Low-tech edition
Low-tech edition
Lawrence, Kansas
In Cold Blood: A Legacy
The following stories ran in the Lawrence Journal-World between November 1959 and March 1960.
November 16, 1959
In a farm home far off the beaten path of this vast wheat area, four members of a respected, well-to-do family were murdered over the weekend. Read more »
November 17, 1959
"There wasn't a better liked fellow in this county," said Lynn Russell, long-time friend of Herb Clutter. Russell echoed the bewilderment that gripped Finney County following the slaying of Clutter, 48, his wife, Bonnie, 45, and two of their children, Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 15. Read more »
January 4, 1960
The two men being held in connection with the Clutter family murder at Garden City were sought in this area for three weeks. Both the Sheriff's Office and the Police Department had been alerted to pick up Richard Hickock, 28, of Edgerton, and Perry Edward Smith, 31, of Las Vegas, on sight. Hickock has admitted the slaying, but Smith still has not signed a confession, Kansas Bureau of Investigation officers said. Read more »
January 4, 1960
A slender ex-convict says four members of a prominent Kansas farm family met death last November because he and a fellow robber "didn't want any witnesses." Authorities said Richard Eugene Hickock's signed statement Sunday night supplied all the answers to the Clutter family murders, a case that had puzzled Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents for weeks. Read more »
January 5, 1960
County Atty. Duane West announced today that Perry Edward Smith, 31, ex-convict from Las Vegas, Nev., had admitted participation in the slaying of four members of the Herbert W. Clutter family. Read more »
March 24, 1960
Perry Edward Smith said he and Richard Eugene Hickock took turns wielding the knife and pulling the shotgun trigger that snuffed out the lives of a prominent Holcomb, Kan., farm family, an officer said today. Read more »
March 30, 1960
Two young men, outwardly indifferent to the jury's verdict, were convicted Tuesday and condemned to hang for the savage slaying of the Herbert W. Clutter family. Richard Eugene Hickock, 28, and Perry Edward Smith, 31, smiled and held whispered conversations with their guards as the verdict was read. Read more »
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"I was born after the incident and right before the convicted men were put to death. But I grew-up in the atmosphere of the shock in the community. My mom described the incident where trust was brought to a halt...."—Posted by charlie.
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Read a review of In Cold Blood: A Legacy from the Garden City Telegram. Go »
Herbert Clutter, born in 1911; owner of River Valley Farm in Holcomb; killed in his home by Smith and Hickock on Nov. 15, 1959.
Bonnie Clutter, born in 1914; Herbert Clutter's wife; she was Smith and Hickock's last victim.
Perry Smith, born October 27, 1928, in Elko County, Nevada; executed April 1965.
Dick Hickock, born June 6, 1931; executed April 1965.
Truman Capote, then 35, spent months in Kansas researching the Clutter murders, the subject of "In Cold Blood."
More personalities from "In Cold Blood" »
Read Journal-World stories on the Clutter murders, the investigation, and Smith and Hickock's trial, from November 1959 to March 1960. Go »
"In Cold Blood: A Legacy," the story of people hoping for decades that the world will forget, premiered on Sunflower Broadband Channel 6 on Sunday, April 2, 2005. Watch online »
Read about the students and teachers behind "In Cold Blood: A Legacy." Go »
View JPG's or PDF's of the print version of "In Cold Blood: A Legacy." Go »
