Show aeo gg g eca 7 ibi i 40 i v 0 o y 1 it f s I 1 I 1 Z I 1 ACED MAN FOUND DEAD IN A POTATO PATCH 1 HI read bead was horribly backed then to aa make the pont fool deed complete the again sends send a bullet bailee titi hr victim heart beart b N THE cemetery at I 1 f muncy pa recently I 1 was burled buried the bo body dy of aged amos ritter bluer whose brutal i is murder near dewart was one of the most fiendish crimes in the history of central pennsylvania the mu murderer whose motive was evidently robbery first battered his aged victim over the head with a hatchet and then shot him i through the heart holding the pistol so close to the prostrate man that the clothing and skin were powder marked ritters body was found about 6 in the morning by jacob betz a neighbor the corpse lay in mr benzs potato patch just over the fence which separates mr benzs land from that of the murdered man the body lay on its back with two large cheap bandana handkerchiefs drawn over the face anese surmounted by a black slouch hat the shoes of the dead man had bad been removed evidently tor for the purpose of searching them for money which ritter was sUP supposed Dosed to have and were standing together between his feet blood from the halt dozen horrible wounds in the head bead was spattered over the ground and evidences of a fierce struggle were apparent in the soft soil that comprises the potato patch but the shrewdness of the assassin sassin was shown by the tact fact that he had bad covered his footprints by scraping the soft soil over them all tracks track about the corpse were thus obliterated and the footprints made by the murdee er when he left the scene were also successfully covered in the same manner he had evidently gone from the patch backward covering each successive footprint by sc aping ground over it il the marks of his fingers were distinctly seen A reporter visited dewart depart where the body of the murdered man was in ch hage ha ge of undertaker charles romig the corpse was a ghastly sight there were seven gas gashes hes on the face and head one had separated the lef left t ear and another just in f rant front of the left lef t ear laid the cheek open there was another deep cut evidently delivered as the aged victim was falling or as he lay on his bis face on the back of the head the other gashes were scattered over the top of the head and ran from right to left showing that the assassin had bad stood over his victim and chopped him as he lay the murderer must be a human fiend judging from the butchery of his victim or else the old man fought long and hard tor for his life what a scene the pale moon must mast have looked upon that night when the murderer of this gray haired inoffensive farmer chopped and battered the PLO prostrate form as though it was some horrible monster any oae cae of the wounds would probably have been sufficient to stun an ordinary man but it is said of old man ritter that he was more sturdy than the usual run of men that he was a powerful fellow in his day he lived alone in the little story and a halt half house for several years his wife and ke he having become estranged a hali half FI I 1 I 1 IT I 1 i I 1 1 I 1 I 1 AMOS HITTER dozen ty ayears ears ago their children are all adults with homes of their own consequently the aged ag ed father it lived ved the ufa life of ct IL a recluse farial tanning ng hla his five acre plot and residing in the weather beaten frame house bouse by the roadside there la Is an am 91 air ir of abandon about he be place and the inside ot the bouse Is a I 1 lumble um of domestic disarrangement which shows the long absence of womans comans tidiness toe the house is hemmed in by a growth I 1 of pear and appl trees in the rear there we are quite a number of fruit t trees the limbs of which scrape and aid grind over the moss inow covered shingles at ev every breath of wind that sighs through their bows these trees stand oa an the edge of the clover field through figh which theold the old man an chased the robber and almost hide the house from view afi when en one alit stands izands in the potato patch where him the body I 1 1 tte there 1943 is 19 a 43 strange thing ahing about this E 11 hardly P cufr fl orthe 1 spot r V I 1 I 1 e M 01 was vas brutally 71 41 mardi abd I 1 cahier corner I 1 t i fa a el doit 1 tc fa am I 1 ti th the ev grave of nelson R th eaf bid j air J oaf ikea AVA ax aad e s if z t din fv an 3 4 ve f thewl I 1 d p ed 7 lor gold j d J wa if I 1 aft af ochla AWA 4 ghastly 1 E i iii 75 iii ailt hadj W 1 duap lk an elect lect ia 3 W t U 1 S rn r n ez jay I 1 ax W U liffe r d i I 1 I 1 11 1 aw 4 I 1 K 1 M 04 alvs r aw 1 i 11 9 ae 4 2 X W N INA I 1 71 i M ns n 5 4 4 X t pi te i i 1 I 1 I 1 r graviel grave had ad beta bee him in amur dere in the WM lam sport cemetery et em relatives of the CO condemned ude aued man mall aal appeared feared at the last MOM moment en t and claimed body it was taken to dewart and thence into the country to the farm far then owned by a relative ot of th the e in murderer u add and there th ere burled buried perhaps history may repeat itsel and the ill gotten money madey of ritters hitters murderer may yet rise up to abc acc accuse use him the authorities of northumberland county will leave nothing undone to unravel the mystery surrounding the brutal crime and bring the perpetrator to justice 0 |