Perry Smith

Perry Edward Smith was one of two men convicted and executed for killing four members of the Herbert Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas on November 15, 1959. The murders were the subject of author Truman Capote's best-selling book, In Cold Blood.

Related Topics:
Perry Edward Smith - Holcomb - Kansas - November 15 - 1959 - Truman Capote - In Cold Blood

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Perry Smith was born in Nevada, the son of rodeo performers. Perry was half Indian, short and dark. He was partially disabled from a motorcycle accident and in constant pain from poorly healed leg bones.

Related Topics:
Nevada - Indian

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Perry was of above average intelligence, artistically and musically gifted, and he enjoyed performing for others. But he had a life of tragedy: he came from a broken home, with a prostitute mother who died in a drunken stupor, choking on her own vomit. A brother and sister both committed suicide. His father was was a listless wanderer. And Perry often suffered the nightmares of beatings at the hands of nuns and care-givers while in various orphanages.

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He suffered constant rejection since childhood, despite a lack of cruelty towards others. He once talked of a grade-school principal who stood back and watched as the school bully, a favored student of the principal's and one who was twice Perry's size, attacked him. When Perry won the fight, the school principal spent the following months making his life miserable. The only fights he got into at that school were for defending the victims of this bully.

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He was a combat engineer in the Korean War and winner of the Bronze Star, but unhappy with his lack of promotions, because, he said, his commanding officer didn't like him. By this time he had formed violent tendencies and got into frequent fights. He was noted by coworkers as excelling to a high degree of skill in any job that he did.

Related Topics:
Korean War - Bronze Star

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Perry suffered from enuresis, which is a very common characteristic of serial killers.

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Perry was the opposite of his partner in crime, Richard "Dick" Hickock, in many ways. Perry was quiet, shy, introverted; and had a hard shell forged from a lifetime of abuse, rejection and perceived injustices. He had a facade of arrogance built on his self image, which didn't match what those around him saw.

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He subsequently entered into crime with a man who had picked him up hitchhiking, and this led to a stint in prison where Perry met and became the buddy of fellow inmate Dick Hickock. This friendship led to the the duo's plans to rob the Clutter household, a failed venture that culminated in the murders.

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Eventually captured, tried and convicted of the Clutter killings, Perry Smith was hanged for his crimes on April 14, 1965.

Related Topics:
April 14 - 1965

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