November 15, 1959: Four members of the Clutter family are murdered in their farmhouse, just outside the town of Holcomb, Kansas. The case was detailed by novelist Truman Capote in what he called a "non-fiction novel," In Cold Blood, published in 1966.
Perry Smith and Richard Hickock were recently paroled from the Kansas State Penitentiary. Floyd Wells, a former cellmate of Hickock's had been a farmhand for Herb Clutter, and told him that Clutter kept large amounts of cash in a safe. So Hickock and Smith decided to steal the safe, and use the contents to start a new life in Mexico. Hickock told Smith it was "a perfect score."
After driving all night on November 14 and 15, they drove 400 miles across Kansas, got to Holcomb early in the morning, and entered the Clutter house through an unlocked door. They woke the family up, and pushed Herb's wife Bonnie, their daughter Nancy, and their son Kenyon into a 2nd-floor bathroom. At gunpoint, they took Herb downstairs to his office.
But when they got there, they discovered there was no safe. Herb told them the conducted all of his business by personal check. Their heist having gone wrong, Smith took a knife, and slit Herb's throat, then took his shotgun, and shot him in the head. Smith then shot Kenyon, then Nancy, and finally Bonnie. He later told the police that he talked Hickock out of raping Nancy. Herb was 48 years old, Bonnie 45, Nancy 16 and Kenyon 15.
Hickock and Smith took the only things they could find that they considered to be of any value: Herb's binoculars, Kenyon's portable radio, and $50 in cash. They were arrested in Las Vegas on December 30, and were extradited back to Kansas. They were found guilty of 4 counts of 1st degree murder and sentenced to death. Smith first claimed that Hickock had committed 2 of the murders, then changed his story, saying that he had done all 4, because Hickock's mother was still alive, and he didn't want her to think of her son as a murderer.
Capote, at this point best known for writing Breakfast at Tiffany's (which had not yet been made into a film), learned of the murders, and traveled to Kansas with childhood friend Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird. Capote interviewed everybody he could, including the defendants, making a nuisance of himself, which was, far above writing, his greatest talent.
Smith and Hickock were executed by the State of Kansas on the same day, April 14, 1965. Smith was 36, Hickock 33. The next year, Capote published his account, In Cold Blood. It became the biggest-selling true crime book ever, and has been surpassed only by Helter Skelter, Vincent Bugliosi's book about the Charles Manson murders.
In Cold Blood was filmed in 1967, with Robert Blake as Smith, Scott Wilson as Hickock, and John McLiam as Herbert Clutter. CBS made a miniseries out of it in 1996, with the roles played by Eric Roberts, Anthony Edwards and Kevin Tighe.
In 2005, the film Capote premiered, with Clifton Collins Jr. as Smith, Mark Pellegrino as Hickock, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Capote, and Catherine Keener as Harper Lee. A competing film, Infamous, was released in 2006, with those roles being played by Daniel Craig, Lee Pace, Toby Jones and Sandra Bullock.
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November 15, 1959 was a Sunday. Baseball season was over. These games were played in the NFL:
* The New York Giants lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 14-9 at Yankee Stadium.
* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Chicago Cardinals, 27-17 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
* The Cleveland Browns beat the Washington Redskins, 31-17 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.
* The Detroit Lions beat the Los Angeles Rams, 23-17 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.)
* The Chicago Bears beat the San Francisco 49ers, 14-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* And the Baltimore Colts beat the Green Bay Packers, 28-24 at Milwaukee County Stadium.
Two games were played in the NBA. The Boston Celtics beat the Cincinnati Royals, 134-128 at the Cincinnati Gardens. And the Minneapolis Lakers beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 106-100 at the St. Paul Auditorium (now the Roy Wilkins Auditorium).
And the NHL's entire "Original Six" were in action:
* The New York Rangers played the Toronto Maple Leafs to a tie, 2-2 at the old Madison Square Garden.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1 at the Boston Garden.
* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3 at the Chicago Stadium.
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