In the late summer of 1925, the small town of Eatonville, Washington, was shaken by the violent death of its newly appointed Town Marshal, Dolar Laplant. A 53-year-old White male and a veteran of the Spanish-American War, Laplant had only been in his position for four days before the fatal encounter. On the afternoon of September 4th, his brief and tragically short career in law enforcement came to a brutal end when he responded to reports of a man recklessly firing a gun down Center Street,
with bullets narrowly missing playing children.
Unarmed, as was common for town marshals of that era, Laplant confronted the suspect, Charles Wright, at his residence. Wright, who had been drinking for two days after losing his job, had purchased a handgun just the day before. When Laplant questioned him about the public disturbance, Wright simply replied "Yes" and fired a. 32-caliber pistol from his coat pocket. The bullet struck Laplant, causing a mortal wound. In a final act of valor, the wounded marshal managed to wrestle with his assailant, turning Wright's own gun on him and firing a single shot that struck Wright in the head.
After subduing his attacker, Dolar Laplant calmly walked to a neighboring house to ask for a doctor before succumbing to his injuries thirteen hours later on September 5, 1925. Charles Wright was taken into custody and subsequently stood trial for the murder of the town marshal. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to the state penitentiary in Walla Walla. However, his time in prison was short-lived. Ten months after killing Marshal Laplant, Charles Wright died from complications stemming from the gunshot wound he had received during his arrest. The fragments of the bullet fired by Laplant remained lodged in his brain, leading to his death and closing the final chapter on this tragic event.
