In Cold Blood (IV)written by Truman Capote

Brian Bamsch, Victoria Caudill, Amanda Kwan

Thoughtful Questions

1. Why do you think Perry is telling the police what he knows? 

2. What does Perry do to pass time in prison? 

3. Why does Perry refuse sign his original statement?

4. Why did Perry lie about killing the entire family himself?

• 3 minutes of meaningful discussion in groups

Josephine ("Josie") Meier

• Josie acts as a motherly figure for prisoners.o "she cooks and sews for the prisoners, darns, does their laundry" (251).o "Just taste the soup, it's vegetable, and not out of a can" (253)

• She is not scared of prisoners and does not judge them for what they did because she doesn't know the circumstances. She just accepts them as people.o "But that don't worry me....Old Man Trouble is all" (253)

• "I had my heart in my mouth" (252).

Perry and Josie

• Josie is sympathetic towards Perryo Worries about Perry's attire and whether he is sicko "Surprised he didn't catch pneumonia, considering how cold it was. But he

looked sick all right. White as a ghost. It must have been a terrible experience..." (252).

• She treats Perry with kindness and as a human-being o Perry is very vulnerable.o Perry gives into her worries: "'One thing I really like is Spanish rice.' So I

promised to make him some, and he smiled kind of, and I decided─well, he wasn't the worst young man I ever saw" (253).

•  Wendel tells her that she wouldn't feel that way if she saw the bodieso  "And I lay awake wondering if either one was bothered by it─the thought

of those four graves" (254).

Life In Prison

• "All this helped to pass time, but still there were many long hours the prisoners had to lose" (254).

• Answer: What does Perry do to pass time?

• "Perry trains a squirrel, keeps his cell and himself tidy, sketched portraits of pet squirrel, drew flowers and the face of Jesus, and made "diary-like notes of day-to-day occurrences" (255).

Thursday 7 January: Perry's Statement

• Perry refuses to sign the statement a lawyer presents him.

•  Answer: Why does Perry refuse?

Thursday 7 January: Perry's Statement

• Perry refuses to sign the statement a lawyer presents him.

•  Answer: Why does Perry refuse?

• "Everything in my statement is accurate except for two details. If you'll let me correct those items then I'll sign it" (255).

• "He denied having executed the Clutters single-handed. Until now he'd sworn Hickock killed Nancy and her mother" (255).

Thursday 7 January: Perry's Statement

• Perry refuses to sign the statement a lawyer presents him.

•  Answer: Why does Perry refuse?

• "Everything in my statement is accurate except for two details. If you'll let me correct those items then I'll sign it" (255).

• "He denied having executed the Clutters single-handed. Until now he'd sworn Hickock killed Nancy and her mother" (255).

• Answer: Why did Perry lie about killing the entire family himself?

Thursday 7 January: Perry's Statement

• Perry refuses to sign the statement a lawyer presents him.

•  Answer: Why does Perry refuse?

• "Everything in my statement is accurate except for two details. If you'll let me correct those items then I'll sign it" (255).

• "He denied having executed the Clutters single-handed. Until now he'd sworn Hickock killed Nancy and her mother" (255).

• Answer: Why did Perry lie about killing the entire family himself?

• "'I wanted to fix Dick for being such a coward'...he was doing it out of consideration for Hickock's parents" (255).

Monday 11 January: Appointed Lawyer

• Question: What were the reactions of the lawyers appointed to Dick and Perry?

Monday 11 January: Appointed Lawyer

• Question: What were the reactions of the lawyers appointed to Dick and Perry?

• "I do not desire to serve...But if the court sees fit to appoint me, then of course I have no choice" (257).

•  "Someone has to do it. And I'll do my best. Though I doubt that'll make me too popular around here" (257).

"All the loose strings were tied" (257).

• The murder weapons are found in Hickock's parent's home.

• "The K.B.I. had now assembled an unshakable case, for tests established that the shells had been discharged by Hickock's shotgun, and the remnants of cord and tape were a piece with the materials use to bind and silence the victims" (257).

Friday 15 January: Death Penalty

• "County attorney will seek Death Penalty" (257).

• "I feel that due to the violence of the crime and the apparent utter lack of mercy shown the victims, the only way the public can be absolutely protected is to have the death penalty set against the defendants" (257-258).

