacific Northwest. many would have taken the By 1834, though, Douglas had But Douglas died young, only 35, opportunity to rest before experienced significant setbacks. in circumstances which excited embarking on the next ocean stage. He had enjoyed a long and productive suspicion at the time, and still do. It was not his first time in Hawaii. stay in California but had also fallen This article, on the 180th annivers In 1830 he made a short visit on his out with his employers. In ary of his death and the centenary way to the Columbia River in the September 1832 he resigned from of the RHS’s publication of his Pacific Northwest and California. the Horticultural Society and journal (Wilks & Hutchinson 1914), He records in a letter to Prof. henceforth worked freelance. In re-examines the circumstances of William Hooker in Glasgow that practice, slow communications his death. ‘The season was unkind, very rainy, would give him a period of grace and being just the conclusion of but his precarious financial position Route to Hawaii winter I could only obtain Ferns and must have preyed on his mind. Douglas died in Hawaii, on his way Mosses. I am mightily desirous to And then it all got much worse. back to Britain. It was a journey have material for a Flora of that A plan to return to London via which could take nine months, and group’ (Douglas 1830). Alaska, Siberia and Russia had to ➤
December 2014 235 The snow-covered peak of Mauna Kea rises over the Hawaiian landscape near Kaluakauka, where David Douglas died. be abandoned when the scale of the But there was no let-up in his much speculation. We know that task emerged. Retreating, Douglas’s activities. He knew this was his last he left Kohala on the north shore, canoe was wrecked on the Fraser opportunity to explore Hawaii and accompanied by ‘John’, a servant River in British Columbia, Canada. he wanted to make the most of it. of the Revd John Diell. John, the He was lucky to escape with his life Within the space of a month he servant, was to accompany him on but his collections and his journal climbed the three great volcanic his hike over Mauna Kea to Hilo were lost. Disheartened, Douglas mountains – Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa where he was expected on 12 July. returned to his base at Fort and Kilauea. These were tough John soon dropped out, lame, and Vancouver and began planning an expeditions in poor weather and Douglas continued alone. He was exploration of Hawaii. Douglas pushed himself hard, unlikely to be deterred by this, When Douglas arrived in Hawaii, carrying a heavy load, making a host accustomed as he was to hard just before Christmas 1833, he would of observations and continuing to travelling in wild country. have seemed prematurely aged. A collect plants along the way. It is Early in the morning of 12 July witness at Fort Vancouver described hardly surprising that he paid a price Douglas breakfasted at the hut of him as a ‘fair, florid Scotsman ... for it; he records violent headaches Ned Gurney, a cattle hunter. Wild about forty-eight years of age’; he on Mauna Kea, possibly altitude cattle were a nuisance on Hawaii was actually 31 (Lindsay & House sickness, and his sight deteriorated and were frequently trapped. This 2005). Blind in his right eye, with further to the point where on Mauna was usually by digging a pit and double vision and blurring in the left, Loa blood discharged from his camouflaging the top with foliage. he was also subject to debilitating inflamed eyes. It was then simply a matter of attacks of rheumatism. Having After a few restorative months waiting until a luckless animal severed his links with the Society, in Honolulu Douglas returned to fell into the pit, and shooting it. lost his collections and journal, been Hawai‘i, the Big Island, on 9 July Douglas sought advice on the thwarted in his ambitious plan, and 1834. He had just three days to live. way ahead and Gurney, by his own with declining health, he was now on account, warned Douglas of three borrowed time. It must have pained Death of Douglas pits about 4km away. him that the one thing he really The circumstances of his death were What happened next is described wanted to do, plant hunting, might never wholly clear. There are some in a letter by the Revds Goodrich soon be beyond his capabilities. facts, considerable suspicion and and Diell to the British Consul.
