Source: The Andrews Express, July 8, 1882

A.C. Mills, of North Manchester, was in Andrews, Tuesday, for the purpose of looking over the ground with a view of engaging in the banking business here. Mr. Mills is a son-in-law of George Lawrence, the well known merchant of North Manchester, and will be a valuable addition to our business men if he locates here.

Source: North Manchester Journal, August 31, 1893

Concerning the Affairs of A.C. Mills

Some excitement and much talk was created here last Friday morning on receipt of the Chicago papers which announced the fact that the Windermere Hotel, in which Aug. C. Mills, formerly of this place, is a third owner, had gone in the hands of a receiver. The accounts in all the papers were substantially the same and we reproduce the one from the Inter-Ocean which is as follows:

"William C. Stevens was yesterday appointed receiver for the Windermere hotel, corner of Cornell avenue and Fifty-sixth street, by Judge Baker. The action of the court was based on a petition filed by ex-Commissioner of Public Works Louis Kuhns and Thomas W. Sprague. On August 23 A.C. Mills & Co. gave the complainants four promissory notes for an aggregate of $15,292, secured by a chattel mortgage on the hotel and its annex. The same day a mortgage was executed for $25,000 in favor of the Union National bank, which was considered as a concurrent lien on the effects of the hotel. Kuhns and Sprague represented to the court that they felt insecure in their position, and as one of the four notes given had become due they determined to foreclose. A receiver was appointed to avert such an action, with the idea of preserving the estate from the demands of minor creditors. The ground on which the hotel stands is owned by August C. Mills and Joseph W. Defrees, of the firm of Aldrich, Payne & Defrees. Governor Altgeld has been stopping at the Windermere during his present stay in the city, and it was there that he had the experience with a deputy sheriff who routed him out at 12 o'clock Tuesday night to replevin the bed on which the Governor was sleeping. About night the attorneys in the suit and the proprietors ended a conference at which an attempt to amicably settle the claims had failed. Accompanied by the deputy sheriff, they started to levy on the hotel furnishings. They started at a room on the parlor floor, and routed out Governor Altgeld on the first call. He was shown a writ covering the bed on which he had been recruiting strength for use on Illinois day. He was willing to surrender it to the officers, but the lawyers agreed to make him the custodian of the bed for one night. The Governor accepted the charge and remained unmolested until morning."

There is very little known here publicly regarding the situation of Mr. Mills' affairs in Chicago and in order to learn definitely the state of affairs Mr. G.W. Lawrence was seen and he makes the following statement: "The firm of Messrs. A.C. Mills & Co. managers of the Windermere hotel of Chicago have not failed but assigned to their friends to defeat an attachment suit brought by an offended creditor, fearing that such a suit would bring all of their creditors upon them at once. So in order to protect their other creditors as well as themselves they made an assignment as above stated. The hotel is still managed by A.C. Mills & Co. and A.C. Mills holds the same position as before, viz: secretary and treasurer. The hotel is now running practically full and is making money, and there is every reason to believe that they will come out all right. But should this firm fail it would not affect any of Mr. Mills' friends or relatives here in the least as they are not interested in any way in the affairs of Messrs. A.C. Mills & Co., at Chicago."

In addition to the above the following concerning the same firm is given in the Inter-Ocean of Sunday last: "Knott, Lewis & Tuttle, the real estate dealers, have filed a bill in the Circuit court asking for an accounting with the Imperial hotel company and A.C. Mills & Co., proprietors of the Windermere hotel, for which a receiver was appointed Thursday. On May 20 the complainants entered into a contract leasing the ground for the construction of the annex to the hotel at Fifty-sixth street and Cornell avenue. It was provided that the annual rent should be paid by the interest of several thousand dollars' worth of bonds besides 40 per cent. of the net profits of the hotel after July 1st, this year. Later an agreement was made whereby the complainants, Grace and Hyde, the contractors, were employed to erect the building for $37,000, for which they were to be reimbursed by Mills & Co. with eight $5,000 notes. It is declared that $12,000 remains due the complainants on the latter transaction."

Source: North Manchester Journal, September 7, 1893

From Sunday's Chicago Herald we learn that James H. Mills, well known in this city as Harve, has bought 149 lots in Gladstone Park addition to Chicago, of Aug. C. Mills, for $29,000. Harve's friends in this city will congratulate him on becoming one of the "bloated real estate men" of the World's Fair city.

Source: North Manchester Journal, January 18, 1894

Aug. C. Mills is moving back to this city from Chicago to live. His goods are expected this week.