Honolulu officials had never seen a more explosive New Year’s Eve.
As 1926 turned into 1927, city streets were filled with the sounds of gunpowder igniting amid what one newspaper called the “wildest carnival” in the community’s history. Fireworks landed in moving cars. A 14-year-old’s dress caught on fire when a firecracker exploded near her legs. Four men were hospitalized with serious eye injuries. Another lost his hearing in a fireworks accident.
It would have taken 1,000 police officers to arrest everyone who broke the city’s limited fireworks regulations, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin wrote. Something had to be done to protect life and limb…