IN COLD BLOOD

The Clutters

On Saturday night, 14 November 1959, the lights did not burn late at the home of Herbert Clutter and his family near Holcomb, Kansas. The Clutters customarily rose early on Sunday to prepare for church. In many ways they represented the heartland American ideal. Herbert Clutter was a successful wheat farmer and the current chairman of the Kansas Conference of Farm Organizations. A respected man in the community, Clutter never touched alcohol or tobacco or even caffeine. His wife Bonnie was a retiring woman and something of an invalid, but she was well liked and was a caring mother of their four children, two of whom were still at home. Their youngest daughter, Nancy, was six-teen and her brother Kenyon was a year younger. Both were straight-A students. Mr. and Mrs. Clutter had two other daughters.

The Murder Scene

The morning of 15 November, two friends of Nancy whom the Clutters took to church each Sunday were alarmed to find the house quiet. After they entered the home, they found Nancy's body in her room. By that afternoon the house was swarming with investigators. All four of the Clutters had been shot in the head with a shotgun. Nancy was lying in her bed facing the wall, her hands and feet tied. The bedcover had been drawn up to her shoulder as if she had been carefully tucked into bed. Bonnie Clutter was also tied up on her bed, and Kenyon was tied on a sofa in the basement den. His head had been placed on a pillow. Herbert Clutter lay nearby in another basement room. He also had been tied, though it appeared that he had broken some of his bindings. Apparently to ease his repose on the cold basement floor a mattress box had been moved from the other end of the room. Yet, in stark contrast to the apparent solicitude of the mysterious intruder, he had been shot in the head after his throat had been cut.

No Motive, No Clues

There seemed to be no motive for the killings. Robbery was unlikely. Nothing of value was missing. Indeed, it was well known in Holcomb that Mr. Clutter never kept cash in his home. The killer or killers had picked up the fired shotgun shells and had ripped out the telephones. The only apparent physical clues, the rope and tape used to bind the victims, were a common type obtainable anywhere. The initial belief was that the murderer or murderers were from nearby, perhaps motivated by some long-held grudge.

The Murderers

In fact, the crime was committed by Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, who had driven over four hundred miles from Kansas City with the intention of robbing and murdering the Clutter family. Hickock was twenty-eight years old and had grown up in a stable if modest home. In high school he was an above-average student and an all-around athlete. After graduation he went to work first for the Sante Fe Railroad and then as a mechanic in Kansas City. By the end of 1957 he had been married twice, fathered three sons, and had progressed from gambling to writing bad checks to burglary, for which he was sentenced to the Kansas State Penitentiary in Lansing. In prison Hickock met Floyd Wells. As they whiled away the long hours, Wells told Hickock that one of his more pleasant experiences had been some ten years before, when he had worked for about a year on the Clutter farm. His story immediately caught Hickock's interest. He questioned Wells about the layout of the ranch and home. Wells thought Clutter kept a safe full of money in his office. Hickock was soon talking about how he would rob the place once he got out. He had worked out all the details, including choosing the man who would be his partner. Smith, thirty-one, was another inmate at Lansing. Smith's mother was a Cherokee, and his parents had been rodeo performers. After his parents left the rodeo when he was five, Smith's childhood became one of wandering poverty in the Depression. When he was sixteen Smith joined the merchant marine. He later enlisted in the army and served in Korea, receiving the Bronze Star. After his discharge in 1952, he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident which left his legs permanently weak and painful. He eventually wound up in the Kansas prison after having been convicted of burglary.

