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It's 1820.

A notorious outlaw named David Lewis, known as the Robin Hood of Pennsylvania, makes a deathbed confession.

The confession tells of a sensational criminal career that included jailbreaks cave hideaways, buried treasure shootouts, and manhunts through the wildest parts of Pennsylvania.

But could such a legendary tale be true?

Hey, I'm Matt and I'm Dustin, and we are Local Historia.

As educators and historians, we are passionate about exploring and sharing local history all around us.

You may have seen us leading walking tours and shining a light upon the past.

Now we're bringing you Journeys with Local Historia.

Experience local history with us Let the journey begin.

On this episode, we journey into the extraordinary life of David Lewis.

To find out the real history surrounding this legendary outlaw.

and if he truly is worthy of the title: Robin Hood of Pennsylvania.

Just a couple miles north of Bellefonte, the story of David Lewis begins in Milesburg.

We are at the Milesburg Museum and Historical Society, dating back to 1793.

This was a tavern during the early days of David Lewis, and is likely a place where he or his family frequented.

We're starting here to tell the real story of David Lewis.

He was born in 1790 and died in 1820, and his exploits were so legendary during that time that he earned many monikers: The Robin Hood of Pennsylvania, The Terror of the Cumberland Valley, Lewis the Robber, Davey Lewis.

And, according to his alleged deathbed confession, he was a charming counterfeiter, daring highwayman, whose legendary tales, over 200 years later, seem like they're told in every town.

But could all this be true?

Does the confession stand up to the historical record?

This is a great place to start our journey.

If you've heard of David Lewis, likely heard of him through the The Life and Adventures of David which includes his deathbed confession.

The first sentence of the deathbed confession says, I was born in Carlisle.

But were in Milesburg.

So that's kind of interesting.

Yeah, you're right, it does say I was born in Carlisle in the confession, but the more important question is, did David Lewis write a confession at all?

If he didn't, that would change everything.

Published jailhouse confessions were common practice in the 17 and 1800s, but they were not always authentic.

They usually included some biographical information, the nature of the crime, and a religious conversion or message warning others not to fall down the same path.

They were usually conveyed to a writer by the prisoner who agreed to share profits.

The more notorious the criminal or crime, the better.

A high profile execution was carried out in Bellefonte about a year prior to David Lewis' death.

That convict was allowed to sell his confession at his hanging so that proceeds would benefit his family.

It makes sense that the confession of David Lewis would be highly prized.

Well, why don't we start with where and when David Lewis was born?

Great.

There is a letter That's a perfect place to start from a gentleman from Center County in 1820.

And this kind of anonymous person, but local, was responding to the confession he was reading in the paper.

It was first published in the newspapers after David's death in 1820, in installments.

And he felt so strongly about how inaccurate it was, that he wrote a strongly worded letter to the editor, and it was published, and this is what it had to say.

David Lewis never uttered one sentence, word or syllable of this forged confession to any human being.

He makes David Lewis say, I was born in Carlisle in the county of Cumberland, now depraved as D. Lewis was, he would not have dared to say this in a place where so knew to the contrary.

He was born in Bald Eagle Valley on the banks of the Bald Eagle Creek, about a half mile below Bald Eagles nest, and not quite but nearly a mile from the spot where his body is now interred.

Had he been born in Carlisle in March 1790, he must have been born in a place at least 80 miles distant from where his mother was at the time.

So that was quite the convincing letter to the editor.

But it's from 1820.

Is there anything that places David here closer to 1790?

Indeed.

We've done our genealogy homework, and there is quite the paper trail.

You have deeds, land records, tax records, census records.

And, you know, the family was here.

And his father, Lewis Lewis purchased hundreds of acres in what would become Milesburg.

And back in the 1780s, it was Northumberland County.

So there is definitely a footprint and a paper trail of them being here.

This is Northumberland County.

Lewis Lewis is living here as a Yeah.

Tax records 1788.

He's listed as a resident.

400 acres, Lewis Lewis And then horses.

Two horses, cows, one cow.

I mean, you wouldn't own a cow if you didn't plan on being there to milk it.

