Giving Aid When a Bandit Says: ‘I Wuz Robbed’

In writing recently about famous quotations that were never said, or are commonly attributed to the wrong authors, I included a remark the notorious bank robber Willie Sutton is said to have made in answer to a reporter’s question, “Why do you rob banks?”

According to the legend, Sutton answered, “Because that’s where the money is.”

I commented that “for sheer brevity, clarity and integrity,” I had considered that among the classics of all time.

First, I was disenchanted by reading in “They Never Said It,” by Paul F. Boller Jr. and John George, that Sutton never said it. A reporter made it up.

Now I am perturbed by a letter from a man named Jack, whose last name is illegible and who gives no address, so I can not give him credit. But he says:

“As I understand it, Mr. Sutton was asked ‘Why do you rob banks?’ And he replied, ‘Because that’s where the money is.’ I agree with you this is among the classics of all time. But not because of its brevity, clarity and integrity. It is a classic because, like one of Mr. Boffo’s characters, Mr. Sutton was unclear on the concept. The reporter was asking Mr. Sutton why he robbed, not why he robbed banks instead of other institutions, but Mr. Sutton got it wrong.”

I have hesitated to comment on this analysis because, not knowing Jack’s full name, it is like jousting with the wind.

However, other readers might have had that same misapprehension, and I feel obliged to clarify the question.

First, we must understand Mr. Sutton (since Jack chooses to give him that title). He was a bank robber. He did not mug people in the streets or burglarize homes. He robbed banks.

Mr. Sutton was not a perfect bank robber. He spent 20 years of his life in jail. But his style was flamboyant. He wore elaborate disguises and was known as “The Actor.” He escaped from Sing Sing in 1932 and used a wooden rifle to bluff his way out of a Pennsylvania jail in 1947. In 1969, white-haired and 68, he was released from Attica Prison. I don’t know what happened to him after that.

What Jack says is that when the reporter asked Mr. Sutton why he robbed banks, he did not mean why did Mr. Sutton rob banks , specifically; but why he robbed at all.

And he thinks that Mr. Sutton misinterpreted the question, taking it literally, and explained why he robbed banks.

I consider that most improbable. As a reporter myself, I would not have been likely to ask a hardened criminal why he was a criminal. The answer to that question would be so psychologically complicated that the criminal himself could not be expected to know the answer.

No, I think the reporter wanted to know why Mr. Sutton robbed banks , rather than little old ladies or liquor stores. And Mr. Sutton told him in an answer that was direct, logical, simple, brief and clear.

I am also skeptical of the documentation offered in “They Never Said It” as proof that this was not Mr. Sutton’s own rejoinder. The book says, “According to the infamous bank robber himself, it was a reporter who thought up this smart-aleck remark and put it in his mouth.”

If Mr. Sutton did indeed deny authorship of the remark, he thereupon deprived himself of his only claim to enduring fame. It was a remark that might live long after his felonies are forgotten.

Furthermore, I do not consider the remark “smart-aleck.” It was elegant in its simplicity and impregnably honest.

I’m not sure “They Never Said It’ is serving humanity by questioning the validity of our most treasured quotes.

They even say it wasn’t Gen. John J. Pershing, leader of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, who said, on his landing in France, “Lafayette, we are here!” The author of that splendid phrase, they say, was Pershing’s chief disbursing officer, Lt. Col. Charles E. Stanton.

We might as well say that it wasn’t Gen. Douglas MacArthur who said, on his departure from the Philippines, “I shall return,” but a member of his staff, or perhaps only some non-com GI who was making a vow to his Filipina girl friend.

But perhaps it was only made up by a reporter, as many great quotes allegedly have been.