100 years ago in Spokane: A killer uttered six menacing words before calmly executing a former Prohibition informant and then turning the gun on himself

John Tody, described as an “Austrian laborer,” walked into the Idle Hour poolroom and cardroom, stepped up behind Antone Jovick, and said, “I’ve got you now, stool pigeon.”

Then he pressed a revolver to Jovick’s ear and fired three times, killing him instantly.

The 300 men in the cardroom panicked and stampeded toward the doors.

Tody shouted, “Don’t be afraid boys, I’m not going to harm anyone else.”

Then he placed the revolver to his head and fired.

He was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital and was given little chance of recovery.

Police said his victim, Jovick, had been arrested several times on liquor charges. His friends said that he had been a police informer and was responsible for the arrests of several bootleggers.

From the charity beat: “Deplorable poverty” existed in Spokane’s poorer sections, but the Good Fellows were there to help.

The Good Fellows were a charitable brotherhood formed every Christmas season to help those in need. In this case, they found a family with three tots, two of them sick. The family’s cupboard had “a handful of potatoes and a small can of condensed milk – that’s all.”

The father said he walked 80 miles, from one Idaho lumber camp to another, in a fruitless search for work, “only to return home empty-handed.”

The Good Fellows visited and gave them nearly $10 worth of groceries – a substantial amount in that era – along with several bottles of milk for the babies.

The Good Fellows also put out a call for mattresses and beds, which were desperately needed by many poor families.