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Back We Were Killers Once Save as PDF
Chapters (65)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty–one
  25. Twenty–two
  26. Twenty–three
  27. Twenty–four
  28. Twenty–five
  29. Twenty–six
  30. Twenty–seven
  31. Twenty–eight
  32. Twenty–nine
  33. Thirty
  34. Thirty–one
  35. Thirty–two
  36. Thirty–three
  37. Thirty–four
  38. Thirty–five
  39. Thirty–six
  40. Thirty–seven
  41. Thirty–eight
  42. Thirty–nine
  43. Forty
  44. Forty–one
  45. Forty–two
  46. Forty–three
  47. Forty–four
  48. Forty–five
  49. Forty–six
  50. Forty–seven
  51. Forty–eight
  52. Forty–nine
  53. Fifty
  54. Fifty–one
  55. Fifty–two
  56. Fifty–three
  57. Fifty–four
  58. Fifty–five
  59. Fifty–six
  60. Fifty–seven
  61. Author’s Note
  62. Acknowledgments
  63. Also by Becky Masterman
  64. About the Author
  65. Newsletter Sign-up

Instead, he went back to the Kansas Historical Society Archives and continued to pour through Hickock’s and Smith’s files at Lansing Penitentiary. Hickock had a never-ending stream of correspondence, five-and six-page single-spaced, handwritten letters addressed to the warden and his attorney Joseph Jenkins, going on and on about how it wasn’t fair that death row prisoners should have to be incarcerated next to the petty criminals who were generally more rowdy at all times of the day and night so he couldn’t sleep. Another letter explaining why he should be allowed to have art supplies in order to spend some time drawing. Another letter begging for a radio to help the death row prisoners preserve their sanity. Even a brief one requesting watermelon. Except for the art supplies, most of his requests were rejected. Beaufort had to read every word in every document because he wasn’t totally sure what he was looking for, and a clue might be contained in a phrase anywhere in any letter or legal brief.

There was the letter from Capote asking Warden Crouse for permission to interview the men—initially denied—newspaper articles about Smith going on a hunger strike in order to “cheat the gallows,” a telegram from Smith to Capote sent the day before his execution, asking if Capote would come visit him. A letter from Hickock’s mother that mentioned him finding God. Fat chance on that, Mom.

Letters from Hickock to his attorney. None of the letters talked about a separate document, any confession that would supersede the official one he’d made. Just to see how far this internet could get him, Beaufort googled the name Joseph Jenkins. Nothing likely, just a real estate agent somewhere in Idaho. Joseph Jenkins Attorney, he typed. Nothing. Man long dead, probably, even the law firm defunct.

There was an article published in the December 1961 issue of Male magazine, in which Hickock himself told his life story. Beaufort scanned the article as fast as he could read, holding his breath to the end to see if Hickock had ratted him out there in any way. True to his promise, though, Hickock said nothing about Beaufort, didn’t even mention “the boy and his grandfather” that Smith had told Capote about, leaving the identity of the pair anonymous as they would appear in the book.

He did not enjoy doing any of this. He did not like to remember his time with them. During his association with Hickock and Smith, and in the aftermath of the Clutter and Walker killings, Beaufort could never have anticipated how famous Smith and Hickock would become because of Truman Capote’s book. Damn bad luck. If Beaufort had known that would happen he never would have hooked up with the two of them.