8 Of the Most Notorious Outlaws In Texas History

7. The Newton Gang (active from 1919-1924)

Touted as the most successful train and bank robbers in U.S. history, the Newton gang were comprised of Willis, Doc, Joe and Jess Newton, four sons of cotton farmers from southwest Texas. The defacto leader of the gang, Willis, claimed they had robbed 87 banks and 6 trains, and pulled off more heists than the Dalton Gang, Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch and the James-Younger Gang combined, all without killing anyone.

Along with safecracker Brent Glasscock, the Newton Boys (as they came to be known) pulled off most of their robberies at night in unoccupied banks. Their stealth operations allowed them to continue unabated for five years before being caught for robbing a postal train out of Chicago. The brothers all served time for the crime and then went back to Texas after being released from prison.

The Newton gang lived long enough to tell their tale, which was later adapted for a movie. The youngest Newton brother, Joe, lived out a long life in Uvalde, dying in 1989 at the age of 88.

8. Bonnie & Clyde (Active from 1932-1934)

The now legendary couple were the public face of the Barrow Gang, who, led by Clyde Barrow, terrorized Texas and the central United States for two years. Clyde Barrow was from a dirt poor family and began getting into scrapes with the law early on. He had several arrests on his record in his teens, and by the age of 21 he was serving prison time.

Bonnie Parker was much more of a normal Texas girl who enjoyed photography and writing poetry. She fell in love with Clyde Barrow after a failed teenage marriage brought her back to her hometown of Dallas.

After the gang’s now notorious escape from their Joplin, Missouri hideout, several rolls of film yielded pictures of the young adults holding guns and smoking cigars. Although she became famous for these images, modern historians postulate that Bonnie Parker had most likely not participated in any of the killings for which the gang became famous.

After a shootout with authorities in Louisiana in May of 1934, the couple were slain and left to be immortalized by Hollywood. Clyde was 25 and Bonnie 23.

Credits: wideopencountry

Share this story on Facebook with your friends.

Related:

11 Possible Victims Of Famous Serial Killers

9 Child Murderers And How They Lost Their Innocence