Very true, very true.

But wait, there's more.

The smoking gun is.

David's mother, Jane Lewis, is enumerated on the first United States Census in 1790 as having the right amount of kids, including David and the right neighbors.

So that's the census right there Yeah, well, I see it's got Jane, but Lewis Lewis isn't on there.

Good point.

So normally the male would be listed as the head of household, but in this case, Jane is because he is presumed to be dead at this point.

David was the youngest of their eight children and never knew his father.

And because Jane remarried, she became known as Widow Leathers, or Granny Leathers, and eventually moved to Clearfield.

So David Lewis was born and raised right here in Milesburg, on the banks of the Bald Eagle Creek, and later moved to Clearfield.

Basically, the wilds of central Pennsylvania.

Yeah, and that means that the very first sentence of this confession is false, and that cast doubt on the entire thing.

So if he's from here, there should be more evidence locally.

Yes.

And I know exactly where to look.

This is the Centre County Library and Historical Museum.

It's free and open to the public researching local history and genealogy.

Down in the basement, we searched through some of its oldest records.

There really is a treasure trove to help us better understand who the real David Lewis was.

And what we've discovered is that there are a lot more inconsistencies between the actual historical record and the alleged confession.

For example, the confession mentions nothing about Clearfield, which was a big part of David's upbringing.

There was no mention of a single family member by name of David's large family.

It also referred to his sisters, but he only had one sister.

It even leaves out his wife's real name.

Whom we learned from these documents is Margaret Lewis.

Little things in the confession, like the timeline is off and gets things wrong like how long he was sentenced for passing counterfeit notes and how long he was in prison.

And it goes on quite a few political rants for a dying man.

The details that are correct are from newspapers.

So anybody could have written it if they'd followed along with the newspaper coverage at the time, which was widely available.

Some of the phrasing in the confession is directly quoted from various newspapers.

These original records are incredible.

They give details, like his family members names, his accomplices names, the the when, the where, the how.

It gives those important facts of his life.

It's almost like these documents paint the real picture of who David Lewis, the real life person, was.

And the confession outlines this myth, this fictitious character of David Lewis.

It really might help us if we're able to walk in his footsteps somewhere.

Yeah.

Here's a nice connection.

So Felix McGuire actually escape the old Franklin County Jail in Chambersburg with David Lewis and that jail is still there.

Let's clean up.

Yeah.

Let's get.

Let's go.

On our way to Chambersburg to check out the old jail.

This is the last prison that David Lewis is going to escape from.

Yeah, the last one.

But he escaped many times.

Many times.

That's kind of what makes him a legendary figure.

Is like how many times he broke from jail.

Creates this aura.

Yeah.

of being unable to be kept behind bars.

Yeah.

And we're going to go try to figure out how he did it at Chambersburg, because it's one of the oldest surviving jails in the state of Pennsylvania.

And we're going to go put ourselves in his shoes and think about how it went down We made it.

Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

The old Franklin County Jail.

One of the oldest surviving jails in Pennsylvania and where David made his final escape.

Let's check it out.

We visited with Neil Rensch at the old Franklin County Jail.

He showed us around so that we could get a sense of its history and its connection to David Lewis.

This jail here was built in 1818 and it ran for 152 years as an active prison here in Franklin County closing in December of 1970.

And the beginning was in 1820 when Davey Lewis was captured.

Came into our prison here, and he was put in, one of the cells there.

He escaped many prisons, but Chambersburg he did not escape on his own.

It was up to other prisoners that allowed him to escape.

The guys down here are the ones that were able to fish a string down through this door.

And when the, when the guard was getting ready to lock them up, he locked Davey Lewis up down here, But he came down here, and just as he's getting ready to lock this door here and latch there was a disturbance out front and his wife got ahold of him and said, ‘you got to come out here.

Something's going on.

So he runs out the front door, and forgot to lock this door, totally.

So they said they used a string that they artfully waxed and put in the crack.

If there was a different lock at they would have put it around the hole of the key.

So, Dustin, I talked a lot about this.