Committing the Crime

On the evening of 14 November 1959, Hickock and Smith broke into the Clutters' house, woke the family, and demanded to know where the safe was. Mr. and Mrs. Clutter told them that there was none. They locked the family in a bathroom, and Hickock kept guard while Smith searched the house. Smith then proceeded to take the members of the family out of the bathroom one by one and tie them up. He was the one responsible for the small signs of concern which had puzzled the police. All Hickock and Smith found was about forty dollars in cash and a radio. At this point Smith asked Hickock if he still wanted to go through with the killing. He stepped up to Mr. Clutter holding a hunting knife, with the intention, he later said, of calling what he believed to be Hickock's bluff. He had never favored killing them, but he wanted Hickock to back down first. While he was kneeling on the floor, his legs aching from all the activity, Smith suddenly slashed Mr. Clutter's throat. As the man began to rip apart his bonds with a last spasm of strength, Smith grabbed the shotgun from Hickock and pulled the trigger. The two men went to the next room in the basement, and Smith killed Kenyon. They then went back upstairs and either Hickock or Smith shot the two women.

On the Road

Upon returning to Kansas City, Smith and Hickock faced no questions. After about a week Hickock raised several hundred dollars by passing some bad checks, and the pair took off for Mexico. The date was 21 November 1959, and they felt that they were home free. This was far from the case. Despite Hickock's insistence of eliminating all witnesses, there was still one person who could connect him to the Clutter murders—Wells. The prisoner heard of the murders on the radio and immediately realized that his old cellmate had actually carried out his plan. Wells at first hesitated. Eventually, at the beginning of December, the inducement of a thousand-dollar reward and the encouragement of a religious friend convinced him to speak to the prison warden. The warden immediately informed the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and a nationwide alert was issued for Hickock and his companion Smith. In the meantime, after spending several weeks in Mexico, the pair returned to Kansas City, where Hickock passed additional bad checks. Before the police could arrest them Hickock and Smith were headed for Miami to spend Christmas on the beach, oblivious to the net which was closing in around them. When they ran out of money they headed for Las Vegas, where the police brought their long journey to an end.

Trial and Execution

The authorities needed confessions. They had Wells's story but no real evidence to back it up. Hickock finally broke down and admitted his involvement. Once Smith was convinced that his partner had talked, he too confessed. The men were tried in Garden City near the scene of the Clutter murders. The trial was straightforward. The police now had some physical evidence connecting the defendants to the crime. The gun used in the murders had been found in the home of Hickock's parents, and experts were able to identify it as the murder weapon. Wells testified as to Hickock's plans in prison, and the confessions were introduced into evidence. Neither Hickock or Smith took the stand, but there was little their court-appointed attorneys could do. On 13 May 1960 they were both convicted and sentenced to hang. With the assistance of skillful lawyers who volunteered their time to help the defendants, Hickock and Smith evaded several execution dates. Eventually their appeals, and their time, ran out. On 14 April 1965 they were executed by hanging.

Epilogue

The crime attracted considerable attention, being covered extensively in the Kansas print and broad-cast media, and even reported in Time. However, its real notoriety did not occur until Truman Capote published his book, In Cold Blood (1965). There seemed something about these murders that appealed to the American public: a hideous, pointless killing by two twisted individuals, a relentless and successful police investigation, a guilty verdict after a fair trial, and the eventual execution of the killers. Perhaps most satisfying was Capote's assurance that Smith's last words were "I apologize." Despite the

WARNING AS TO YOUR RIGHTS

You are under arrest. Before we ask you any questions, you must understand what your rights are.

You have the right to remain silent- You are not required to say anything to us at any time or to answer any questions. Anything you say can be used against you in court.

You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we question you and to have him with you during questioning.

If you cannot afford a lawyer and want one, a lawyer will be provided for you*

If you want to answer questions now without a lawyer present you will still have the right to stop answering at any time. You also have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to a lawyer,

P-4475

Cards with the Miranda warnings were given to Washington, D.C., policemen in 1966.

Clutters' tragic deaths, the readers could feel reassured that the legal and moral order remained intact.

Sources:

Truman Capote, In Cold Blood (New York: Random House, 1965);

"In Cold Blood," Time, 74 (30 November 1959): 18;

"The Killers," Time, 75 (18 January 1960): 18.