1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. 2 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: Willis Newton and his three brothers are not, for the 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,960 Speaker 1: most of us, as easily identifiable as Pretty Boy Floyd, 4 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: Baby Face, Nelson, or al Capone. They certainly weren't as 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:25,079 Speaker 1: renowned as Bonnie and Clyde, but that may go a 6 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 1: long way toward explaining why Willis Newton and his gang 7 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:32,240 Speaker 1: were just about infinitely more successful than any of those others. 8 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,240 Speaker 1: For much of their career, nobody, even the cops knew 9 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: who the Newtons were. In a blink of about five years, 10 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: in the nineteen twenties, the Newtons and an occasional accomplice 11 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: pulled off some seventy bank heists, give or take a dozen, 12 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:51,239 Speaker 1: and ripped off six trains, including a single haul of 13 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: somewhere around three million dollars. It remains the largest train 14 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: robbery ever. Accounting for inflation, that single three million dollar 15 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:01,959 Speaker 1: take in nineteen twenty four would be a fifty three 16 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:07,080 Speaker 1: million dollar getaway today. As old men, after their thieving 17 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 1: was mostly over, they surfaced in a nineteen seventy five documentary, 18 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: but coming off is both proud and practical. Willis said, 19 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:18,680 Speaker 1: straight face to the camera, just like a doctor and 20 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 1: lawyers and everybody else. It was our business to do that. 21 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:26,319 Speaker 1: The youngest of the Newton brothers, Joe, even made his 22 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,199 Speaker 1: way onto Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show in nineteen eighty 23 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: and was downright charming. When Carson asked him about his 24 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,119 Speaker 1: appeal to women as a bank robber, Joe said, well, 25 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: if you've got a good car and a pot full 26 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: of money and you're a young man, yeah. However, in 27 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine, Willis Newton, just a few months before 28 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: his death at the age of ninety, sat down in 29 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 1: his home in Uvalde, Texas, for a wide ranging and 30 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: sometimes contentious interview about his life and crimes with historian 31 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: and author G. R. Williamson. Before the article this episode 32 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 1: is based on How Stuffworks, spoke with Williamson, who walked 33 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: away from that interview with an entirely different impression of Willis. 34 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: He said, I truly believe he was a flat out 35 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: evil person. The four Newton Boys, Willis, Wiley aka Doc, Jess, 36 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: and Joe were the sons of poor Texas sharecroppers growing 37 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: up at the turn of the twentieth century. They mostly 38 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: left school early and fell into petty crimes and stints 39 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: in jail. Willis was about twenty five with a lengthy 40 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: rap sheet already to his name when he first robbed 41 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 1: a bank, making off with about four thousand, seven hundred 42 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:42,360 Speaker 1: dollars from a job in Kline, Texas. That's about one 43 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:46,080 Speaker 1: hundred and forty four thousand in today's dollars. And in 44 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: nineteen sixteen, with some other outlaws, Willis took a share 45 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: of around ten thousand dollars from a robbery the about 46 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: two hundred and ninety five thousand dollars today. Willis was hooked, 47 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: and he eventually brought his brothers into the new family business. 48 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:06,640 Speaker 1: Early on, as the brothers and occasional accomplices lined up jobs, 49 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: Willis laid down some ground rules. Williamson said, they were 50 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 1: full blown criminals. But here's the thing. Willis had the 51 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: wisdom to know that if they killed somebody, that would 52 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: change everything about how the police came after them. So 53 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:24,000 Speaker 1: it was his mandate to his brothers that they never 54 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: kill anybody. It's a rule that may have been broken. 55 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: They were involved in a few messy gunfights in Canada 56 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: in a rare daytime heist, they were involved in a 57 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 1: shootout during morning rush hour that sullied their reputation for 58 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: clean hits and easy getaways. But normally, with a little preparation, 59 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:45,960 Speaker 1: plus some nitroglycerin, perhaps to blow the door off of 60 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: a safe, the Newtons would be on their way quick 61 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: and quiet, loot in hand. At its height, the gang 62 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: was the four brothers and an explosives expert by the 63 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: name of Brent Blascock, and they robbed banks and trains 64 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 1: across Tech, Oklahoma, through the Midwest, and even into Toronto, Canada. 65 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: On at least one occasion, they robbed two banks in 66 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: one day. Williamson said, compared to the Newtons, Jesse and 67 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: Frank James were mere amateurs, but Cassidy was a small fry. 68 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,840 Speaker 1: The Newtons made blowing safes and robbing trains a big business. 69 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: They wanted to fly under the radar. They didn't want notoriety. 70 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,839 Speaker 1: Bonnie and Clyde they had actual photographs of them, and 71 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 1: they did all sorts of stuff that kept taunting the police. 72 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 1: So did pretty Boy Floyd. Because the public did not 73 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 1: know what the robbers that were doing these bank jobs 74 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,040 Speaker 1: and train robberies looked like. The Newtons weren't having to 75 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:42,559 Speaker 1: run from the law. At one point, Willis said, we 76 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: wasn't mugs like Bonnie and Clyde. We was just quiet businessmen. 77 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: What we wanted was the money. It helped too that 78 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,560 Speaker 1: the Newtons mostly did their work at night. They didn't 79 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:58,280 Speaker 1: generally barge into banks branching shotguns, and banks compared to today, 80 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: were much easier to rob. Many of the banks of 81 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: the Newtons knocked over were in small towns with little security. 