• Question: Do you think the death penalty is too harsh? 

Friday 15 January: Death Penalty

• "County attorney will seek Death Penalty" (257).

• "I feel that due to the violence of the crime and the apparent utter lack of mercy shown the victims, the only way the public can be absolutely protected is to have the death penalty set against the defendants" (257-258).

• Question: Do you think the death penalty is too harsh? 

• Take note that in Kansas, there is no such thing as life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Life imprisonment lasts for about or less than fifteen years.

Sunday 31 January: Visitors 

• Dick's father visits Dick in prison.

• Dick tells father that Perry killed the entire Clutter family. 

• No one visits Perry.

• Perry is desperate for some kind of communication and human interaction.

• Perry receives a letter from Don Cullivan in mid-February.

Don Cullivan

• Question: Who is Don Cullivan and how does he know Perry?

Don Cullivan

• Question: Who is Don Cullivan and how does he know Perry?

•  Both were in the 761st Engineer Light Equipment Company at Fort Lewis, Washington

Don Cullivan

• Question: Who is Don Cullivan and how does he know Perry?

•  Both were in the 761st Engineer Light Equipment Company at Fort Lewis, Washington

•  Question: How does Perry respond to the letter?

Don Cullivan

• Question: Who is Don Cullivan and how does he know Perry?

•  Both were in the 761st Engineer Light Equipment Company at Fort Lewis, Washington

•  Question: How does Perry respond to the letter?

• "Dear Don, Hell yes I remember Don Cullivan..." (262).

• Perry and Cullivan continue to write to each other.

Richard Hickock

• "Outwardly, Hickock seems to one and all an unusually untroubled young man" (262).

• On Thursday March 10th, the sheriff finds a shiv under Dick's mattress.

•  Dick planning to escape prison, and now his plans are foiled.

Two Possibilities of Escape

1. Join forces with two other men. 

• Perry believes they may have been imaginary.

2.  Commit suicide by using a broken light bulb.

• Perry dreams of breaking the light bulb and cutting himself.

• "I felt all breath and light leaving me...The walls of the cell fell away, the sky came down, I saw the big yellow bird" (265). 

1. "She lifted me, I could have been light as a mouse, we went up, up, I could see the Square below, men running, yelling, the sheriff shooting at us, everybody sore as hell beause I was free, I was flying, I was better than any of them" (266).

 Impending Trial

• Trial scheduled for March 22, 1960.

• "It wouldn't matter where in Kansas the trial was held. Sentiment's the same all over the state. We're probably better off in Garden City. This is a religious community" (266).

• Smith and Hickock lawyers ask Judge Tate to allow for the use of comprehensive psychiatric examinations for the accused.

• "For the purpose to ascertaining whether  either or both were 'insane, imbeciles or idiots, unable to comprehend their position and aid in their defense" (266).

Judge Tate

•  Question: Do you think the trial will be fair? 

Judge Tate

•  Question: Do you think the trial will be fair?

• "Tate is what you might call a law-book lawyer, he never experiments, he goes strictly by the text" (268).

• "If I were innocent, he's the first man I'd want on the bench; if I was guilty, the last" (268).

March 14th: Clutter Family Home on Auction

• Lawyers defending Perry and Dick ask to postpone trial.

• Question: What are the two reasons for postponing?

March 14th: Clutter Family Home on Auction

• Lawyers defending Perry and Dick ask to postpone trial.

• Question: What are the two reasons for postponing?

1.The Clutter family home is up for auction on March 22nd, the day before the trial begins.

2.Hickock's father is too ill to testify on their behalf.

•  "But these signs, coupled with news paper advertisements, and advertisements on the radio, will be a constant reminder to every citizen in the community, among who one hundred and fifty have been called as prospective jurors" (269).

• "It's like a second funeral" (271).

Selecting the Jury

• "They can't use me. I can't hear well enough" (272).• "Come to think of it, my hearing's not too good either" (272).

• Final jury composed of "half a dozen farmers, a pharmacist, a nursery manager, an airport employee, a well drilling, two salesmen, a machinist, and the manager of Ray's Bowling Alley" (273).

• "They were all family men..., and were serious affiliated with one or another of the local churches" (273).

• Dick and Perry write their autobiographical statements for the psychiatrist, located on pages 273 to 279.

• "And I need help, as you know" (279).