We feel like it was possibly at least the possibility it was an inside job People think the jailer might have been convinced to do this story.

Right?

Yeah.

The timing of it is so far fetched it would've had to have been perfect.

Howd they know that he was putting the key in the door right when the riot happened?

And then he just happened to forget that it was.

And then he came in.

So yeah, it.

Yeah, that could've been an inside job.

Yeah.

Walking through the old Franklin County Jail really felt like walking in the footsteps of David Lewis, helping us to better understand crime and punishment in Pennsylvania.

We left with a strong realizationthat David must have had extraordinary abilities to be able to talk and break his way out of countless jails, especially this one.

Neil, thanks so much.

And what a historic jail, so thanks for showing us around.

You're welcome.

Is this the way out?

This way here?

Sure, you can go out this way.

Davey Lewis went this way.

Thank you so much.

Yeah.

When David Lewis escapes from Chambersburg, he embarks upon the final seven weeks of his life.

He and his fellow escapees first go to Doubling Gap, a cave shelter that he and his gang used many times before.

David's most loyal partner in crime, John Connelly, was already there waiting for him with supplies.

We went to the caves site, which has since been destroyed, and to the Flat Rock overlook, where many Lewis lore readers have enjoyed recreational treasure hunting.

David Lewis, Connelly and McGuire were next reported to have robbed a stagecoach in Seven Mountains and Potters storein present day Potters Mills.

Allegedly, the store owner even fired upon them.

As the three outlaws move across Mount Nittany, they start to head for Lock Haven.

Meanwhile, not one but two posses are formed in Bellefonte.

One follows their trail toward Lock Haven, and the other through the Quehanna Wilds anticipating that the outlaws will head to David's mother's house.

They move through Karthaus and toward Benezette.

After the posse stopped at the home of Jane Lewis, it moved on toward the Driftwood branch of the Sinnemahoning.

Meanwhile, Lewis and Connolly had worked their way upriver from Lock Haven.

The manhunt would end in a gunfight that injures both men.

We interviewed an archeologist who found the shootout location.

Can you tell us how your research guided you to the shootout location?

Yeah, it was relatively easy because the shootout location was published in the newspaper.

You know that he was caught on Samuel Smith's farm.

You know, that was a half mile from Tanglewood Creek.

So all you do is pull the the old, land maps and just start looking for the Smith farm.

You know, you knew it was on Driftwood Branch, you knew it was a half mile from Tanglewood Creek.

You knew it was there at Huntley you know, and I'm surprised more people didn't find it.

Can you tell me about how you found these because these are pretty special And what are these?

These are just round balls.

You know, all different calibers You know, you've got everything you know, a .49 caliber all the way to a, you know, probably .17 caliber.

Can I hold one of these?

I'm just imagining, you know, this could be from the posse.

Maybe this is what went through David Lewis arm.

probably would have got stuck in his arm.

But, yeah, you you may be holding the one that went through Connelly.

Right through his gut.

Right through the man.

And and in some accounts, say his entrails were hanging out and he still ran and handled it very ‘manfully.

Yeah.

The entrails were hanging from the front, which means that that bullet— that ball entered him from the back.

So, you know, he was running, away from the firefight when he got shot.

Oh, wow.

The posse from Bellefonte, with about 11 determined men, braved some of the wildest, and most isolated parts of Pennsylvania to track down Lewis and Connelly The outlaws were found on the Samuel Smith farm, about four miles above Driftwood, very close to where we are right now.

So David Lewis was severely wounded in the right arm.

His bones were shattered and Connelly was shot through the gut.

That's where the canoe comes in.

Their only option for the posse was to put the wounded guys in a locally purchased canoe and them down the Driftwood, Sinnamahoning and West Branch, to what they us Great Island at Lock Haven.

200 years later, you and I are going to make that journey.

Smooth as can be.

I cant imagine trying to paddle with two wounded outlaws.

You're kind of pressed for time because they're injured, and you want to get them back alive so that justice can be served.

So.

Yeah.

Connelly died at Lock Haven that night at the tavern, and then they brought Lewis back by wagon to Bellefonte.

