Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 April 1901 — Farmers Search for Bitter. [ARTICLE]

Farmers Search for Bitter.

A posse of fifty armed farmers, determined on immediate justice, are scouring the country between Nashville, 111., and Pinckneyville in search of Martin Ritter, the fugitive slayer of Clara Cheek. The posse is ‘being led by William Cheek, the father, and Dan Cheek, the brother of the murdered girl, and unless the sheriff of Washington and Perry counties succeeds in apprehending Ritter before he falls into the hands of the posse, he will undoubtedly be lynched. Clara Cheek, a 16-year-old girl, was murdered at the home of her parents, near Rice, on Saturday night. Ritter, who is 24, and Miss Cheek had long been sweethearts, but the girl refused to marry on account of her age.