82 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,799 Speaker 1: Williamson said, Remember, the only communications in the nineteen twenties 83 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: was telegraph and telephone, no Internet, no national database of fingerprints, 84 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: no national database of mug shots or anything like that. 85 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: So they could pull these things off and nobody knew 86 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: it was the Newtons. In between jobs, when it was convenient, 87 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: they'd go back to the family home in Uvalde and 88 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 1: lay low until they needed more money. Williamson said the 89 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:35,279 Speaker 1: general opinion of the people in Uvalde at the time 90 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: was that all the Newton boys were near Dowells. They 91 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: were probably up to criminal activity, but nobody knew that 92 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: they were the robbers. When they were on business trips 93 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: outside of Texas, they'd stay in the nicest hotels and 94 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: eat at the best restaurants. At least two of the 95 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,440 Speaker 1: brothers regularly attended sporting events like the Kentucky Derby and 96 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: Indianapolis five hundred. They spent lavishly until their money ran low, 97 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: then planned the next job. The Newton Gang's biggest heist, 98 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,240 Speaker 1: that three million dollar one, was also the one that 99 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:11,160 Speaker 1: brought them down. It was a train robbery outside of Chicago, Illinois, 100 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:15,919 Speaker 1: on June twelfth of nineteen twenty four. The Newtons, along 101 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: with Glascock and a few newcomers, stopped a train on 102 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:21,239 Speaker 1: its way to dropping off cash to several banks along 103 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,719 Speaker 1: its route. The gang quickly loaded sixty three bags of 104 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 1: loot into four stolen cars, but in the confusion of 105 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: the nighttime raid and after a train brakeman escaped and 106 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:35,800 Speaker 1: alerted authorities, Glasscock mistook Doc Newton for a guard and 107 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:40,680 Speaker 1: accidentally shot Doc several times. The men all got away, 108 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 1: placing the wounded dock atop bags of cash, but authorities 109 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 1: quickly found the men. A corrupt postal inspector who was 110 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: in on the job gave himself away under wire tap, 111 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: a tip that led authorities to the doctor who had 112 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:56,599 Speaker 1: treated the wounded. Doc Willis made it across the border 113 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: into Mexico, and Jesse escaped for a while to Texas 114 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:02,839 Speaker 1: with about thirty five thousand dollars that's six hundred and 115 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: twenty one thousand dollars today, money that was never officially 116 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:09,280 Speaker 1: found and is the source of some local legends about 117 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: buried treasure. But at the time, within months everyone involved 118 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: was arrested and headed to trial, including the convalescing Doc, 119 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: who was taken into the proceedings on a stretcher. However, 120 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 1: although eight men were convicted in the end, and the 121 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:28,640 Speaker 1: amount of money that they stole was enormous, most of 122 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:31,840 Speaker 1: their sentences were light and all were eventually released on 123 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 1: good behavior. Later in life, Doc and Willis tried to 124 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: rob a bank in Rowena, Texas, when Doc was well 125 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: into his seventies and Willis was eighty, But the Newton 126 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: brothers spent the rest of their lives mostly on the 127 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 1: right side of the law. Their exploits are now often 128 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: considered when the Newtons are acknowledged at all, as brothers 129 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:56,239 Speaker 1: simply trying to make a living. Willis told his documentarians, 130 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,040 Speaker 1: I knew all them bankers was rich, and they didn't 131 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 1: care about hurting us poor farmers. So why should I 132 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: care about hurting them? Why shouldn't I steal from them? 133 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: It's just one thief stealing from another. But the romanticized 134 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: story as told by Willis, his brothers, and many historians, 135 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: isn't necessarily the true one. Williamson points out that in 136 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 1: at least a few of their robberies a lot of 137 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 1: gunplay was involved, and the lack of planning could have 138 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: been disastrous. He said, a majority of the times when 139 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: they got into these robberies where they actually had guns 140 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: out and so forth, they screwed up so bad they 141 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 1: should have been killed. Willis was good at planning, but 142 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: the execution sometimes was completely out the window. In his research, 143 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 1: Williamson uncovered damning newspaper accounts of a shootout during one 144 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: of their train robberies in Illinois, in which he claims 145 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 1: a black porter by the name of Moon died three 146 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 1: days after the robbery from gunshot wounds. Though the Newtons 147 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: swore they never killed anyone, that may not have been 148 00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:02,199 Speaker 1: the case. The last living member of the gang, Joe, 149 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: died in nineteen eighty nine. Today, the Newtons retain their 150 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:09,240 Speaker 1: status as folk heroes to many. There was even a 151 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:12,719 Speaker 1: dramatized film made about them in nineteen ninety eight, and 152 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: they remain unquestionably the most successful bank robbers the country 153 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:22,120 Speaker 1: has ever seen. Joe told Carson in nineteen eighty we 154 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:29,959 Speaker 1: was crazy for doing it, but you're young then. Today's 155 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: episode is based on the article the Newton Boys were 156 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: the Baddest bank robbers You've Never heard of on how 157 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,680 Speaker 1: Stuffworks dot Com, written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is 158 00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com 159 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from 160 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 161 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.