The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-08-27
SaHa TIME PENNSYLVANIA
pIckTURPlN-WlLD CAREER
or MoUNTAiN HIGHWAY
MAN-ROBBED PITTS
BURG MERCHANT.

admiration and sympathy
noted criminals has, strange TO
say,existed; at all times and in all
communities. naturally being most
pronounced among the ignorant, bur
SsbySno means exclusively confined to
that element. It exists today, as is
{ q often evidenced by the mawkish
sentfmentality manifested toward con-
yicted murderers, even though their
crimes&were Of the most brutal charac-
ter and devoid of h excuse or pallia-
tionSof 5 b1ood in their commission.
Fromsthesdays of Robin Hood, in Mer-
rieEnglandi8Fra Diavolo, in Italy, to
James.brothers and the Youngers.
in b s~#@country, and Massanelio, the
notorious #brfgand of Sicily, perhaps
#fheSSIatest type of those heroes OF the
highway There have always been
found those who sympathized with
them and often aided in protecting
them from the officers of the law. In
athesolden days, when the common peo-
pleSwere too often g~rievously Cypress
ed by the rich and powerful, this feel
ing doubtless arose largely from the
these freebooters levied trib.
t fromthe oppressors, and, with the
generosity born of goods had for the
taking, sometimes divided their i'll
gotten gains with the poor. He robs
thegrich to- help the poor has e
erred manymisdeeds.
That there was in Western Pennsyf'
sggvania less than a century ago, a knight
ofSthe highway something after the
typesthus described is lot generally
known5perhaps. Nevertheless David
Lewis, the robber, once filed a large
placeinth the public mind, and his deeds
wereonsevery tongue.
S$#s#sSSaaHis exploits were narrated by every
fTeside insthe valleys of the Allegha-
mics and on the ridges of the Seven
Mountains, and his name was used to
s%sfrighten children into obedience. Ira
S@ditionagives to him many of the char
acteristics of Robin Hood, the noted
outlaWsof English story. 1t is said of
Lewis that he never robbed the poor,
that he took from the rich to give to
theaapoor, and that he never shed hui
man blood, restraining his comrades
from%doing SO when they urged it as
the dictate of safety, or on the ground
that dea men tell no tales"
s'The above extract is taken from the
"Reminiscences of the late Judge. Will
liam M.#Hal1. of Bradford, Pa, a dis
$tinguished jurist, whose knowledge Of
Lewis, career was gained from the oil.
der residents who had known the OUT
law personally, and supplemented by
research@among the files Of the early
newspapers and the old records of the
Bradford county courts, before which
tribunals Lewis frequently appeared
Lewis history is rich in the romance
sSSof crime, and might furnish material
for a8dozen Of the blood and thunder
novels over which many like to pore
David Lewis was born in Carlisle in
1790,, and vas the son of a land sur
5veyor. His mother was of a Bradford
county family. Both parents died when
Lewis was a child, and he was left
with a stepmother who seems to have
had an affection for him not always
found in such relationships. When he
was but six years old the stepmother
removed to nea Beilefonte. In 1907 Z
recruiting officer of the United States
army came to Bellefonte, and Lewis
enlisted as a soldier, but deserted in a
very short time. He was foolish
enough to re-enlist shortly after ,n,
an assumed name, and while sta
toned at the old Carlisle barracks
now used as an Indian school, applied
for a discharge on the ground that he
was "a minor At the hearing the fac
of his former enlistment and deser
ton came out, and he was court-mar
tailed, convicted and sentenced to b;
shot. Judge Jonathan H. Walker, O
Bellefonte, father Of Robert ]. Wal
8 ker, who became United States Sen
ator from Mississippi, and was Score
tary of the Treasury in Presider
IA Folks cabinet, loaned Lewis step
mother a horse IN which she rod Owe
them mountains to Carlisle, bearing with
her the family Bible containing thu
record of the boys birth, and there
earnestly ~endeavored to save his life
She succeeded in getting the matte.
before President Jefferson, who com
muted the sentence to imprisonment
" Lewis later sawed the ball and chair
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