Case Summary

On March 4, 1874, Francois Lafontaisis allegedly sold two bottles of whisky to an Indian named Nee Shore, a member of the Walla Wallas. They met at a creek the Uwatilla reservation, where Shore paid $2 for two bottles of whiskey and gave Lafontaisis a $1 tip. Before Shore could drink the liquor, Indian agent A. Seitel took the bottles away from him and arrested Lafontaisis. On May 11, 1874, Lafontaisis was brought before a grand jury and judge J.R. Lewis. Several witnessess testified that they had seen him buy the bottles at Joe Bentley's saloon, then resell them to Shore. He was sentenced to 18 months in the Walla Walla county jail. A year after he was incarcerated, Lafontaisis petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus against Walla Walla county sheriff George F. Thomas on May 21, 1875. He argued that the law against selling liquor to Indians had been repealed by the time he was arrested, and his confinement was thus illegal. It is unknown what the result of the writ was, but Lafontaisis was transferred at some point to the U.S. Penitentiary in Washington Territory. He was freed on August 14, 1875 in compliance with an act of Congress passed on March 3, 1875, which allowed for some US prisoners to be released.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

• Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

• Selling liquor to indians

Sites of significance

• Walla Walla County Jail (Walla Walla, Washington)
• State Penitentiary of the State of Washington (Walla Walla, Washington)

Outcome

Unknown

Fate of bound party

Released from custody

Case Citation

Walla Walla County Government, Clerk, Territorial Court Civil/Criminal Case Files, 1860-1889, No. 889.

Source material(s)

Journal

Length of case file

Between 21 and 30 pages

Repository(s)

• Washington State Archives, Eastern Regional Branch (Cheney, WA) (Cheney, Washington)

Point(s) of law cited

Act of Congress on March 3, 1875

Tag(s)

• Native american

People

• Lafontaisis, Francois (Frank La Fontaine) (petitioner)
• Lafontaisis, Francois (Frank La Fontaine) (bound party)
• Wingard, Samuel C. (judge)
• Caton, N.T. (Nathan Thomas Caton) (petitioner attorney)
• Nash, L. B. (petitioner attorney)
• Lewis, Joseph R. (authority ordering detention)
• Lewis, Joseph R. (judge)
• Thomas, George F. (respondent)
• Thomas, George F. (holding party)

• Additional parties

  Andrews, J.J. [acting US attorney]

  Andrews, William H. [US commissioner and court clerk]

  Ayres, A. Reeves [clerk] Bentley, John [witness]

  Chase, H.M. [foreman of the grand jury that indicted Lafontaisis]

  Justice, John [witness]

  Kearney, E.S. [US Marshal]

  Lacy, O.P. [justice of the peace, notarized the writ of habeas corpus]

  McBeen, John [witness]

  Pitts, H.H. [guard of US penitentiary in Washington Territory]

  Seitel, A. [Indian agent who accused Lafontaisis]

  Whitman, E.B. [U.S. Marshal's deputy]

  Shore, Nee [Indian who Lafontaisis sold liquor to]