01x04 - The Gallows and the Novel

[bunniefuu]

Bascue: That night
at the Clutter home,

d*ck Hickock thought
Perry Smith was a k*ller.

Jones: d*ck Hickock
told me that night

he had designs on
the teenage girl in the house.

Don: Perry was really getting
furious at this point.

Jones: Once he lost control,

there was no stopping him.

**

Craig: Garden City was flooded
with reporters.

Shields: They wanted to see
evil incarnate.

Penick: The community
wanted to hang them

from the highest tree.

Don: It took the jury
less than a half an hour

to come to a decision.

Death by hanging.

**

**

Capote: I decided
to follow this case

shortly after it occurred

until the case was solved

in the arrest of two young men,
ex-convicts.

Truman knew that he had
something totally different.

He knew that the story
he had started out with,

which was about the effect
of the killings on this town,

had changed quite a bit,

and it was a much larger project
altogether.

Capote: This new adventure
of mine, this experiment,

is what I call
the non-fiction novel,

a non-fiction novel being
the synthesis of journalism

with a fictional technique.

Crable: Capote wasn't
a trained journalist,

but he definitely felt that
he would be the one

to change the game
for literature.

He had cultivated
this relationship

with these strangers

over a course
of five or six years.

Those strangers turned
into friends.

**

As he returned to Garden City
on these many visits here,

Truman, he seemed to change

to kind of become a Midwesterner

like the rest of us.

That's right.
We're very good friends.

Paul:
I remember Truman would write

to Mom and Dad and say,

"Could you find out
this information,"

as he was writing the book,

and they would send it to him.

A number of questions have
come up over the years

of whether Dad granted
special access to Truman.

You know, access to records

or information.

Professional?

Probably it was not professional

that Al Dewey shared everything,

but that's the way
Al Dewey did things,

and it worked,
and thank God it did.

"In Cold Blood" is the story
of these people, the Clutters,

who died together
November 15th, 1959,

and Perry Smith
and Richard Hickock.

This is the story of their lives
and their deaths.

**

Shields: Truman had a keen sense

of the drama
of the Clutter murders.

And so Truman's task was
to interpret events

in a manner that would
create a narrative.

He had to frighten you,

but it had to come out
organically from the facts.

It was really daunting
for Truman.

Whether he could take
this large subject

which dealt with death
and love and m*rder

and all Dostoevskian kinds
of intricacies,

whether he could do that
was another question.

**

I always had this theory

that if you want to move
someone else,

you yourself necessarily must
have been deeply moved

by what it is that
you are writing,

but you must keep exploiting
that emotion in yourself

over and over and over and over

till you've become
completely cold about it.

**

Clarke: Truman knew that
he had a book that

would be something special.

Not only a best seller,

but something that
would change his life forever.

But Truman knew that other
people were after the story.

Mack Nations was a journalist,
freelance writer,

who had an in
with true-crime-type magazines

and wrote a feature that was
the k*ller's side of the story,

from d*ck's perspective.

But Mack Nations couldn't get
both men, Perry and d*ck,

to agree to working with him,
only d*ck.

So Truman had an advantage over
Mack Nations in that regard.

**

d*ck's very easy to get
along with and easy to know

because he was like somebody
you would meet on a train

that would just start up
an instant conversation

while he'd tell you everything
that ever happened to him,

but Perry was a strange
and difficult boy.

But of the two,
I certainly got in the end,

what I considered,
closer to him because

he was so difficult
to get close to.

But we became very intimate,
an intense sort of friendship.

It wasn't love, love, love.
It wasn't an amorous love.

Perry had
had a terrible childhood.

It really was awful.

Truman had also had
a bad childhood,

but it wasn't anything
like Perry's.

His problem was lack of love,

but he saw in Perry sort of
the image of himself

as he might have been,

and oddly enough Perry saw
the same thing --

He saw in Truman the image
of a man he might have become.

Perry Smith was what people
would call as a bad character,

but he was ever
so much more than that.

If Perry could have just
been left there

to draw and paint
and do what it was,

he would have developed
into quite a different person.

