On January 9, 1921, the Newton Gang entered Hondo, Texas., a small town 30 miles west of San Antonio, to rob one of the town’s two banks. It was just after midnight and the temperature was close to freezing.

The Newtons knew Hondo’s night watchman and, as was his custom, found him huddled around a potbellied stove in the warehouse. They cut all the telephone wires and then went back to see the night watchman. He hadn’t budgeted for his spot by the stove, so Joe positioned himself across the street as he kept watch while the rest went to the bank.

In his 1979 interview, Willis proudly told his side of the story:

“Sometimes you just get lucky because they left the vault door open. They left it unlocked, so we didn’t need nitro or anything. We forced the window, walked up to the vault, tried the handle, and she opened! You’d be surprised how many times the banks would simply lock the door to make it appear closed overnight.

“We cleared out the vault in no time and went to see if the night watchman was still in the vault. Sure enough, he was reading a magazine and drinking coffee by the stove. Well, hell, we thought we had plenty of time, so we’d go to the other one.” bank and we would try.

“We went into that bank and cleaned it out. Damn, two banks in one night and the night bailiff, he never left the warehouse!”

The local newspaper, the Deep Anvil Harbingerled the story with a welcoming headline:

Yeggs Rob Hondo Banks

One of the most audacious robberies ever staged in Texas occurred here Sunday morning

The people of Hondo were shocked and angry on Sunday morning when word broke that both banks had been broken into by yeggs, between midnight and day, and stolen of both money and valuables. Entry to the First National Bank was effected by forcing the front doors; while entry to the State Bank was effected by breaking down the bars on the last window in the alley between Parker’s and the bank.

The newspaper went on to give a detailed description of the robbery:

Because most of the money at both banks was in money safes, with time locks in place, the cash loss was not serious, First National lost a total of $2,814 while on the matter of loss of actual cash the State Bank was a little luckier, its loss was $1,879; both banks lost a total of $4,694, almost all of it in silver coins.

The funds of both banks were covered by theft insurance, so neither will suffer losses. [Just like Willis had assured his brothers.]

The owners of private safes, who had put their valuables in bank vaults, are the biggest losers, and their actual loss will not be known definitively for some time, probably a month, as the safe owners they are the only ones who can repair the loss, without bank officials being informed of the contents of the boxes.

The owners of the safe deposit boxes had cash, government bonds, war savings stamps, jewelry, and other valuables in their safes, making it impossible to determine the exact amount taken in the robbery. Estimates of up to $30,000 were never confirmed.

The article went on to describe the “safe experts”:

… That the thieves were experts is confirmed by the fact that they were able to work the combination in the First National Bank vault. [Willis said it was left unlocked.] They were also experts in the use of explosives, the doors of the State Bank vault being blasted open with one of the most powerful explosives known: TNT. [ Willis swore in his interview that he never used dynamite-only nitroglycerine.]

The vaults were thoroughly ransacked and the floors were covered in papers approximately two feet thick.

From the thoroughness with which the thieves made their search for valuables, it is evident that they spent two hours or more in the bank vaults and the clients’ private boxes are in a sad state, most of them showing that they were opened to hits. by some heavy instrument, probably with a mallet that had been stolen from the Mask & Co. smithy.

… That the thieves were not tyros (archaic word meaning beginners) in the robbery business is again confirmed by the fact that they took every precaution not to be caught for possession of jewels, gold coins, etc. ., which could lead to your identity. The floors of the vaults were literally littered with items that could lead to their detection. Banknotes and other valuables that could not be converted into money were discarded and left behind.

It is generally believed that the gang was composed of six to eight men, and that both banks were robbed simultaneously, with a gang being assigned to each bank.

Another circumstance indicating that the robbers were not new to the game of bank robbery is confirmed by the fact that all telephone lines in the city were apparently cut before the banks were robbed. And this part of his plans was carried out in the most effective way and by an expert in telephony.

… Wires were cut, apparently with saws, and individual wires were cut with wire cutters. Only three phones connected to the local exchange were working on Sunday morning.

