Paige T.
asked • 04/14/20What did Sherriff Robinson, Larry Hendricks, and Clarence Ewalt discover in the Clutters’master bedroom, and what was significant about these discoveries?
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
I've read the book but I just don't understand the significant part. If anyone could help I would be very grateful.
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1 Expert Answer
Erik H. answered • 04/15/20
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All the Clutters , from what I remember, were murdered and placed on beds or killed in their beds...The Furnishings of Murder: Beds, a Couch, and a Mattress Box
When the police first arrive at the Clutter house, they find that Bonnie and Herb Clutter, as well as their youngest children Nancy and Kenyon, have been murdered by means of a shotgun. Bonnie and Nancy are found in their beds, while Kenyon is lying on the basement couch. Just as the rest of his family has been murdered on pieces of furniture, Herb has been placed on top of a cardboard mattress box in the basement.The Mattress Box as the Only Clue at the Crime Scene was very important...
For more than half of the novel, the mattress box and its footprints are the only clues the police have in their search for the killers of the Clutter family. They decide that the footprints are useless, since they believe the killers will have gotten rid of the shoes that made them. Detective Alvin Dewey is more interested in the mattress box itself. He observes that it's as if someone wanted to make Herb more comfortable by placing him on a makeshift ''bed.''
hope this helps!
Erik
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Mark G.
Clarence Ewalt, Larry Hendricks, and Sheriff Robinson found two things in the master bedroom, either (or both) of which are very significant. First, they found Herb Clutter's billfold. It was lying open, and a number of items were scattered about - but no cash. Apparently, someone had gone through the billfold, taking what cash they'd found. The killers themselves later said they had taken "between forty and fifty dollars" from the Clutter home. Most, if not all, of this cash was taken from Herb's billfold. It was fairly well-known in the community that Herb Clutter preferred to do business by check, and that he seldom, if ever, carried large amounts of cash. Even just finding the billfold with no cash was an important clue; it meant that robbery was probably a motive. Keep in mind, some in the community were convinced that the murders were committed by someone who hated the Clutters, and robbery wasn't the motive. Had that been the case, the killer(s) probably wouldn't have cared much about a few measly dollars in Herb's billfold. To me, the other item they found is extremely significant - and it's probably the item to which you are referring: Herb Clutter's glasses, which were lying atop the bureau. Herb had very poor eyesight, and if he'd left the bedroom voluntarily, it stands to reason he would have put his glasses on. The fact that he didn't suggests that he was forced from the room, quite possibly at gunpoint. So, perhaps, being flustered or alarmed, he merely forgot to put them on. However, given the totality of the situation Herb found himself in - two strangers in the house, in his bedroom, late at night, one armed with a rifle - it seems much more likely that Herb deliberately chose not to put on his glasses. Consider what might have happened, had he done so, and then looked directly at Hickock and Smith. There's a good chance they would have shot him to death, right on the spot. It's very possible he even reasoned this out in those fateful few minutes - he's a somewhat older man, in his pajamas, without his glasses, frightened, confused, stumbling along - might evoke pity from these two young fellows, who, for all he knew, might simply be a pair of ordinary thieves. Maybe they'll just take the $40 and leave, and not hurt him, or his family. Without his glasses, he wouldn't be able to identify them later, because - after all - he can't see well enough to even describe them.02/20/22