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Cattle still graze in the area where David Douglas travelled in 1834 All photographs by Gordon Mason Gordon by All photographs
‘About eleven o’clock, two natives Edward Gurney came in pursuit of him [Gurney], Edward (Ned) Gurney had a and said that the European was chequered background. Born around dead; that they had found him in 1800, at age 12 he was convicted of the pit where a bullock was … Ned, larceny at the Central Criminal on arriving at the pit found the Court, Middlesex, and sentenced to bullock standing upon poor Douglas’ seven years’ transportation. It is body. He shot the animal and unlikely the sentence was carried out succeeded in extricating the corpse’ because at age 19 he was back in the (Goodrich & Diell 1834). Douglas’s same court in 1819, again convicted dog and bundle were found a little of larceny and sentenced to seven way ahead up the road. The area years’ transportation. This sentence where Douglas died is now called was carried out; Gurney went as a Kaluakauka, which means ‘the convict on the vessel Canada, arriving doctor’s pit’. in Australia in September 1819. He So we know that Douglas worked as a servant in Australia and breakfasted with Gurney and, later was described as having a ‘florid that morning, Douglas’s body was complexion and flaxen [fair] hair, found nearby in a pit dug by Gurney. height 5ft 2ins’ (Convict Indents The obvious question, which soon 1788–1842), coincidentally having a occurred to people, is whether passing resemblance to Douglas, Douglas paused to examine the pit, who was almost the same age. fell and was trampled to death; or In October 1821 Gurney was whether he was murdered by Gurney reported to have ‘embarked on His and the body thrown into the pit to Majesty’s Cutter “Mermaid”, to disguise the deed. Both theories are assist in taking the schooner “Prince plausible. But who was Gurney, and Regent” to Owyhee [Hawaii] and to A memorial to David Douglas at is his account reliable? return again’ (Colonial Secretary’s Kaluakauka, the spot where he was killed Papers 1788–1825). However, ➤
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Gurney did not return from this an experienced backwoods traveller. which he took to be gold. None of trip to Hawaii as there are no Even with failing sight, it is unlikely any consequence was found after his subsequent records of him in that he would have failed to spot the death’ (Greenwell 1988). Hall had Australia. It seems likely that, conspicuous hole left by the bullock ‘no doubt in his own mind that finding Hawaii more congenial as it fell through the camouflage. So, Douglas was murdered by Ned than Australia, he jumped ship and he probably did not blunder into the [Gurney]’ (Teggert 1924). led a precarious life there before his pit, although it is possible that he Local missionaries had Douglas’s fateful encounter with Douglas. fell. Mrs Lyman, wife of a missionary, body eviscerated and packed with records that ‘This is the story of the salt, but it was not until 3 August Early suspicions man [Gurney] and perhaps it is true. 1834 that the body arrived in Suspicion of Gurney’s involvement It looks very probable, but I must Honolulu. A cursory examination in Douglas’s death arose almost confess I am a little suspicious’ of the body, which by then ‘smelled immediately. Goodrich & Diell (Martin 1979). very bad’ (Greenwell 1988), affirmed (1834) record Gurney’s explanation Others were suspicious too. the view that the wounds were that it appeared Douglas ‘had laid Charles Hall, a hunter, obtained the inflicted by the bullock. Douglas down his bundle and returned to the head of the bullock and noted that was buried behind Kawaiaha’o side of the pit where the bullock was ‘the horns were blunt, the animal Church in Honolulu. entrapped ... and that whilst looking being old’, and thought it impossible in, by making a false step, or some that Douglas’s wounds – ten gashes Later speculation other fatal accident, he fell into the on his head – could have been But suspicions remained. Gurney’s power of the infuriated animal, which inflicted by those horns (Greenwell reputation as an escaped convict speedily executed the work of death’. 