[3] The Last Great Manhunt was a 1909 story about Willie Boy,[4] a Paiute-Chemehuevi Indian who falls in love with his distant cousin, Carlota Boniface.

[5][6] It was precisely based on interviews and research[7] the author did on the Morongo Indian Reservation during three years before the publishing of the book.

[10] and served as the historian on the Great Basin Foundation's archaeological dig at the former Chinatown site in Riverside, California.

[11] Through this involvement on the project, Lawton compiled an extensive collection of research material pertaining to the early Chinese immigrants that settled in the Inland Empire region of Southern California.

He was a contributor to the American Cancer Society, AMFAR, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Greenpeace, and the ASPCA, although he always preferred anonymity.