Crable: Capote famously wrote
he and Perry Smith

could have easily grown up
in the same house,

but one day Capote
walked out of one door

and Smith walked out
of the other.

Clarke: But the problem was
the distance between

what he was telling them
and what he was thinking.

It was enormous.

He was torn apart
by the two competing desires.

One, his friendship for them,
particularly Perry,

and the other,
by his genuine desire

to have his book published.

Shields: And his book was
still simmering,

year after year.

He had to have a conclusion.

In Truman's mind,
it had to be --

it had to end
with the execution,

and, of course,
he was absolutely right.

It couldn't be anything else.

Because it would put a period

at the end of this story.

But yet these two fellows were
getting stays of execution.

**

Capote: I used to visit them
in death row there

about every three months.

They both used to write me
twice a week,

and these are just over
a period of about a year,

these letters --
all from Perry and d*ck.

**

For five long years,
he dealt with the agony

of having a book in draft
with no ending,

and he wanted it to end
with the death

of someone that he cared about.

Perry wrote him
a very chilling letter

not long before he died,

and he'd gone
to a medical dictionary

and discovered what happens
when you hang somebody.

**

And he quoted it at great length
in a letter to Truman,

from a medical dictionary,
so it's accurate.

This was what was
going to happen to him.

Capote: Oh!

**

**

Russell: Tonight,

shortly after midnight,
two men,

residents of this institution
since 1960,

will be hanged by the neck
until dead.

Richard Eugene Hickock
and Perry Edward Smith

have exhausted all legal means
of escaping the gallows.

Four men are on death row
of the Kansas State Prison

awaiting execution.

Tomorrow, only two will remain.

**

Jones: In early 1965,

the appeals are
coming to an end,

and a date for execution
was set.

So Perry Smith wrote to me

and asked me if I would serve

as a witness for him
to his execution.

**

This is the sign-in list

for the execution for Smith.

I was the next to last
to sign in,

and Capote was the last one.

Shields: Hanging is such
a terrible thing to witness,

but Truman felt
he had to be there.

This was the last chapter
of the book.

He had to see
how his friend died.

**

[Police radio chatter]

Collins: The day of execution,

there was kind of
a carnival atmosphere around,

and we had to set up road blocks

on the south side
of the penitentiary

because curiosity seekers
was going around.

Everybody's all excited,

and it was just crazy.

Jones:
I went up in the afternoon.

And they let me visit him.

He was eating a pint
of ice cream.

He was in pretty good spirits.

He said he was ready to go.

**

Troutner: d*ck Hickock --

he had gotten word
to his first wife, Carol,

that he'd like to see her,

but Carol had remarried

and didn't want anything
to do with him.

But then she changed her mind,

and she did go and see d*ck
on the last day of his life.

She came with her husband
to tell d*ck goodbye.

d*ck asked about the children,
of course,

and he was very apologetic.

Troutner: Apparently,
d*ck had started

reading the Bible
the last few days of his life,

had found religion,

and Carol reported seeing

a golden aura
around d*ck's body.

**

Collins: Richard Hickock --
he called me down to his cell,

and I told him, I said,
"Richard, you want a cigarette?"

He say, "Oh no," he says,
"Cigarettes causes cancer."

[Chuckles]

And he was just joking
and laughing all this time.

And that's when
they started putting

the old harnesses on him.
[Chains rattling]

Cuffs -- They cuffed their hands
down on their side

so they won't throw
their arms out

when they're going down
through the trap door.

That's when the joking stopped.

Jones: The execution
is at midnight

at one end of the big warehouse,
wooden gallows, 13 steps.

**

The hangman --

he would stand
on top of the gallows

with his back to the audience.

Collins: And it's okay. d*ck.
It's time to go.

He walked out of his cell,

and he was just
as white as a sheet,

and he just sat there,
and he just looked at the sky,

back and forth like this,

and he said,
"Are there any members

of the Clutter family present?"

The deputy warden said, "No,"

and Hickock, he says,
"No hard feelings.

You're sending me to a better
place as there's ever been."

Up the steps he went.

[Creaking]

Then then hangman
lowered the noose,

and he walks up to the --
the lever.

