Perry Smith (murderer)
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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 on November 15, 1959, a crime made infamous by Truman Capote in his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood.
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[edit] Early life
Smith was born in Huntington, Nevada. His parents, Flo Buckskin and "Tex" John Smith, were rodeo performers. Smith was of mixed Irish and Cherokee ancestry (from his father's and mother's side, respectively). The family moved to Juneau, Alaska the following year, where the elder Smith brewed bootleg whisky for a living. John Smith abused his wife and four children; in 1935, his wife left him, taking the children with her, and moved to San Francisco. Perry Smith initially lived with his mother, an alcoholic who died before he reached adulthood. He afterward lived in a Catholic orphanage, where nuns abused him physically and emotionally for his chronic bed-wetting (a life-long problem). He then lived in a Salvation Army orphanage, where one of the nuns tried to drown him. In his teens, Smith lived an itinerant existence with his father and briefly joined a street gang. He also spent time in a number of detention homes, until he was returned to his father. At 16, Smith joined the Merchant Marines, and two years later, joined the Army, where he served in the Korean War. He served for 15 months, and was discharged a decorated veteran. He moved to Fort Lewis, Washington, and obtained work as a car painter. That same year, Smith was in a motorcycle accident that shattered his legs; he suffered chronic pain for the rest of his life, and consumed large amounts of aspirin.
Two of Smith's siblings committed suicide as young adults, and the remaining sister cut off contact with him. While Smith had only a grade-school education, he maintained a strong interest in art, literature and music. He read extensively, frequently traveled with a guitar, and during his time on death row painted pictures for other inmates from photos of their family members.
[edit] The murders
Smith and Dick Hickock first met in prison, and resumed their acquaintance after Hickock's release in November 1959. Both Hickock and Smith later testified that the former had gotten the idea to rob the Clutters after hearing from his cellmate that there was a safe in the family's house containing $10,000. When they broke into the house, however, they found that were was no such safe.
Smith admitted to cutting the throat of the father, Herbert Clutter, and to 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. While the assailants were eating lunch at Homer's Cafe in Great Bend, Kansas, Jack Kilby overheard a conversation which he later testified in court that Hickock insisted in his confession that Smith performed all the killings, while Smith 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 (Hickock did the same). As a result, there is no official record of who killed the women aside from Holcomb sheriff Alvin Dewey's testimony outlining the confessions from Hickock and Smith, and its subsequent revision.
Smith and Hickock were captured in Las Vegas, Nevada in January 1960, and were executed by hanging on April 14, 1965. Warden Greg Seamon presided over the convicted murderers' hangings in Lansing, Kansas.
[edit] Relationship with Truman Capote
Capote extensively interviewed Smith while researching the murders, and eventually befriended him. There have long been rumors and conjecture as to the exact nature of their relationship. While Capote never wrote anything to suggest that theirs was anything more than a platonic friendship, some accounts have suggested that he was in love with Smith, and even that that the two had a sexual relationship.[1]
[edit] Film portrayals
Smith was portrayed by Robert Blake in the 1967 film version of In Cold Blood, Eric Roberts in the 1996 miniseries adaptation of the original film, Clifton Collins Jr. in 2005's Capote and Daniel Craig in 2006's Infamous.
