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IN COLD BLOOD
Slaughter of the
Herbert Clutter Family

Truman Capote (1924-1984)

Holcomb, Kan., Nov. 15 [1959] (UPI) -- A wealthy wheat farmer, his wife and their two young children were found shot to death today in their home. They had been killed by shotgun blasts at close range after being bound and gagged ... There were no signs of a struggle, and nothing had been stolen. The telephone lines had been cut. —The New York Times

The wealthy wheat farmer, Herbert Clutter, was a dedicated Methodist and a widely respected self-made man who had established a successful farm from modest beginnings. He employed as many as eighteen farm hands, and former employees reportedly admired and respected him for his fair treatment and good wages. His four children, three girls and a boy, were widely respected in the community. The two eldest, Eveanna and Beverly, had moved out of their parents' home and started their adult lives. The two younger children, Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 15, were high school students still living at home. Clutter's wife, Bonnie, was a member of the local garden club.

Richard Hickock, an ex-con on parole, had heard from a fellow inmate, who had once worked for the Clutters, that he thought there was a safe at the ranch where Herb Clutter kept large amounts of cash, but he couldn't be sure. While in prison Hickock planned to commit the robbery, leave no witnesses and start a new life in Mexico with the cash from the Clutter home. Hickock thought his plan was "a cinch." Hickock later contacted Perry Smith, an ex-con also on parole and most probably his jailhouse lover, about committing the robbery with him. 

Hickock and Smith drove across the State of Kansas on Saturday, November 14, 1959, and located the Clutter home. They broke into the home while the family slept. After rousing the family, and discovering that there was no money to be found at the Clutters' home, the unstable and sociopathic Smith became enraged and slit Herbert Clutter's throat and then shot him in the head. Kenyon, then Nancy, and then Bonnie were murdered by a single shotgun blast to each of their heads.

Hickock and Smith were arrested in Las Vegas about six weeks after the murders. Smith claimed in his oral confession that Hickock murdered the two women. When asked to sign his confession, however, Smith refused. He wanted to accept responsibility for all four killings because he said he felt "sorry for Dick's mother" saying "She's a real sweet person." Hickock always maintained that Smith did all four killings.

They pleaded temporary insanity during the trial, but the local General Practitioners evaluated both of them and pronounced them sane. After five years on death row, Smith and Hickock were executed by hanging just after midnight on April 14, 1965, in Lansing, Kansas, at the Kansas State Penitentiary (now known as Lansing Correctional Facility).

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