Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-28
A FATAL ROW.
Napoleon Duquette Killed at
Barefoot" Farm, Charlton.
CONFLICTING STORIES.
Walter S. Pratt Puts Bullet
Into Victims Body.
Row Caused Over Some Farming Tools
Alleged to Be Owned by F. Stephen
Pratt-stories as Told by Both
Sides.
CONFLICTING STORIES.

Special Dispatch to the spy
! Southbridge, March 27.-This town and
community were thrown into a state of
excitement this afternoon. when it was
learned that Napoleon Duquette, a
| French Canadian resident of this town,
had been shot and almost instantly
killed at a house Of questionable repute
in the town of Charlton, under very pc
culiar circumstances, by Walter s.
| Pratt, son of f. Stephen Pratt, a re-
| spectacle farmer in that locality. The
house where the tragedy occurred is
known as Barefoot" situated in the
town Of Charlton, S7k miles from South
Sturbridge town line. The house is
run by one Joseph Boucher, and is a
well-known rendezvous for men from
this town and vicinity.
Duquette and a number Of other men
| and women were in the house at the
time of the shooting, or shortly before,
and reports vary as to whether the par
ty were in the house over night or not.
At all events, the party consisted Of
three women and five men, and 1t is said
1 cOnviViality ran high. -
/ About 3 O'Clock this afternoon, +. Ste
phen Pratt and his son drove up to the
house, made a demand on Boucher re-
garding some loaned farming tools, and
a fracaS ensued in which Pratt, Boucher
and Duquette took part with the result
that the latter was soon afterwards a
corpse, with q bullet hole through his
heart. There are conflicting stories told
by Pratt and his father and Boucher,
and the other people who were at Bare
foot"
Pratt's story as told to Judge Barthol-
omew and DR.. A. j. McCrea, and cleaned
by the Spy representative, was as fol-
ows: Pratt and his son drove to Bare
} foot" this afternoon, and Walter s..
Pratt, the younger man, who is about
23 years old, spoke to Joseph Boucher
concerning some farming tools that had
ben- loaned by Pratt to Boucher. An
J argument ensued, and hot words were
passed between Boucher and the young
er Pratt. Napoleon Duquette and two
other men came from the vicinity of the
! house to the spot where the argument
was being held, near the woodshed
which adjoins the barn. Duquette told
the younger Pratt to leave the prem
ises and struck him, and afterwards
clinched with him After this, accord
ing to the Pratts, the whole crowd
pitched into Walter Pratt, and he was
beaten numerically about the body and
head. AT this juncture, Walter Pratt
drew his revolver and fired, and soon af-
: ter Duquette was lying unconscious on
the ground, in pile Of stone and brush,
near a big tree, some distance from
where the original fracas began.
\ While the crowd at Barefoot" were
/ caring for Duquette, the two Pratts
managed to get into their wagon, and
| the elder Pratt drove as rapidly as pos
| sible towards this town. Upon arrival
here, the Pratts made their way to the
office of DR.. McCrea, where an examina-
| ton of the injuries to Walter S. Pratt
was made 1t was found that he had
| two fractured ribs, fracture of the left
| arm, and he was badly bruised about
the head, there being both bruises, as
| though pounded with hard substance,
| and several abrasions of the scalp. The
next move, made by advice of DR.. Nc
| Crea, was to tell the story to Judge A.
| J. Bartholomew. When the Judge
| learned Of the extent Of the injuries to
| the younger Pratt, and knowing the ell
| der Pratt to be a trustworthy man,
| Judge Bartholomew allowed Pratt to
| take his son to his home for proper care.
| The story told was straightforward
one. and every indication pointed to the
act as self-defense.
! This was the story, in substance, as
told by the Pratts, and soon after a
| different aspect developed when
| Joseph Boucher and others appeared in
| town laboring under great excitement,
| and announced the death of Duquette,
stating that the killing was deliberate
and wholly unjustidable The story of
Boucher was told to Deputy Sheriff
Franklin Jacobs, who in company with
| Officers Higgins and Doughty, and
Medical Examiner c. G. Bradford, drove
out to the farm in Charlton and made a
| thorough investigation. They returned
late this evening, and the story they
CLEANED from the three women and five
men at Barefoot" was quite different
from that told Judge Bartholomew, by
| the Pratts earlier in the evening.
The counter story is substantially this:
Walter S. Pratt and This father F.
Stephen Pratt drove up to Barefoot .
| at the time indicated, and the younger
Pratt jumped from the wagon near the
/ shed and made boisterous demand for
!, the return of the farming tools from
| Joseph Boucher, the proprietor Of the
place. Boucher asked Pratt not to be
| so noisy, as he did not care to have a
disturbance at his place on Sunday.
Pratt persisted, however, and at this,
Duquette, who is know to be of an inn
| petuous disposition, came from the di-
rection Of the house and joined with
Boucher in his protest with Pratt, to
desist from creating a disturbance on
| Sunday. 1t is claimed that at this
| point, Walter Pratt closed with Du-
quette and at the same time pulled his
revolver, and pressing the muzzle
against the side of Duquette pulled the
| trigger Prior to this it is claimed that
the elder Pratt jumped from his wagon
and Joined with his son n the fracas
with Duquette and Boucher Stimuli
| taneously with the discharge Of young
| Pratt's revolver, the crowd closed with
| the combatants to prevent further use
Of the revolver, and they rolled about
the yard in a promiscuous pile, bringing
up ON pile of stones and brush, near
the tree referred TO in the original
story of the Pratts. This story was corr
robrated by all Of The witnesses of the
row, and Pratt and his son made their
escape, while the crowd were caring for
| DuQuette.
| The injured man died in a very short
time after the fatal bullet entered his
body.
Medical Examiner Bullard made a su-
! perficial examination of the wound He
| found that the muzzle of the revolver
had been placed close to Duquette's
body indeed so close that the clothing
was scorched by the powder. 1t was
found that the bullet entered the left
breast, about an inch below, and to the
right OF the nipple. The officials
gathered what they could from those
| who Witnessed the affair, and served