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| One night in Hondo, Texas, the gang entered a bank to discover that the vault had been accidentally left open; they robbed that safe then went down the street to another bank, broke into it and robbed it! They had robbed two banks in one night! On March 9, 1922, the gang robbed the bank in New Braunfels, Texas during the daytime. It was a simple robbery. The patrons in the bank that day described the Newton Gang as being very polite, engaging in small conversation with the patrons while the money was rounded up and taking extra care to let the people know that the Newtons would never harm them! Then came the robbery in Toronto, Canada on July 24, 1923, which spoiled the Newton’s safety record! The gang attempted to rob two bank messengers of the Toronto Currency Clearinghouse. Much to the surprise of the gang, the two messengers opened fire on them, leaving the gang in a position of getting shot or running. Willis returned fire, wounding the messengers. They stole 84,000 Canadian dollars, but ruined their reputation as a non-violent gang. On June 12, 1924, the brothers held up the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul mail train at Rondout, Illinois. It was their biggest job, netting them over 3 million dollars. In fact, it was the biggest train robbery in U.S. history at that time. It was during this robbery that John Glasscock accidently shot Doc! The brothers had to make some quick decisions; they decided that some of them should remain with Doc and see to it that he got medical attention, realizing this decision meant being caught! All four were sentenced to Leavenworth Prison. Jess served nine months, Joe got a year, Willis got four years and Doc got six years, due in large part to his previous escape. After his release from prison, Willis worked at odd jobs, but was caught transporting illegal whiskey. Again, he was sentenced, this time to McAlester prison in Texarkana. Following completion of this sentence, Willis and Joe were charged for an Oklahoma bank robbery that they didn’t commit. Willis was sentenced to seven years and Joe got ten years. Jess Newton spent the remainder of his life working on ranches in the vicinity of Uvalde, Texas. He passed away in 1960 at the age of 73. Doc worked
on several ranches and farms in Oklahoma and Missouri and for awhile ran illegal
whiskey. In 1968, at the age of 77 years, he was arrested for attempted robbery
in Rowena, Texas. During the course of the arrest, the old man was so severely
beaten that he never fully recovered. He spent the rest of his prison sentence
in the prison hospital at Fort Stockton, Texas. He was released from the custody
of the prison system and returned to Uvalde. He died in Uvalde, Texas in 1974
at the age of 83. After Joe was released he returned to
Uvalde and worked on a ranch, then a butcher shop and a drive-in. He later worked
on Doc’s farm in Oklahoma. He died on February 2, 1989 at the age of 88. Willis Newton, the leader of the Newton Gang, went back to farming when he was released. He lived in Uvalde, Texas and died on August 22, 1979. During its time of operation, the Newton Gang committed more bank robberies than any robbery gang in U.S. history, including the James-Younger Gang, the Wild Bunch and the Dalton Gang, combined!! They had robbed over 80 banks, 87 by some reports and 6 well-documented train robberies! They were the most successful bank robbers in U.S. history and they never killed anyone – in fact, never wanted to hurt anyone! They were businessmen interested only in a profit, not a reputation. | |||||||||||||||||||||