He gets a hold of the lever
and the warden went like this

and [Clicks tongue] pushed it,
and that was it.

**

And, all of sudden,

there's pigeons
just flying every place.

They was up in the rafters.

They're just flying every place.

**

Jones: I was standing by myself,

and then Capote came in
and stood with me.

He'd been drinking,

and he was crying,

obviously distressed.

Of course,
he was not really geared

for some emotional experience
of that enormity.

**

Collins:
On the Perry Smith execution,

which is minutes later,

when he got up
to the top of the thing,

the hangman come out
a little bit earlier,

and they was just staring
each other down.

Boy, they just looked
at each other.

And so, anyway,

the warden, he said,
"Do you have any last words?"

He says, "Yes, a word or two."

Man: "I think
that it's a hell of a thing

that a life has to be taken
in this manner.

Any apology for what I have done

would be meaningless
at this time.

I don't have any animosities

toward anyone involved
in this matter.

I think that is all."

Collins: After Smith made
his little statement,

it was just like a pin dropped.

I mean, complete silence.

Anyway, when Perry hit
the bottom of the rope...

[Thud]

...there's a big clap
of thunder.

[Thunder rumbles]
That was it.

**

Wilson: The trap door was swung

at 1:02 this morning,

and the prison physician

pronounced him dead at 1:19,


the trap door had swung.

I would further like to say

that I have seen the newly born

and there I saw a purpose.

I have seen the maimed,
the crippled, and the dead,

and even there I saw purpose,

but what I saw tonight...

I saw no purpose.

**

Tedrow: I remember
the night they were ex*cuted.

I was at a sleepover,

and I said this is bad,

but it has to be.

**

It makes you feel
a little less human,

but I didn't mind
that they were put to death,

and that sounds cruel.

Edwards: I've never been
in favor of capital punishment.

It wasn't like I was going
to suddenly be feeling better

because they were going
to be k*lled.

No, that...

I'm not somebody who wants

to see anybody k*lled,
you know?

**

Clarke: Truman had said
he could not have a book

unless they were
buried 6 feet under,

and that's what he said
he wanted.

**

Be careful what you wish for,

and he got everything with
"In Cold Blood,"

but it somehow all turned
against him.

**

**

Reporter: Truman Capote became
famous almost two decades ago,

but nothing he'd written
prepared the public

for the dramatic impact
of his latest work,

"In Cold Blood."

Man: It is my pleasure
to introduce to you

Mr. Truman Capote.

**

Good evening.

Man #2: Truman Capote is here.

One of the great men of letters
of our time.

Clarke: "In Cold Blood"
not only make him more money,

but raised him to a prominence

he had not had before.

He was the most famous writer
in America,

most famous writer in the world,
probably.

Man: I really think
you've written

a masterpiece here.

Thank you.

You'll get a much better
dedication.

[Laughter]

Reporter: There is no bookstore
in Garden City,

but Norris Drug Store has never
sold as many copies of any book

as "In Cold Blood."

Thank you so much.
Thank you very much.

Finney Countians
gave Capote a warm welcome

at an autographed scene
in the Garden City Library.

It's been a privilege
to have you.

Well,
thank you very much.

It's been a great privilege
to be here.

Thank you.

[Applause]

Al: In regard to the book,

I think it is very accurate
and very well written.

I just love it.

I think it's marvelous.

But it certainly is real.

My husband was Herb Clutter's
college roommate

so he'll be
especially happy to...
Really?!

Reporter: The people
of Finney County

who are buying the book are

divided into two camps --
those who like it

and those who feel the book

exploits the m*rder victims.

There was a little
promotional applique that

would appear on store windows
that were selling the book,

and it looked like a little --
it was a little blotch of blood,

with the title "In Cold Blood"
in white on this black blotch,

and there was some of those
on the front of Woolworth's,

as I recall.

That seemed like
a really tacky awful way

to promote a book

about four murders that had
happened in our community.

Frack: I don't know why anybody

would want to write a book
like that.

I think you got to be
a little bit...

to write a book like that.

I think the town,
as a whole,

appreciates all that
Truman has done.

