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| In the early morning hours of November 15, 1959, Herbert Clutter and his family were murdered in the small farming community of ]. | In the early morning hours of November 15, 1959, Herbert Clutter and his family were murdered in the small farming community of ]. | ||
| == |
== Crime == | ||
| Herbert "Herb" Clutter was a prosperous farmer in western Kansas. He employed as many as 18 farmhands, who admired and respected him for his fair treatment and good wages. His two elder daughters, Eveanna and Beverly, had moved out and started their adult lives; his two younger children, Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 15, were in high school. Clutter's wife Bonnie had reportedly been incapacitated by ] and physical ailments since the births of her children, although this was later disputed. | |||
| Two ex-convicts recently paroled from the ], ] and ], robbed and murdered Herb, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon in the early morning hours of November 15, 1959. A former cellmate of Hickock's, Floyd Wells, had worked for Herb Clutter and told Hickock that Clutter kept large amounts of cash in a safe. Hickock soon hatched the idea to steal the safe and start a new life in Mexico. According to ], the author of '']'' {{ndash}} a non-fiction novel detailing the Clutter murders {{ndash}} Hickock described his plan as "a ], the perfect score". Hickock later contacted Smith, another former cellmate, about committing the robbery with him.<ref>''In Cold Blood'', p. 44.</ref> In fact, Herb Clutter had no safe and transacted all of his business by check. | |||
| After driving more than 400 miles across the state of ] on the evening of November 14, 1959, Hickock and Smith arrived in Holcomb, located the Clutter home, and entered through an unlocked door while the family slept. Upon rousing the Clutters and discovering there was no safe, they bound and gagged the family and continued to search for money, but found little of value in the house. Still determined to leave no witnesses, the pair briefly debated what to do; Smith, notoriously unstable and prone to violent acts in fits of rage, slit Herb Clutter's throat and then shot him in the head. Capote writes that Smith recounted later, "I didn't want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat."<ref>''In Cold Blood'', p. 244.</ref> Kenyon, Nancy, and then Bonnie Clutter were also murdered, each by a single shotgun blast to the head. Hickock and Smith left the crime scene with a small portable radio, a pair of binoculars, and less than $50 in cash. | |||
| Smith later claimed in his oral confession that Hickock murdered the two women. When asked to sign his confession, however, Smith refused. According to Capote, he wanted to accept responsibility for all four killings because, he said, he was "sorry for Dick's mother". Smith added, "She's a real sweet person."<ref>''In Cold Blood'', p. 255.</ref> Hickock always maintained that Smith murdered all four victims. | |||
| == See also== | |||
| * '']'' | * '']'' | ||
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| {{crime-stub}} | {{crime-stub}} | ||
| copied content from '']''; see that page's history for attribution | |||
Revision as of 00:36, 6 October 2019
In the early morning hours of November 15, 1959, Herbert Clutter and his family were murdered in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas.
Crime
Herbert "Herb" Clutter was a prosperous farmer in western Kansas. He employed as many as 18 farmhands, who admired and respected him for his fair treatment and good wages. His two elder daughters, Eveanna and Beverly, had moved out and started their adult lives; his two younger children, Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 15, were in high school. Clutter's wife Bonnie had reportedly been incapacitated by clinical depression and physical ailments since the births of her children, although this was later disputed.
Two ex-convicts recently paroled from the Kansas State Penitentiary, Richard Eugene "Dick" Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, robbed and murdered Herb, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon in the early morning hours of November 15, 1959. A former cellmate of Hickock's, Floyd Wells, had worked for Herb Clutter and told Hickock that Clutter kept large amounts of cash in a safe. Hickock soon hatched the idea to steal the safe and start a new life in Mexico. According to Truman Capote, the author of In Cold Blood – a non-fiction novel detailing the Clutter murders – Hickock described his plan as "a cinch, the perfect score". Hickock later contacted Smith, another former cellmate, about committing the robbery with him. In fact, Herb Clutter had no safe and transacted all of his business by check.
After driving more than 400 miles across the state of Kansas on the evening of November 14, 1959, Hickock and Smith arrived in Holcomb, located the Clutter home, and entered through an unlocked door while the family slept. Upon rousing the Clutters and discovering there was no safe, they bound and gagged the family and continued to search for money, but found little of value in the house. Still determined to leave no witnesses, the pair briefly debated what to do; Smith, notoriously unstable and prone to violent acts in fits of rage, slit Herb Clutter's throat and then shot him in the head. Capote writes that Smith recounted later, "I didn't want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat." Kenyon, Nancy, and then Bonnie Clutter were also murdered, each by a single shotgun blast to the head. Hickock and Smith left the crime scene with a small portable radio, a pair of binoculars, and less than $50 in cash.
Smith later claimed in his oral confession that Hickock murdered the two women. When asked to sign his confession, however, Smith refused. According to Capote, he wanted to accept responsibility for all four killings because, he said, he was "sorry for Dick's mother". Smith added, "She's a real sweet person." Hickock always maintained that Smith murdered all four victims.
See also
 | This crime-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |
copied content from In Cold Blood; see that page's history for attribution
- In Cold Blood, p. 44.
- In Cold Blood, p. 244.
- In Cold Blood, p. 255.