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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

100 years ago in Spokane: ‘Restaurant man’ missing; fraud trial continues

A witness in the Jay Hough fraud trial bolstered Hough’s case that his business partner, John B. Milholland, was a violent bully, The Spokesman-Review reported on April 20, 2021.  (Spokesman-Review archives)
By Jim Kershner The Spokesman-Review

The hunt was on for Andy Anderson, “one of the best known restaurant men in the city,” who mysteriously disappeared two days earlier.

When last seen, he was closing the Inland Restaurant on Main Avenue late at night. He was due back at the restaurant at 6 a.m. the next day, but never showed up. When police searched the hotel room where he was staying, they found no trace of him.

His friends said he had made no plans to leave the city, and they were worried he might have been the victim of foul play.

However, police learned he had been “brooding for some time over domestic troubles.”

From the trial beat: A witness in the Jay Hough fraud trial bolstered Hough’s case that his business partner, John B. Milholland, was a violent bully.

An acquaintance of both men said that he once had to intervene in a struggle between Milholland and Hough.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Milholland allegedly told him. “I am going to kill Hough. I want to cut his throat and if you intervene, I am going to cut yours, too.”

Also from the court beat: A half-dozen prominent Spokane people, including a state senator and several “society matrons,” were set to testify in a robbery trial just getting underway in Spokane.

On trial were three members of the notorious South Hill “robber gang,” who ransacked fancy homes while their owners were away in California for the winter.

Jury selection was continuing.