In Cold Blood "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 the Clutter household. In Cold Blood, a nonfiction novel by Truman Capote tells just what happened on the days before and after the murder of the Clutters. Right up until the time the two murderers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, are hanged. While in prison, Dick Hickock hears a cellmate’s story about $10,000 in cash kept in a home safe by a prosperous ranch