Reseacher

The Murder

Perry Smith and Richard Eugene Hickock became acquinted with each other during their time in prison. They both plan to commit a robbery after they got out and move to Mexico. When Perry smith was released from jail before Richard, a man named Floyd Wells became Richard's new inmate. Floyd Wells once worked for Herbert Clutter's plantation and he knew the layout of the Clutter's home. Floyd Wells told Richard that Herbert Clutter might possibly have safe in his home,and with this information he contacted Perry and they created the treacherous plot. When Richard was released,the two put thier plans in action, torob the Clutter family's safe. On Novemeber 14, 1959, they shot four members of the Clutters family to death and they did not find any safe.

Word Watcher

tantalizied pg 103

Researcher

Capote's Quest

After Capote's BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1958), Capote saw an article on the New Yorker about a wealthy family in Holcomb, Kansas was killed. Capote thought to himself that this would be a great story to write about. Capote and his good friend Harper Lee set out to Holcomb, Kansas to research about the story. They interviewed the towns people about the murder and about what they know about the Clutter Family. Capote also interacted with the two murders Perry Smith and Richard Eugene Hickock and created a strong reltionship with the two murders. It took a total of six years for Capote to finish the novel. In Cold Blood is considered to be the first documentary book, reacting a true story.

Literary Illuminator

Pg 89

The investigators are left faced with a search for a killer or killers whose cunning is apparent if his (or their) motives is not. For this killer or killers: *Carefully cute the telephone cords of the home's two telephones. *Bound and gagged their victims expertly, with no evidence of a struggle with any of them. *left nothing in the house amiss, left no indication they had searched for anything with the possible exception of [Cltter's] billford. *Shot four persons in different parts of the house, calmly picking up the expended shotgun shells.



This part of the book I feel is very descriptive of the crime scene as they're investigating.

Researcher

Perry Edward Smith

Although a murderer, Perry Edward Smith grew up in a chaotic environment where his parents worked as rodeos. Perry's father was Irish while his mother was a Cherokee Native American. At the age of six his parents divorced due to his mother's heavy drinking, and he moved to San Fransisco for some time. Unable to support him, Perry's mother sent him off to an orphanage. There was much confusion during his young life and he was a wild kid, committing to stealing at the age of eight. Perry was eventually caught and was send to Juvenile halls. After uniting with his father, perry moves to Alaska and when he turned sixteen he joined the merchant marines and went on to join the U.S. Army; Perry served in Korean and Japan. In 1952 Perry was involved in a motorcycle accident that left him maimed for the rest of his life. It took Perry months to recover his legs but it was never the same. In 1955 Perry was put into jail for stealing office equipments, and in Kansas state prison Perry met Richard Hickock.

Literary Illuminator

Pg 79

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, a state-wide organization with headquarters in Topeka, had a staff of nineteen experienced detectives scattered through the state, and the services of these men are available whenever a case seems beyond the competence of local authorities.


I found that this was an important part of the book because since the murder of the family, the case of trying to figure out who the murder was take a big part of the book.

Literary Illuminator

Pg 65

The Missis and me, we didn't sleep two hours last night, was up and down the whole time, on account of we git a sick baby. But the only thing we heard, about ten-thirty, quarter to eleven, I heard a car drive away, and I made the remark to Missis, "There goes Bib Rupp." I started walking home, and on the way, about halfway down the lane, I saw Kenyon's old collie and that dog was scared. Stood there with its tail between its legs, didn't bark or move. And seeing the dong- somehow that made me feel again. I'd been to dazed, too numb, to feel the full viciousness of it. The suffering. The horror. They were dead. A whole family. Gentle, kindly people, people I knew-murdered. You had to believe it, because it was really true."


This part of the book actually shows a bit of a strong wording to the death of the people. Everything that happens you can see from the characters point of view. You see this dog that once belonged to someone you knew. The dog's alone, afraid and it has no where to be anymore since the murder. The author words the death a bit strongly but in a way someone can relate to how the character feels if they had someone maybe in their family or a friend that has died.