There are few who are
not happy about it,

but I think, probably,
they resent the fact that,

say, an outsider came
to publicize the m*rder,

but what --
what they don't stop to realize

is that whenever
there's a catastrophe,

there is publicity.

And we were fortunate
to have someone like Truman

do it for us.

When Capote first came
to Holcomb and Garden City,

most of the local people
had never heard of him.

Today, his "In Cold Blood"

is known here simply
as "the book,"

and now there are two books
every western Kansan

is sure to have read --

the book and the Bible.

George Page, NBC News,
reporting from Holcomb, Kansas.

**

Richard Avedon shot
several portraits

of Smith and Hickock and Capote
in the early '60s.

Steinbicker:
Avedon was very famous

as a fashion photographer.

Capote was a very close friend
of Richard Avedon's.

Corbin: In the most famous
image of Hickock,

he looks out at you
with these soulless eyes.

Steinbicker: I was haunted
by those photos.

They --
They just looked terrible,

like this is the end
of their lives,

and they know it.

Now Perry Smith --
I look at his,

and I don't think he feels sorry
at all for the murders.

But that is the magic
of the book.

At its most basic,

"In Cold Blood"
is a story of dichotomies.

You have very good people.
You have very bad people.

Capote adds an element
to those bad people

by humanizing them,

by talking about...

their psychology,
their past, their nuances.

I think it disturbed people,
as well,

because they found
themselves curious

and even liking the K*llers.

They wondered how they could
care about murderers.

Corbin: And by the end
of the book,

you as the reader do tend
to feel a sense of pity

for these two men.

**

Great-Granddaughter:
To know that people have been

sitting in their living room,

reading a book about
my m*rder*d family,

that's a real
unsettling feeling.

**

Granddaughter:
One of the reasons why

we don't want to be on camera
is we're not going

to sensationalize it
even farther.

**

There were 45 inaccuracies

in just the part that's
about the family,

which makes me wonder
how much of the rest of it's

actually even real.

**

Lyon: I administered the estate.

We have asked one of the
surviving Clutter daughters

to mark objectionable passages
in the first installment

of "In Cold Blood,"
which I am enclosing.

Granddaughter:
Absolutely, hands down,

the biggest one was
the portrayal of Grandma.

**

He makes Grandma out like
she was a very sick woman

and that she had no energy
and she stayed in bed all day,

and she was anything but that.

Lyon: Mr. Capote's perception
probably arose from the fact

that Bonnie appropriately sought
professional help

for periods of depression.

Her health problems included
recurring pain

from a back injury
when she was young.

The person described in the book

is not the person I knew.

Edwards: I'm sort of surprised

that she coped
as well as she did,

but she was always reliable,
you know,

and she did do things
in the community,

and she did know how
to keep house

and how to, you know,
can and cook

and all the stuff you were
supposed to know,

how to be a woman,
how to be a gracious woman.

Reporter: I understand
that some people

in the Clutter family
are not happy

with your portrait
of Mrs. Clutter.

I know that their minister
wrote a letter to a newspaper

saying that they were
very unhappy about

my portrait of --
of the family in general,

not particularly
Mrs. Clutter.

That's all I know
about it.

Granddaughter: That one factor
has been more hurtful,

I think, than any other thing
'cause a lot of that stuff,

the 45 things
that are inaccurate,

were little things.

They felt like they were
so burned by Capote.

You know,
my mom and aunt felt like,

rightfully so,
that they didn't trust anybody.

They didn't give interviews

and they just were quiet
about everything.

Woman: The Clutters
became cardboard figures,

hardly more than a backdrop
for Capote's sympathetic

depiction of the K*llers.

Edwards: I was angry.

I thought that if he wrote about
how they really were that --

that it would help heal
how I felt, too,

because somebody else would say
how important they were,

and what I read was just like
they weren't real to him.

We're real here.

We're not cardboard people.
They weren't cardboard people.

They were real.

Announcer: "In Cold Blood,"

worldwide best seller.

Now a motion picture
brings this book to the screen.

