Duane West likes to describe a person’s life as “brush strokes on your canvas.” WEST FIRST became aware of Montes’ unusual art form at a show in Dodge City.
West, 81, was in Iola Friday evening for dual events at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.
First, he hosted the opening of an art exhibit at the Mary L. Martin Gallery featuring unique works of Jesse Montes, who creates two- and three-dimensional pieces from corrugated cardboard. “A genius,” West calls Montes.
After the show’s opening, he retired to the Creitz Recital Hall to give about 70 people an intriguing appraisal of his life, with the core event being prosecution of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith for the 1959 murders of the Herbert Clutter family near Holcomb.
West was an young attorney at the time and had been elected Finney County attorney in 1956, a year after earning a law degree from Washburn University.
“The media descended on us,” which “led to a lot of pressure,” with two press conferences a day, West said of the trial. He didn’t have much good to say about the news coverage, noting that some reporters “made up stories because they had to have something to write.”
Among those who came was Truman Capote, with Harper Lee, of “To Kill a Mockingbird” fame, at hand to take notes.
West refused to sign an exclusive agreement with Capote, not only to use West’s name in “In Cold Blood” but also preventing West from ever writing about the case or being quoted elsewhere.
West said he thought Capote’s account of the Clutter murders was inaccurate and was meant to generate sympathy for Hickock and Smith that was far from warranted.
“I’ve never read the book, but a lot of my friends said they were misquoted,” he said.
“I made the decision to seek the death penalty for them,” which he never regretted in the least, said West. “I’m still an advocate of capital punishment. I take the position that it protects the public.
“I even would have been willing to pull the cord,” on the trap door when they were hung, he said. However, West did not attend the execution.
“I didn’t let that (the Clutter case) be the defining moment for me,” he said.
Other achievements included writing a musical about Charles “Buffalo” Jones, one of the founders of Garden City and the man credited with saving the buffalo from extinction. The musical is called “Dream Your Dreams: The Buffalo Jones Story,” and was performed by the Garden City Community College.
“There were 25 pieces and I was so impressed I bought them all,” he said.
In stumping for Montes before his “A Kansan You Should Know” presentation, West said Montes created the cardboard sculptures and two-dimensional renderings by gluing together pieces of cardboard, sometimes including Pizza Hut box tops, with Elmer’s Glue. He uses safety pins to hold the cardboard in place until glue dries.
Some coloring is inherent in the cardboard, other is added afterward.
“He is so astounding,” said West, who also paints. “He leaves me breathless with pieces he creates. He has made a great contribution to the art world.”
The Wests have accumulated about 40 of Montes’ works and are seeking to donate them to a museum, where they would be permanently displayed, but have had no luck.
Montes, one of 25 children in his family and half of five sets of twins, was a janitor in Dodge City for many years before pursuing art full time. Recently he has been sidelined by health problems.
The show at the Bowlus will run through Oct. 18. Pieces on display are for sale.
Clutter case doesn’t define attorney