The theft was discovered by the night watchman around 5am Sunday and was immediately reported to Deputy Sheriff CJ Bless.

…Harry Crouch, our local telegraph operator, was summoned and messages were sent east and west in an effort to intercept the robbers, but as far as the general public was informed, nothing was known of the address at which were the thieves. .

Detectives from San Antonio and surrounding areas gathered on the banks of Hondo looking for leads on the duel robbery.

… One of the most remarkable coincidences of this whole affair is that these robberies could have occurred right in the heart of the city and no more than 200 feet away, and no one among our people realized it until it was revealed to the public. day light. what had happened, and that too, it has since been learned that the night watchman and the other two men were in the waiting room of the mortuary, not more than sixty yards from the front doors of the First National Bank, while the crime was being committed. Stole. accomplished. The thieves must have done their job very quietly to avoid detection. [It is hard to image a “silent” explosion of nitroglycerine.]

The word the newspaper used for night robbers was “yeggs”, a popular vernacular expression of the time. It is interesting to compare the newspaper report with Willis’ account in which the First National Bank vault had been left open and they used nitroglycerin (instead of TNT) to blow the door of the State Bank vault. Even more interesting was the fact that there were no follow-up articles about the theft. There was not a single mention of the multi-bank robbery for the next several months, although it contained large advertisements for both banks. It was as if both banks had never been robbed.

The Galveston Daily News on January 10 reported the robbery describing a “tangle” that turned out to be a red herring:

Robber Heel can lead to arrest

Telephone connections are cut off when banks in Hondo are looted

San Antonio, Texas-January 10-A rubber heel, missing from a shoe, may lead to the identification of the bank robbers who made a successful robbery of $20,000 from the First National Bank of Hondo and the Hondo State Bank early morning Sunday.

The bank robbers gained entry into the two banks by prying the iron bars off the rear windows of the buildings and tampering with the vault combinations at First National Bank, but blew off the vault door at the state bank.

The seizure was made from the safe deposit boxes of both banks, obtaining the thieves only $1,500 in cash from Primera Nacional and $29,350 of money from the state bank. The smaller safes of both institutions were not touched.

The balance of the loot, according to the estimates of the officials of the two banks, was obtained from the owners of the safe deposit boxes of the banks. Hondo did not learn of the bank robbers’ visit until around noon Sunday, when open windows were discovered at the rear of the two bank buildings.

Lost heel on bench.

Constable JS Baden, during his investigation, received the missing rubber stub, which had been found in front of the First National Bank vault. Subsequent investigation revealed a set of burglar’s tools consisting of a pipe wrench, saw and chisel, which had been left behind by the burglars. However, these are not considered as important because they are of standard manufacture and can be easily purchased at any hardware store.

Just outside the window through which the robbers entered the state bank, Sheriff Baden found the numbers 13,555 etched into the brick. This, bank officials believe, indicates the amount the robbers obtained from the bank’s deposit boxes. [This curious piece of information appears to have been just another “red herring.”]

Sheriff Baden believes the robberies were committed by a six-man gang, which sent an advance party of two to Hondo last week.

… The citizens of Hondo, who were up early Sunday morning, reported to the Sheriff that they saw a high-powered car leaving the outskirts of town occupied by six men. These, the Sheriff believes, were Hondo’s robbers.

[Ironically] Sheriff Baden suffered a loss from the robbers’ visit early in the morning, as they broke into his safe deposit box at the First National Bank, making off with $300 in stamps and $150 in bonds. Left in the box was a $100 Liberty bond, owned by his son OJ Baden, of Donna.

In light of the erroneous “tangles,” the Newtons were never prosecuted for the Hondo bank robberies.

Willis Newton was born in 1889 and died in 1979, making him the longest-lived Texas outlaw. He and the Newton Gang raided trains and banks in the early 1920s, but their biggest loot occurred in 1924 when they robbed a train outside Rondout, Illinois, making off with $3,000,000. They still hold the record for the largest train robbery in United States history.