100 years ago in Spokane: Jury convicts man of murdering hotel landlady

A jury convicted Robert A. Hood of first degree murder in the slaying of Margaret Braun, landlady of the Tourist Hotel.

The jury deliberated about six hours and “at no time were more than two in favor of acquittal.”

They had gone into the jury room with the words of the prosecuting attorney still ringing in their ears: “Hood is as coldblooded as a piece of steel … . Look at him. Notice the dark and sinister look in his eyes — that criminal look.”

The jury rejected Hood’s defense, and evidently believed the testimony of one of his accomplices, “Scotty” Weston, who said that they went to Braun’s room to rob her and that Hood grabbed her around the neck and strangled her.

The closing day of the trial was marked by a bitter spat between the attorneys. The prosecutor attacked a doctor who testified and said that some people will “prostitute their profession for a few filthy dollars.”

The defense attorney then launched into an angry attack on the prosecution’s methods, mainly, in protecting Hood’s accomplices so they would testify against him.

Hood did not show any signs of emotion when the verdict was read. The penalty was expected to be life imprisonment.