Perry Edward Smith

A man of controversy. For some time he was an ordinary cheerful child, until the moment when the mother began to live wildlife and drink alcohol, for which his father often beat his mother. The family led a nomadic lifestyle and was always on the move. Because of this, they had to live in an old trailer, and the boy managed to finish only three classes. And two of four children committed suicide at all.

One day, Perry's mother could not stand the beatings, and she and her son moved to another state. For some time they lived together, but in the end, he spent most of his childhood in orphanages and shelters, where he was tortured by guards and were bullied by other children. One of the teachers of the orphanage often filled the bath with ice water and drowned the child in it.

Child injuries affected his psyche: even as an adult, he peed in bed and sucked his thumb in a dream. Perry’s dreadful childhood partly explains the heinous crime he committed. But it explains only partly and does not justify at all. After all, for example, his only sister who survived did not become a murderer, like many other children who were brought up in a similar situation.

Perry was necessary to his country only once - during the war in Korea, for participation in which he was awarded with bronze medal. On his first salary, Perry decided to buy a motorcycle, on which he later falls into a terrible accident. For six months he lay in the hospital, and his legs remained incompetent for life, which generally affected his appearance. Physical deformity - small legs, detail, to which the author often attracts attention. At the top, he was a healthy man, with the shoulders and back of an athlete, but because of his legs, he was no taller than a twelve-year-old child.

After the army and until the time of the murder, he still led a wandering lifestyle. As a result, hunger and theft lead him to prison, where, once he meets Dick. Upon learning that the Klatter family holds ten thousand dollars in cash on their farm, Smith and Hickok decide to rob. However, there is no money in the house, and the friends brutally kill one after another all family members. The murderers are trying to hide themselves in Mexico, but they leave traces behind them and eventually fall into the hands of the police.

But it should be added that it was Perry who insisted that they should not kill anyone. He stops Dick when he was going to rape the daughter of the Cluster couple. He even took the blame for the murder of all family members, so that the dying parents would not think that their son was a murderer.