The Newton Boys Page #10

No.

Not right away.

Not on this one.

But I could be

very,very influential...

with the judge who's going

to do the sentencing.

WlLLlS:
Gimme details.

You and Dock will get 12.

Should be out in four.

Murray and Slim--

No,them two bastards

got their own money.

They can make their own deal.

What about Joe?

If Joe and Jess make

a good impression in court--

No. Jess didn't have

nothin' to do with this.

He was off runnin' horses.

Willis, got Jess when

he came across the border...

to ride a pony on a bet,

so don't bullshit me, son.

I'm being straight

with you here.

All right.

How much?

They could get off

with a year or so.

Butfor that,

I need all the money back.

And I need you to hand me

that little weasel Bill Fahy.

Hmm.

You know us Newtons do

a lot of things, Mr. Aldrich...

but there are a few things

we don't do.

We don't kill nobody...

we don't steal

from women and children...

and we don't rat.

Somebody's got to,Willis...

or we don't have a deal.

LAWYER:
May I approach

the witness,Your Honor?

JUDGE:
You may.

LAWYER:
Could you identify

for the jurors...

the person in this courtroom...

who actually...

masterminded the robbery?

GLASSCOCK:
It's the gentleman

sitting there in the brown suit.

William Fahy.

FAHY:
He's a liar! I've never

seen this guy in my life!

I'm being railroaded!

It's not me! It's them!

It's Willis Newton!

He planned the whole thing

with his brothers! It's him!

JUDGE:
Order in the court.

Sit down, Mr. Fahy...

or I'll have you removed

from this courtroom.

The Newtons will be dealt with

soon enough...

but since this is your trial...

I suggest you concern yourseIf

with the business at hand.

ALDRlCH:
Willis.

You think this is gonna work?

WlLLlS:
When it does,

you're gonna be talking...

to an ex-millionaire.

[Chuckles]

JUDGE:
You understand

the meaning of a guilty plea?

JESS:
Yes, sir,Your Honor.

It means we're guilty.

You caught us with a wetfinger

in the sugar sack, sir.

We're guilty, guilty, guilty...

and awful sorry we put everybody

through all this trouble.

See,we're simple cowboys.

We don't know much about

guns and train-robbin'.

Just sort of

come along on a lark...

if you know what I mean.

Is it true you turned

to the fireman and said...

"Ain't this a hell of a way

to make a living?""

[Laughter]

I guess.

You know, but a fella

has to ask himseIf...

what's right and what's wrong.

What we did was wrong.

I suppose we messed up

that ol' train robbery...

'bout as much

as any outfit could.

Even managed to shoot

our own brother.

[Chuckling]

Naw,Your Honor, I figure

that the Newton boys...

was never cut out

for the wrong side of the law.

-You may sit down, Mr. Newton.

-Thank you,Your Honor.

JUDGE:

Counselor, approach the bench.

WlLLlS:

Hell of a performance,Jess.

JESS:

Folks seemed to appreciate it.

WlLLlS:
Yeah. Right.

Tell you what, it's a good thing

we still got that 35,000.

Actually,

we--we don't have that 35,000.

You spent it?

No, I didn't spend it,

I buried it.

I went out one night

with this cab driver--

he was a great guy--

and we found a perfect spot,

we covered it up.

I come back a couple

of days later, it's daylight...

and the whole damn place

looks exactly the same.

All right? I can't tell

one rock from another.

What you're saying

is you got drunk...

and you lost that money.

I probably had a couple,

but that wasn't the thing.

The trouble was this cab driver

was on a serious drunk.

He didn't even know

what road we was on.

He was no help at all.

Goddamn it,Willis, I been

lookingfor that money...

every day until they come

and drag my ass up here.

JUDGE:
Would the defendants

please rise?

WlLLlS:
I guess

you're right, brotherJess.

Us Newtons ain't cut out

for the wrong side of the law.

REPORTERS:
Here they come!

OFFlCER:
Back up!

REPORTER:
Dock!

[Clapping and laughing]

REPORTERS:
Joe!

-Willis!

-Willis!

REPORTER:
Willis, any regrets?

JOHNNY CARSON:

My first guest is a gentleman...

who was

one of the Newton brothers.

Would you welcome Joe Newton?

Joe?

[Applause]

-How are you, sir?

-Fine.

CARSON:
It's nice to meet you.

I think people thought

I was really joking...

and this was a put-on

or something.

JOE:
Nothin' put-on about this.

CARSON:
Nothing at all.

This was in 1924.

JOE:
Nineteen twenty four.

CARSON:
That you robbed

the train. What train was that?

I wasn't around in 1924.

JOE:
It's right out of

Roundout, lllinois...

about 30 miles out of Chicago.

The little station

they call a roundout...

that's where they got the name.

It was a mail train

going on west.

CARSON:
It says in four years

you robbed eighty banks.

JOE:
We robbed a lot of them.

[Laughter]

WlLLlS:
No,we didn't rob

all the banks in Texas.

We just robbed 30 or40...

but we robbed plenty

in other states like lllinois...

Arkansas, Missouri...

Kansas,Wisconsin...

North and South Dakota,

and several other states.

We're just like doctors and

lawyers and everybody else.

It was our business to do that.

We never killed anybody,

and we never wanted to.

All we wanted was

the money--to make money.

CARSON:
You lived pretty well,

I suppose.

JOE:
Oh,yeah. Yeah.

We stayed in the best hotels,

ate at the best cafe...

and drove the best cars

there was them days.

CARSON:
A lot of women?

JOE:
If you got a good car

and a pocketful of money...

and a young man,yeah.

That'll answer your question.

WlLLlS:
Nobody never give me

anything but hell in my life...

and I never done anything

I was ashamed of doing, either.

I've done some things

I'm sorry of.

One thing I was sorry of was

we robbed a bank up in Kansas.

Old boy inside got scared

and run off and left $200,000.

All they had to do was

put it in a handbag.

When I bawled him out about it,

he says, ""Oh,we got enough."

I says, "We never get enough."

When I go in to get anything,

I want to get it all.

From then on, I went inside...

and they was cleaned out

when I come out.

CARSON:

When did they catch you, now?

JOE:
Right after that.

One of our men--

it wasn't one of us,

it was one of the men with us--

he got excited--

It had to be excitement.

He went on the other side where

he wasn't supposed to be...

and shot one of my brothers.

-Killed him?

-No, no.

JOE:
He shot him

five or six times with a .45.

He should have killed him.

[Laughter]

CARSON:

A .45 is a big-bore weapon.

That should have pretty well--

Your brother

recoveredfrom that?

JOE:
He recovered,

lived to be 83 years old.

WlLLlS:
My mother was over

in Cottonwood one day...

and she met my schoolteacher...

and I'd quit,

and she asked her why.

My mother said, "His clothes

got so bad, he's ashamed to go."

But she said, "He's the smartest

pupil I ever had in my school...

"and if you give him

an education...

"there's no telling

what he'll make out of hisseIf.

"And if you don't give him

an education...

"there's no telling

what he'll do."

CARSON:
How old were you

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