Reporter: This morning,
the film crew

for the movie "In Cold Blood"
began sh**ting.

the director, Richard Brook,
shouting his orders,

at the residence
of the Herbert Clutter family.

Wilson: Richard Brooks was
a very focused filmmaker.

He wanted to recreate the event.

I think he would have
been very happy

if he had been able to hang
me and Robert Blake

at the end of the film.

Brooks introduced the world
to Kansas through the camera,

and Quincy Jones introduced
the rhythm and the tempo

that kept the film moving along.

Jones: Not many shows like that
have been presented, you know?

shot in the location,

the same place the m*rder
had occurred

so it was really authentic.

It smelled like the situation,
you know?

It felt like the situation,

and that's why Richard shot it
there, I'm sure.

Some people would naturally like

to see the whole thing
forgotten.

Other local residents, however,

feel much the same
as Terry Schmidt,

who says when they switched

to that
long shot of the courthouse,

"Maybe I'll be the guy
washing the windows."

Penick: When the film crew
came into Garden City

and, of course, set up
at the courthouse,

I wanted nothing to do with it.

I mean,
I shut it out of my mind.

Reporter: Many of these same
spectators and reporters

were in the sullen crowd
that saw the actual K*llers

brought to this courthouse
after their capture.

In this courtroom,
they were tried for m*rder,

and seven of the jurors
in the film

are the actual men
who decided their fate.

Currin: We were all stuck
in this house,

especially the week that
they shot the m*rder scene.

Every single window was
blacked out

so it was claustrophobic.

There was a scene
in the Clutter house

where Hickock was in the room
with Nancy Clutter,

and he was going to violate her,

and the Smith character
came into the room

and pulls him off of the bed,

jams him in the doorway.

Hickock says he's going
to bust that little girl,

and he says,
"No. No, you're not."

Then there was a line
right after that

that I thought
should go in there,

which was, "Okay, honey."

No.

Okay, honey.

It denigrates Smith.

He just put him down.

He said, "Okay, honey.
You're not a man.

I'm the man in this situation,
not you.

I'm the man."

It was so intense.

It was so intense.

Wilson: I wanted people
to dislike Hickock

when they saw the film.

I wanted them to know
that he was a human being,

but he was a very flawed
human being

and not someone that
you would want to emulate,

and so I don't totally agree
with the supposition

that they're humanized.

The Smith character
is humanized.

There are justifications
for what he becomes.

Isn't it, in fact,
just glorifying two K*llers

who but for the film --
You've got to be
putting me on.

You've got to be
putting me on.

What are you trying to do,
get me riled?

No, I feel this
very strongly.

What do you want to do,
just make "Mary Poppins"?

Shall we just make films
like that?

When I turn on television,

I want to see what the hell's
going on in Vietnam.

I don't want a fiction.

**

Wilson: These two young ladies
came up to us and one says,

"You look familiar."

Do you recognize him
from the movie he starred in?

"Oh, what movie?"
He said, "In Cold Blood."

They started screaming
and backing up,

and it had to be 20 feet,
if not more,

and the wall stopped them
from backing up further,

and I said, "Damn.

I guess I did it."
[Chuckles]

I had nightmares for years
after having done the movie,

kind of a guilt-based nightmare
of, you know,

this great experience that was
so married to this tragedy.

I remember I just wanted
to walk out in front of traffic

after I saw it
for the first time.

It -- It's --
It's a hard film to watch.

After I saw the film,

I went to the bathroom,
and threw up.

That was my initial reaction
to it.

**

Critically,
it was very well received.

It got, I think,
four Academy Award nominations.

There was no question whatsoever
how special it was,

and the amazing thing is
that is has endured.

**

I think what Capote did
with the book

and what Brooks did
with the film are very similar.

It's truth.

It's not -- It's not --

It's not Hollywood fiction.
It's truth.

Wilson: It transformed
how people made movies.

It brought a reality to them
that before...

nothing wrong with the films
that proceeded them,

but it certainly influenced
how films were made.

**

There was so much attention
on the book

and then the making
of the movie,

and there was a whole
press week devoted

to the making of the movie.

Capote was there.

He said this was his last trip.

He would never come out again.