1988). Davis, another hunter and at went before him. People were not This is superficially plausible; whose house Douglas stayed on his predisposed to believe him, and Douglas was insatiably curious and last night, affirmed that he saw Douglas’s gold was missing. his sight was failing. But he was also Douglas ‘have a large purse of money Bolabola, a respected hunter, 10 years old at the time of Douglas’s references death and living near Gurney’s Anon. (1896) Death of Prof. Douglas, in Hawaii. Hawaiian Journal of History house, commented in his old age: a bit of history. A doubt cleared up as 22: 147–169 ‘The haole [foreigner] was murdered, to his death. Hilo Tribune, 22 Aug Gurney, N (1839) Letter to King we all felt so at the time, but we were 1896 Kamehameha III, 2 Dec 1839. Land afraid to say so and only whispered Coan, T (1920) Letter to Carl S File, Archives of Hawaii, Honolulu it among ourselves’ (Anon. 1896). Carlsmith, Lawyer, Hawaii, 10 Jan Lindsay, A & House, S (2005) The AB Loebenstein, a surveyor, claimed 1920 Tree Collector. Aurum Press, London (1906) that Gurney was seen Colonial Secretary’s Papers (1788– Loebenstein, AB (1906) Hawaii 1825) 10 Oct 1821. Sydney, New South Herald, 31 May 1906 following Douglas, but the natives Wales, Australia Martin, MG (1979) The Lymans of were so afraid of the man that they Convict Indents (1788–1842) New Hilo. Lyman House Memorial never dared tell of it. South Wales, Australia, Museum, Hawaii Otto Degener, a botanist based in Degener, O (1938) Letter. Honolulu Nisbet, J (2009) The Collector: David Hawaii, stated (1938) that ‘the late Star-Bulletin, 18 May 1938 Douglas and the Natural History of the Mrs Emma Taylor, famed Hawaiian Douglas, D (1830) Letter to Prof. Northwest. Sasquatch Books, Seattle scholar, informed me that jealousy William Hooker, 11 Oct 1830. British Teggert, FJ (ed.) (1924) Around the was the motive for Douglas’s death. Columbia Archives, Victoria, BC Horn to the Sandwich Islands and Doyle, EL (n.d.) Letter to Mrs Levi California 1845-1850, Being a Personal Ned’s native wife, and who can Lyman, no date. Hawaiian Mission Record Kept by Chester S. Lyman. Yale blame her, was becoming more Children’s Society University Press, New Haven interested in her stalwart guest Goodrich, J & Diell, J (1834) Letter Wilks, W & Hutchinson, HR (eds.) than in her spouse, the runaway to Richard Charlton, 15 Jul 1834. (1914) Journal Kept by David Douglas Botany Bay convict’. Journal kept by David Douglas, 1914, During His Travels in North America So, Gurney had a poor reputation Appendix III 1823–1827. RHS / William Wesley & and possibly age-old motives for Greenwell, J (1988) Kaluakauka Son, London revisited: the death of David Douglas killing Douglas: money and jealousy. Certainly, the general feeling among
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Perhaps the most convincing account comes from the Revd Titus Coan’s son (also called Titus) who wrote (1920): ‘Ned Gurney ... killed him with an axe, took gold and gave out that he had found Douglas’s body under the hoofs of a bull in a pit; and for 60 years most people believed that a skilled mountaineer had walked into a trap! ... But my father, among others, knew from the first who had committed the murder and Gurney raved about it on his deathbed’. However, Revd Titus Coan did not arrive in Hawaii until 1835, so he does not bring first- hand experience to the tale.
Kawaiaha’o Church in Honolulu, Conclusion and further work behind which David Douglas was buried The truth is that we will never know for certain, but the balance of probabilities suggests that David Douglas was murdered by Ned Gurney. It was a brutal and premature end for a much-loved and respected plant collector. Lindsay & House (2005) and Nisbet (2009) are the most comprehensive, recent biographies. But I am also indebted to the late Jean Greenwell for her seminal work (1988). There is always scope for new research on this, and to revisit Greenwell’s exhaustive bibliography. A small team in the UK and The grave of David Douglas is Portland, Oregon, is doing both marked by a modest stone those things. Work is also in progress to try to trace any descendants of Gurney. the Hawaiian people was that accounts of him protesting his Douglas was murdered. innocence on his deathbed. Emma Gordon Mason is a botanical Although there is speculation that Lyons Doyle writes (n.d.) that ‘as historian and Churchill Fellow who Gurney left Hawaii soon afterwards, some Sydney Duck was dying in has followed David Douglas’s routes possibly to the California gold rush Waimea ... he kept repeating in his around the world. He is a co-producer of 1849, there is no evidence of this. delirium, “I didn’t do it! No! I didn’t of the film, Finding David Douglas Indeed, there is evidence that he kill him!” ’. The ‘Sydney Duck’, remained on the island until his supposed slang for an escaped further information death. In a letter dated 9 Dec 1839 convict, was assumed to be Ned Information about the film entitled he petitions King Kamehameha III Gurney, but the Lyons family Finding David Douglas can be found for land for himself and his children continued to feel that he was on the website: www.findingdaviddouglas.org (Gurney 1839). There are two guilty of murder.
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