Putting a slain officer to rest: An author pieces together a family’s unknown history

By Scott Wheeler | Special to the Vermont Guardian

Posted January 27, 2006

NEWPORT — Standing in front of the Chittenden Bank late last year, Bridge Carney reflected on the fact that on Sept. 26, 1917, in almost in that exact spot, his great-grandfather, Joseph Manogue, took his last breath, a victim of a gunshot wound, the first and last Newport City police officer killed in the line of duty.

“I felt that the reaching of the present to the past is now full circle,” Carney, of Thousand Oaks, CA, said during his trip to Newport. “I am still soaking in that the police chief of Newport, seeking to put a face on a fallen Newport officer, and a writer helping to find that face, and a great-grandson, trying to connect his family roots, have come from such different directions and connected with each other to remember and honor Joseph Manogue nearly 90 years after his death. My father, Joseph’s only grandson, is still in awe over the events surrounding Joseph’s death and around those who are remembering him today.”

As I contemplated writing his story, all I knew was that I wanted to pay respect to a fallen officer, and to recognize the tenacity of Police Chief Paul Duquette for not giving up on his search.

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