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Larry Hendricks, a young Holcomb High School English teacher who accompanied Sheriff Earl Robinson to the scene of the crime, was later interviewed by Capote. Hendricks’s first thoughts centered, curiously, on Bonnie Clutter, asserting that she may have hired killers in some scheme involving blackmail or “dope.” But he was convinced that nobody in town believed robbery was the motive.[187]
Describing the tension that gripped the town, Hendricks later recalled: “... no one visited anyone else in Holcomb. If approaching a house at night, after knocking on the door, the visitor stepped back to the edge of the porch and waited. If the visitor was unknown, they would face a gun barrel. The town was armed, he said.”[188]
[NB: Sharp observers may recall that “Larry Hendricks” was also the name of the presiding judge in our litigation with Kansas. It should be noted they are different individuals.]
