The Newport Barber Who Faced a Manslaughter Charge in Seattle
Frank Poquette, once a familiar South Side shopkeeper, is on trial for a saloon altercation that left a man named King dead.
Frank Poquette, a barber who formerly ran a shop in the Morrison Hotel and owned property on the South Side, is on trial for manslaughter at Seattle. He is charged with having struck a man named King during an altercation in the rear of a saloon. King subsequently died from the effects of the blow. Poquette's attorneys claim that he did not strike the fatal blow.
Poquette was well known to our townspeople and left here about three years ago. He was ordinarily a peaceable citizen, but was prone to give way to violent fits of passion.
“He was ordinarily a peaceable citizen, but was prone to give way to violent fits of passion.”
Newport's local paper followed a former resident's serious trial hundreds of miles away, a reminder that small-town reputations travel. Today, court filings and news alerts still let a hometown audience follow a neighbor's case in another city, though with far more scrutiny and context than the 1909 brief allowed.
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