The Saga of David Robber Lewis: A Science Fiction Tale of the Old West in Carlisle, Pennsylvania

The rustic Borough of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1751 as the county seat of Cumberland County. This story begins with the birth of one of the early denizens of Carlisle in 1790, not that long after the borough’s founding. His name was David Lewis… known and remembered in the annals of Carlisle as David Robber Lewis. You might ask… Who was David Robber Lewis? Well… plain and simply… he was a scoundrel…. a scoundrel through and through. Although some folks think of him as a made-up legend, David Lewis was indeed a real person, born in 1790 right here on Hanover Street, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, proper. I’ve done a lot of research on the matter, but I’ve not been able to pinpoint exactly when in life Lewis went rogue and turned to a life of crime on the wrong side of the law. Lewis was an inveterate criminal at heart… a thief… a highwayman… a robber. In fact, in his day, folks mostly referred to him as “Robber Lewis.” With his ill-gotten gains tucked away in the saddle bags from his most recent bank robbery slung across his shoulder, Lewi would skedaddle out of town and hide out in one of the ubiquitous caves that dotted the countryside in South Central Pennsylvania. This is the story of David Robber Lewis.