And that Dewey intended on murdering the family from the beginning.

Yeah. Dewey was the FBI guy.

A prisoner informed one of the "In Cold Blood" killers that he had worked on Herb Clutter's big farm, and that lots of money was constantly involved in keeping operations going. From there, the notion of a "little back box" took root. In fact, Clutter never kept cash on hand; he even paid for $1.50 hair cuts by check. After murdering the Clutter family, the two killers made off with a little over $40.00.

Last edited Mon Sep 1, 2014, 11:38 AM - Edit history (1)

develop.

A farm is a business and especially in the days before credit cards it would behoove a farmer to keep a sizable stash of cash on hand to pay for expenses as they come up. Lots of stuff that breaks, needs to be fixed, needs to be fueled, people who need to be paid for some kind of service, deliveries that get made, etc. While I'd imagine that a lot of these things can be billed, there are probably circumstances where having cash is quicker and easier.



Personal experience with this: In late August, right before harvest one summer my family was visiting some friends who owned a farm. My mom had grown up with the the farmer's wife. So as the grownups sat and talked, us kids went off to play. At one point we were in the basement and in one corner of the basement was a desk. In the center of all kinds of bills and paperwork was a stack of $100 bills about 3 inches thick.

most run credit at the places they do business and pay at harvest or fall sales.

cash might be used to pay day labor or something but business expenses are usually paid by check

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Sheesh!

The Robert Duvall/Michael Caine movie. Now those guys had some stash.....

That got Herbert Clutter and his family killed.

My social studies teacher showed us the movie. I've been paranoid ever since.

Anybody looked at grain prices lately?