He's going to die of gangrene or blood poisoning.

So.

And so ends the criminal career of Lewis and Connelly.

This was the old Centre County Jail.

It was constructed around 1815 and served as the jail until just after the Civil War.

This is where David Lewis spent his final days and hours.

Wow, the old Centre County Prison, or the Bellefonte jail, as they used to say.

This is where David Lewis was.

Upstairs today it's apartments, and down here is just a basement but it's so easy to get that jail vibe while you're here.

Yeah, absolutely.

And it's kind of a hidden treasure because it's not an obvious historical society.

It's just a private property.

It's been renovated over the years,but we've traced back the deeds as the old jail going back to 1815.

All right.

So right over here Oh, look.

Yeah.

Big cell door hinge pins.

Iron.

There's three of them.

And.

Oh, look, there's the hasp and the large, large hasp.

For a cell door.

I mean, that's, that's some serious hardware.

This is very likely, a cell, this specific room, some 1850 construction.

It is.

So down here is where the cells would have been, where David Lewis' accomplice would have been held after the shootout.

Upstairs is where David himself would have been held because he was wounded in the shootout.

Right.

And locals were visiting him by his bedside that final week of his life.

And a local doctor even cared fo physically, and a local reverend even tended to him spiritually.

And that reverend wrote a letter about his experience with David.

I asked him if I should pray with him.

He said yes, but it must be short, as I am very short of breath.

I hope or think there is mercy for me.

I never took the life of any man.

The last words which he uttered ‘Lord Jesus, have mercy on my soul.

In a few moments after this, his spirit returned to God who gave it, and his body now mingles with the dust about one mile from the place where he was born.

Upon David's death and before his burial, an official inquest was held on how he died.

The Centre County Courthouse across the street from the old jail still has this original document So we had the opportunity to look through our archive, and here's a folder of what we found from the inquest of 1820.

1820 inquests.

Wow — all handwritten.

And this is the one that I remember in the bigger ones.

Inquest held on the body of David Lewis.

Filed July 13th, 1820.

It starts here: Upon the view of the body of David Lewis, then and there lying dead.

And then it goes into how he died on the Sinnamahoning in the county of Clearfield, at within the jurisdiction of said coroner, and requested that they surrender, which they both refused and both fired on the said coroner.

So they're saying that Lewis and Connelly fired first.

Yeah, but local accounts are quite different in that area of who fired first.

But this is the official document.

They fired first and his arm was shattered.

So cool.

Well, we're grateful that we were able to provide you with an accurate account of the history and the area.

Wow, it's just so great that we can access these public through the prothonotary.

Yeah, we really appreciate it.

Yeah.

Thanks, Jeremy.

Appreciate it.

Absolutely.

Thank you for coming today.

Yes.

Thank you.

This is one of the great ironies of this whole story.

David Lewis, who becomes notorious for escaping jails, will ultimately meet his fate here in this jail in his home county.

He certainly died here.

But did he write the confession here, or did he even write the confession at all?

So based on all the evidence, I think we can make a pretty definitive statement on whether or not the confession is valid.

Right?

Yeah.

Let's recap the evidence.

So really important were the two letters, one from the gentleman from Centre County and one from the reverend.

And they elaborated on facts that just aren't in the confession.

Real details of his life, real family members, real locations.

Clearfield.

Clearfield is not even mentioned in the confession because whoever wrote it had no idea he lived in Clearfield.

The things that are in the confession are newspaper accounts that anybody could have read, and they're just copied.

And then there's folklore stuff about two-headed snakes and all kinds of stuff that just entertain readers.

So it's simply not his confession.

The real details are in the census records, in the deeds, you know, in that genealogy stuff that tells a whole different story.

On top of that, you have the sheriff and the jailer in Bellefonte come out with a statement in the newspaper after reading the confession.

And they had some pretty serious concerns, clearly.

And they made a statement.

We can assure the public that no such confession was made by Lewis, and that the whole of it is a base fabrication, as will evidently appear by the subjoined certificate of the sheriff and the jailer.

