Perry Smith

Perry Edward Smith (October 27, 1928 – April 14, 1965) was one of two ex-convicts who murdered four members of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, United States on November 15, 1959, a crime made famous by Truman Capote in his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood.^[1][2]

Family and early life

Perry Edward Smith was born in Huntington, Nevada, a now-abandoned community in Elko County.^[3] His parents, Florence Julia "Flo" Buckskin and John "Tex" Smith, were rodeo performers.^[3] Smith was of mixed Irish and Cherokee ancestry (from his father's and mother's side, respectively).^[3] The family moved to Juneau, Alaska, in 1929, where the elder Smith distilled bootleg whisky for a living. Smith's father abused his wife and four children, and in 1935 his wife left him, taking the children with her to San Francisco.^[3] Smith and his siblings were raised initially with their alcoholic mother. After Smith's mother died when he was thirteen, he and his siblings were placed in a Catholic orphanage, where nuns allegedly abused him physically and emotionally for his life-long problem of chronic bed wetting. He was also placed in a Salvation Army orphanage, where one of the caretakers allegedly tried to drown him. In his adolescence, Smith reunited and lived an itinerant existence with his father. He also spent time in different juvenile detention homes after joining a street gang and becoming involved in petty crime. Perry's father, Tex, moved to Cold Springs, Nevada, circa 1964-1967 where he lived to the age of 92 before committing suicide, distraught over poor health. ^[4]

Two of Smith's siblings committed suicide as young adults, and the remaining sister eliminated any contact with him.^[5]

Military service and life in Washington

At age 16, Smith joined the United States Merchant Marine. He joined the army in 1948, where he served in the Korean War.^[6] During his stint in the army, Smith spent weeks at a time in the stockade for public carousing and fighting with Korean civilians and other soldiers. In spite of his record, in 1952, Smith received an honorable discharge and was last stationed at Fort Lewis in Washington.^[6] He stayed with an Army friend for a time in the Tacoma area, where he was employed as a car painter. With one of his first pay checks, Smith bought a motor bike. While riding, he lost control of the bike due to adverse weather conditions. Smith nearly died in the accident and spent six months in a Tacoma hospital. Because of the severe injuries to both legs, Smith's legs were permanently disabled^[6] and he suffered chronic leg pains for the rest of his life. To help control the pain, he was known to consume a copious amount of aspirin.^[2][6]

The murders and life on death row

Perry Smith and Richard Hickock first met in the Kansas State Prison, at Lansing, Kansas, resuming their acquaintance after Hickock's release in November 1959. Hickock and Smith later testified that they had gotten the idea to rob the Clutters after Hickock was told, by former cellmate Floyd Wells, that there was a safe in the family's house containing $10,000. When they invaded the house, however, they discovered that there was no such safe.^[2]

Smith and Hickock were captured in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 30, 1959, following an extensive manhunt which extended into Mexico.^[3]

Smith admitted to cutting the throat of the father, Herbert Clutter, as well as shooting both Herbert and Kenyon Clutter in the head with a shotgun at close range. The trial record shows a dispute as to which of the two shot the women, Bonnie and Nancy Clutter. Alvin Dewey, chief investigator of the Clutter family murders, testified at the trial that Hickock insisted in his confession that Smith performed all the killings; Smith, however, first claimed Hickock killed the women but later claimed to have shot them himself. Although Smith's revised confession coincided with Hickock's initial statement, Smith refused to testify in court, as did Hickock, leading to a lack of an official record detailing who killed the women, aside from Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) Special Agent Dewey's testimony outlining Hickock's confession, along with Smith's confession and the latter's subsequent revision.

While Smith had only a grade-school education, he maintained a strong interest in art, literature and music. He read extensively, and during his time on death row, wrote poems and painted pictures for other inmates from photos of their family members.^[7]

Relationship with Truman Capote

During research for his novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote extensively interviewed Smith and eventually befriended him.^[8] There have long been rumors and conjecture as to the exact nature of their relationship. While Capote never wrote anything to suggest that there was anything more than a platonic friendship, some accounts have suggested perhaps a stronger association had developed.^[9]

Execution

Perry Smith and Dick Hickock were executed by hanging on April 14, 1965. After hanging for twenty minutes, Hickock died at 12:41 am, with Smith following, at 1:19am. Warden Greg Seamon presided over the hanging of the convicted murderers in Lansing.^[2]

Film portrayals

Smith was portrayed in the 1968 film version of In Cold Blood by Robert Blake, who had an uncanny resemblance to Smith;^[10] by Eric Roberts in the 1996 miniseries adaptation of the original film,^[11] by Clifton Collins, Jr. in 2005's Capote^[12] and by Daniel Craig in 2006's Infamous.^[13]

See also

• George York and James Latham

References

External links

• In Cold Blood: A Legacy, Lawrence Journal-World, Lawrence, Kansas, April 3-6, 2005
• Crime library article
• In Cold Blood, half a century on
• Inmate case file