Thalia Massie, left, with the Massie's lawyer, Clarence Darrow, center, and her husband Lieutenant Tommie Massie, right, on the Matson Liner Malolo in San Francisco.

— Thalia Massie, accuser, statement at trial, late November 1931 "When asked about the car these boys rode in [Mrs. Massie] said it was either a Ford or Chevrolet. She did not mention any car ...

In the early morning of Sunday, Sept. 12, 1931, those two worlds collided when Thalia Massie, the socially connected young wife of a Navy officer, accused five nonwhite island men of gang-rape.

In the Massie affair, there was clear evidence that Thalia Massie had indeed been harmed — though the details on what really happened remain a mystery. Extensive and inflammatory coverage of the case ...

The Thalia Massie affair, and the subsequent trials, were as scandalous in 1930s America as the kidnapping of Lindbergh’s son. A heady cocktail of rape, racism, lynching, ...

Yet Thalia Massie’s claim soon ignited a national reaction. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Thalia Massie, center, her mother, Grace Fortescue, and husband were tried for the murder of Joseph Kahahawai.

As a spoiled socialite in Hawaii in 1931, 20-year-old Thalia Massie considered herself superior to even her aristocratic friends. Her rocky marriage, fueled by drunkenness and pettiness, suffered. … ...

Psychologist Carol Maxym had visited Hawaii several times when she learned about the notorious Massie case and the murder of Joe Kahahawai. It is one of the ugliest stories in modern Hawaiian history.

Five young Honolulu men of Asian and Native Hawaiian descent were prosecuted for rape after Thalia Massie, the Caucasian wife of a Navy officer, insisted she had been raped by a gang of Hawaiian men.

— Thalia Massie, accuser, statement at trial, late November 1931 "We were about to leave [the Ala Wai Inn] and my husband didn't want to leave Thalia [Massie] alone, so my husband went and got ...