I think it's pretty clear that it's a fabrication, which i ironic, because David Lewis, the counterfeiter, his confession is a counterfeit, right?

But you have to ask, if he didn't write it, then who did and why?

There are a couple of theories, but the most compelling is that it was the politically motivated the Carlisle Republican, John McFarland.

The election for Pennsylvania governor was fast approaching toward the end of David Lewis' criminal career.

When the confession was released It was August of 1820, and the election was a couple months away in October.

McFarland released the confession in installments, but only up until the election.

Then he stopped and eventually releasedthe rest as a book after the election.

This explains why the confession and neighboring columns included a bunch of political rants against the incumbent Governor Findlay.

But the most effective thing the editor did was tie Governor Findlay to the notorious and dangerous outlaw.

He didn't have to try too hard because Gov.

Findlay pardoned David in 1819 at the recommendationof the prison board because of overcrowding at the Walnut Street Prison in Philadelphia.

At the time, David was a nonviolent criminal.

He was just a counterfeiter.

But, a month after being pardoned, he became a dangerous highwayman.

McFarland capitalized on this and made a case that Findlay released a dangerous criminal and was even in league with him.

The scheme worked, and Governor Heister defeated Findlay by a close margin less than 2000 votes.

Maybe the confession that most Pennsylvanians were reading at the time actually made a difference in the election.

McFarland made a profit, too.

He copyrighted his narrative or confession and sold it to publishers.

So a newspaper man wrote it for politicaland financial gain?!

Shocking.

Yeah, I know.

But it's interesting because we've debunked the confession But the confession made him a legend.

So is he a legend anymore?

Is he still deserving of the title Robin Hood of Pennsylvania Robin Hood of Pennsylvania?

At the end of the day, if you separate out all the folklore and you get rid of the kind of larger than life aspect, he was a thief and a robber and a counterfeiter.

He was a criminal.

He was the terror of the Cumberland Valley.

And people were terrified to come across him.

He should be remembered as a criminal.

Okay.

Fair enough, fair enough.

I do think even after looking at who he really was through the documentation and through the court trial and things like that, he still didn't take a life.

He still was charming.

People commented that he was a remarkable man.

And I think that it's okay to consider him the Robin Hood of Pennsylvania.

And he's our outlaw.

Well, history is not always black and white, but we can agree to disagree.

Yeah.

Fair enough.

David Lewis was an extraordinary outlaw.

While he did not author the confession, historical records helped fill in the gaps, and we discovered that the real David Lewis is much more interesting and connected to central Pennsylvania than people realize We've taken a journey, both in research and in geography, to find the real story of David Lewis, but we need to make one more stop to reflect upon David's story where it all began, back in Milesburg.

You know, one enduring question David Lewis buried?

According to our research, the newspapers reported, in Bellefonte upon his death, that he was buried in Bellefonte This was probably to protect his body from being tampered with because it was such a high profile case.

Then his body was hauled to the grave to Milesburg.

We know this because there were two really important letters written by locals, and one was actually the reverend because he probably had something to do with his burial.

And he said ‘he was buried about from where he was born.

And both letters also said he was born on the Bald Eagle Creek in Milesburg.

So while we know he was buried in Milesburg, and most people believe he was buried in this very cemetery, we do not know exactly where.

It's almost fitting that David Lewis continues to elude us, even in death.

And while this journey has shown us a lot about who David Lewis really was, maybe there are some that Davids just going to keep to himself.

♪Sitting in the pines alone and in rain.♪ ♪The rain can stop.♪ ♪the sun can shine.

and I would feel the same.♪ ♪Alone by choice alone, alone by design.♪ ♪Ill sit and play my banjo♪ ♪alone in the pines♪ ♪Sittin in the pines, alone and in the rain.♪ ♪The rain can stop♪ ♪the sun could shine and I would feel the same.♪ ♪Alone by choice, alone by design.♪ ♪I'll sit and play my banjo♪ ♪alone in the pines.♪ Funding for this program has been provided by Seven D Windows and Doors.

Serving Central Pennsylvania since 1950.

The Rockwell Foundation, and viewers like you.

Thank you.