He said it was too painful
for him.

He never survived
"In Cold Blood."

It knocked him off
his equilibrium,

and he was torn apart by it.

He drank a great deal,
and he was on drugs a lot,

mostly prescription drugs.

[Laughter]

**

Finally I said, "Well, Truman,
you're k*lling yourself,"

and he said,
"I can't live without them."

**

He once told me
that the whole experience

of "In Cold Blood" had

scratched him down
to the marrow of his bones.

**

Can I ask you
some serious questions?

[Slurring]
Sure, you can go right in.

I-I feel perfectly fine.

Have you been
drinking?

You mean very lately?

What's going to happen
unless you let this problem

of drugs and alcohol --

The obvious answer is
that eventually,

I mean, I'll k*ll myself...
Yes.

...without meaning to.

**

Reporter: At his favorite
summer watering hole,

Bobby Van's
in Bridgehampton, New York,

Truman Capote's corner table
was empty today,

nevermore to be filled

by the man who once
described himself

as a drunk, a drug addict,

a h*m*, and a genius.

**

**

My name's Gene Kirby.

I'm the manager
of Mt. Muncie Cemetery,

which is located
in Lansing, Kansas.

This cemetery is known
for several things,

one of them being that this is

where Hickock and Smith
are buried.

Here they are right here.

When people come,
we show them where it's at,

and they just kind of walk up
and take a look,

and that's it. [Chuckles]

This is the second set
of markers.

The original pair that were
purchased by Truman Capote

were stolen.

You know, I don't really pay
much attention to it anymore,

unless somebody comes in
and asks for them.

It's not anybody I think of
on a daily basis,

that's for sure.

Back in 2012,

I was here one day,
and a guy came to the door.

He identified himself
as a reporter

and wanted to know
what my thoughts

on doing a disinterment
of Hickock and Smith were,

for DNA.

I hadn't heard anything
about it.

I started getting phone calls
from people I knew

that said, "Hey,
you need to turn on a TV."

Now the bodies of the K*llers
are being exhumed.

Investigators are checking
to see if the K*llers

may have slaughtered
another family.

The Walker family --
Cliff, Christine,

and 2-year-old Debbie --

were also shot and k*lled.

Thomas: We still had inquiries
about the potential

of Hickock and Smith being
involved in other crimes,

mainly from investigators
in Florida,

about this one particular case
in an area

where I think Hickock and Smith
may have been.

Police in Sarasota, Florida,

were the ones that were willing
to have this done.

They thought with the DNA,

they could tie them in
to a m*rder.

Sarasota homicides occurred

approximately a month after
the Holcomb homicides,

and there may be a connection.

[Police radio chatter]

Kirby: There were a lot
of people out here,

KBI and their forensics people,

and they had on their suits
and mask and gloves,

and the results came back
"inconclusive."

I wasn't really surprised
by it at all.

The two worse things
to preserve DNA

are time and moisture,

and they've been laying
in the ground for 50 years

in just a concrete box.

**

Paul: For years,
many critiques have come out

about "In Cold Blood"

and the factual issues
or inconsistent facts.

And then The Wall Street Journal
went one step further.

There had been
a hidden cache of documents

that were discovered
in the basement to Harold Nye,

and basically the issue was
a prisoner, Floyd Wells,

came forward on December 4,

what turned out to be the most
important tip of the case.

What The Wall Street Journal
pointed out was

nobody went to go
to the farmhouse of Hickock

until the 9th.

The conclusions
of these articles are

the KBI waited five days
to act on the tip,

and this is not
a trivial matter,

because if the KBI had
acted quicker,

the K*llers may not have
made it to Florida,

where they may have
k*lled other people.

**

The documents that I found
in Dad's files --

there was a report
on December 5th,

and then on the 6th,
the 7th, the 8th, the 9th,

the 10th, and the 11th.

It's gumshoe detective work,

going from place to place
to place,

getting search warrants,

and so far from Dad
or the agents not responding,

the KBI was all over it.

**

My dad knew the Clutters.

He was so worried about
not catching them.

And it's not just defending Dad.
It's defending the KBI.

**

He really cared.

