Beginning of Essay
"I didn't want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat." (p. 110) These are the words spoken by Perry Smith, one of the men who on November the 15th, 1959 killed the four members of ....

Middle of Essay
.... The murders shock the small Great Plains town, where doors were routinely left unlocked. The killers then travel to Mexico, Hickock playing their way with bad checks. Tension grows in the complicated relationship between smooth-talking but malevolent Dick and half-Cherokee Perry, a moody little man with stunted legs who likes to sing and play the guitar. When their money runs out, they return to the States, pass more bogus checks and steal a car. They are finally caught and taken to federal prison where they undergo seven years before they are finally hung for murder. It is not only with a sick sensation of horror but with simple, genuine human ....