The Trial Begins: Floyd Wells

• Question: Who is Floyd Wells?

The Trial Begins: Floyd Wells

• Question: Who is Floyd Wells?o Dick's former cell mate.o "mystery man"

• The motive for Dick and Perry's crime was for money.

• "He wanted to know if Mr.Clutter had a safe around there" (282).

The Trial Begins: Alvin Dewey

• "The prosecution's most damaging witness" (286).

•  Dewey presents Perry's desire to change his statement.

• "Perry Smith told me he wished to change two things in the statement he had given us. Except these two things. And that was that he wanted to say he killed Mrs.Clutter and Nancy Clutter─not Hickock. He told me that Hickock...didn't want to die with his mother thinking he had killed any members of the Clutter family. And he said the Hickock were good people. So why not have it that way" (286).

• "There's lots more to Dick than what you hear back there in the courtroom. The lawyers jabbering how terrible he is─no good at all. I can't make any excuses for what he did, his part in it. I'm not forgetting that family; I pray for them every night. But I pray for Dick, too. And this boy Perry. It was wrong of me to hate him; I've got nothing but pity for him now" (288).

• "He's dying. I don't think he minds anymore" (288).

Donald Cullivan & Perry

• The Meiers invite Don Cullivan to Sunday dinner w/ Perry

• Perry is delighted:o "The planning of the menu (...) seemed to concern [Perry]

more than the outcome of the trial" (289).•  Mrs. Meier donates "a linen tablecloth, starched napkins,

and her best china and silverware" (289) to Perry for his dinner.

• Cullivan is impressed.• Before they eat, Cullivan asks to offer a blessing.

o "'Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through the mercy of Christ, our Lord. Amen'" (289).

Donald Cullivan & Perry (Cont.)

• During and after dinner, Perry converses with Cullivan giving us some insight into how Perry saw Dick and himself.o Read: 1st paragraph on Pg 290.o Read: 2nd paragraph on Pg 290.o Read: Quote on Pg 291 ... "Why? Solders don't lose

much sleep (...) picking off targets in a shooting gallery" (290).

• Q: What does this show about how Perry views...o Dick Hickock?o Himself?o The Clutter Family?

Dick's Defense

• Mr. Hickock testifies for his son.o Claims that car accident in 1950 had changed his son.

Before, Dick had been "No trouble to anybody" (292).o Cross-Examiner, Logan Green challenges:

Dick arrested in 1949 for breaking into drugstore.

• Dr. Jones (a physician) testifies:o Claims, after examination, "I think that within the usual

definitions Mr Hickock did know right from wrong" (294).

Perry's Defense (Group Questions)

• Perry's Defense consisted of:1.Joe James2.Donald Cullivan3.Reverend James E. Post 4.Dr. Jones

• For your assigned person, answer:o What is his relationship to Perry?o What is his testimony?

1. Pages 295-296

1. 3-5 minute of meaningful group discussion

Trial Continues (Logan Green)

• Logan Green addresses the Jury:o Requests they seek the Death Penalty

o Cites the Bible: "Thou shall not kill" (304). "He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely

put to death" (304). "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the

prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill" (304). "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood

be shed" (304).

Trial Continues

• Logan Green makes use of "scare tactics"o "The next time they go slaughtering it may be your family"

(305).

• The Jury leaves to discuss and reach a verdict.• Reverend Post joins a conversation:

o "Any man who could paint this picture can't be one hundred percent bad" (306).

o Brings up Doc Savage (comic book char) Kidnaps criminals Removes wicked part of brain Unable to commit crimes thereafter

The Verdict

• Jury's deliberation lasted 40 minutes.

o "Count one. We the jury find the defendant, Richard Eugene Hickock, guilty of murder in the first degree, and the punishment is death" (307).

o Eight total counts: 4 convictions for Hickock 4 convictions for Smith

o Smith: "No chicken-hearted jurors, they!" (307) Both are laughing when cameraman takes photo.

The Aftermath

• Mrs. Meier locks herself away in kitchen (away from Perry)o Once courtyard below goes quiet, hears Perry crying

She goes to him and holds his hand.

• Perry refuses to eat the following morning.

• Upon departure for Penitentiary, gives Mrs. Meier a picture.o Picture of himself as a boy.