**

I have Dad's badge
from that era.

A prized possession of his
and of mine.

I'm just not going to let it go.

**

[Birds chirping]

**

Kirby: We've had people
from all over the country.

We've had a guy here
from England one time

to see where Hickock and Smith
were buried.

They far outnumber all the other
requests put together,

that's for sure.

I've often wanted to ask people,
"Since you came here,

did you bother to go out
to western Kansas

and visit the graves
of the Clutter family?"

That makes more sense to me,

to go pay your respects
to the family who suffered.

**

Granddaughter:
I don't know why this story

just doesn't
ever want to go away.

A family was m*rder*d.

It was a tragic m*rder,

and it was in 1959.

**

I mean, I know that there have
been multiple movies made

and multiple stories written
about Capote and his life.

**

I don't know that it will ever
go away at this point.

**

Rupp:
There are different memorials

for the Clutter family,

like at the co-op,
at the Methodist church,

but in the little town
of Holcomb,

absolutely nothing,

and so I went to
the Holcomb City Council

and asked them
if we can build a memorial

dedicated to the Clutter family,

and the council gave us
permission

to do exactly that.

They made quite an impact
on my life.

Herb Clutter was so involved

in Garden City
and the state of Kansas.

I guess I wanted to try and be
a lot more like him.

As long as I am able

to take care of the memorial,

I will,

but they have agreed
that when I'm gone,

they will see to it

that the memorial is
taken care of.

This piece is solid concrete
beneath the brick.

Now if a tornado come through,

wiped everything else out,

this would still be standing.

**

**

James: Oh, you know,
there's an untold story.

My older brother's gone now,

and he goes, "Before I die
I want to tell you something.

Dad's not your dad."

[Chuckles] I go, "What?
Why would you say that to me?

That doesn't make sense.
What are you saying?"

He goes -- He goes, "No."

He goes,
"Perry Smith's your dad."

He goes, "When you were a baby,

my job was to hide you from Dad.

Mom and Dad fought all the time
over you,

and Mom would run to me
and tell me,

'Go hide little Jewell.'

He didn't like you.
He hated you."

And I asked my Aunt Cordelia,
she nursed me.

She goes, "Well,
Joe's not your dad.

Perry is.

You're short, he was short.

You're stocky
and broad-shouldered.

He's stocky
and broad-shouldered.

You look at his eyes
and your eyes,

they're the same eyes
looking back at you."

**

You know, with all the facts

and the things
I've seen and heard...

yeah, I probably am.

Yeah, it's kind of sad.

Somebody can come into your life

and leave a legacy

of doubt and sorrow,

subtle pain, unspoken pain.

So that's what I think he left.

It wasn't a gift.

Guarantee it was not a gift.

**

[Dog panting]

Edwards: A death like that
and a loss like that

has so many reverberations.

It doesn't just effect
the mothers, the fathers,

the sisters, the brothers --

it affects the whole community,

it affects the next generation,

and the generation after that.

**

Welch: You can't separate

the Clutter killings

and "In Cold Blood."

You can't say they were
a success,

but together they were famous.

Crable: This book is where
we got the genre of true crime,

but at what cost?

Clarke: Truman Capote never
survived "In Cold Blood."

It was the greatest thing
he had ever done,

and it was the worst thing
he had ever done.

Quakenbush: Holcomb
and Garden City

and all of Finney County,

we don't want to be defined
as the community

of "In Cold Blood."

We don't want to be defined

as the place where
a terrible thing happened.

We want to be defined as a place
where a lot of great things

still have yet to come.

**

Bascue: The m*rder,
Smith and Hickock,

the trial, the executions,

everybody has heard about that.

But what nobody really knows,
except for a few,

is how great this family was

that was taken away
from this community.

**

Granddaughter:
My mom and my aunt have

really passed on the fact
that it's about joy.

And that was, I feel like,

what they did
when we all got together,

and they told us about
who Grandma and Grandpa were

and who Nancy and Kenyon were.

They weren't just m*rder*d.

They were wonderful people.

That's, I guess, the part

that gets lost sometimes
in these stories.

**

**

**

**