• "Red", the squirrel, continues to come looking for Perry.

• Q: What is some of the imagery Capote uses to describe the Jail? (309-310)

Thinking Ahead

1. Who is are the prisoners that Dick and Perry meet?2. How do they interact with Dick and Perry?3. What happened to Perry while Perry was in Jail?4. What does Perry receive while in jail?

The Penitentiary (Group Questions)

• Three prisoners (besides Dick & Perry) occupy Death Row:o Earl Wilson – kidnaps and rapes a white woman  o Bobby Joe Spencer – murdered his landlady and he

stabbed anther inmate  o Lowell Lee Andrews  – murdered his family 

New Cell Mate

• Lowell Lee Andrews or "Andy" • He had a college education, and was a compulsive eater.• He constantly corrected Perry

• Dick: "The trouble with you, Andy, you've got no respect for human life.  Including your own" (318).

Lowell Lee Andrew's Crime

• Shoots his family (.22-caliber rifle & .22-caliber revolver)

• Drives to his college (U of Kansas) to create alibi (313-314).o Tells Landlady he has come to pick up typewriter.o Claims trip took long b/c of bad weather.o Goes to theater see movie.

• Returns home to report a "robbery" (314).o Appears indifferent to killing of family & funeral

arrangements.

Lowell Lee Andrew's Crime (Cont.)

• Reverend Dameron (minister of Andrews' family church) presents himself to Lowell:o Suggests lie detector test to prove innocence...o Or admit his guilt.

Lowell admits to crime.

• Dameron appears as chief witness for prosecutiono Believes Lowell should "answer not only to the Almighty,

but also to more temporal powers" (317).

• Found guilty of murder and given the Death Penalty.

• Perry stops eating.• Perry after five days the warden notices, on the 6th

day Perry went to hospital.    "Dick, though impressed by Perry's will power, would not concede that his purpose was suicide; even when Perry was reported to be in a coma, he told Andrews, with whom he had become friendly, that his former con federate con federate was faking. He just wants them to think he's crazy" (318).

• Perry saw a letter sent to the warden from his father.

Perry

Perry cont.

• While in the hospital, Perry has voices in his head.• "One voice persistently asked him, 'where is Jesus?

Where?' And once he woke up shouting, 'The bird is Jesus! The bird is Jesus!'" (319)

• Perry had a dream where he was singing at a Las Vegas Club, in front of the ghost of the executed.  He was there to join them.

• Perry decided not to end his life when he returns "Dick laughed and said, 'Welcome home honey'" (320).

Two years pass

1. Who visited Dick?

1. Who are the new inmates and what did they do?

2. What are Dick and Perry doing while they are in jail?

3. Who is Russell Shultz?

The Heat Wave 

"'So hot my skin stings', Dick wrote in a letter dated July 5, 1691.  'I try not to move much. I just sit on the floor.  My bed's too sweaty to lie down, and the shell makes me sick because of only the one bath a week and always wearing the same clothes.  No ventilation what-ever and the light bulb makes it even hotter.  Bugs keep bumping on the walls'"(321).

Do you think this has another meaning?

Dick 

• Dick is reading law books and is trying to reverse his convection.

•  He believes that he did not get a fair trial.

• Dick is also worrying about his loss of hair. 

New Row Mates

• George Ronald York• James Douglas Latham

• Murdered seven people:o Including: 2 house wives, a salesman, two men in St.

Louis, a grandfather, and a 18 year old girl.o "Anyway, anybody you kill, you're doing them a

favor"(323).  

Fair trial?• Russell Shultz filled a habeas corpus petition.

• Walter G. Thiele conducted a hearing. 

• The hearing is transferred to Lansing.

• A report was made and submitted to the Kanas Supreme Court, Judge Thiele found that the trial was fair. 

Deaths

• Andy was hanged on a cold Friday, November 30, 1962• Hickock's mother befriends Ronald York's mother.

• Many appeals were formed for Dick and Perry. They avoided three execution dates.

•  Dick and Perry lives were chosen to end between 12:00-2:00AM  on Wednesday, April 14 1965.

• York and Latham were hung on June 22, 1965.

Conclusion 

• Dewey was okay with the death of Dick, but he was upset with the death of Perry.

•  Susan Kidwell goes to University of Kansas, and is studying art.

• Bobby Rupp is married.