Steven Franklin Lewis was born in Bladen County, North Carolina on August 18, 1867. Lewis was a prominent farmer in Whiteville (Columbus County). About 1899, he was seriously injured in a train wreck, causing brain damage and speech issues. In March 1914, he seems to have suffered a psychotic break and brutally stabbed a young man named Albert Byrnes in Whiteville. The incident resulted in his arrest and eventual incarceration in a mental institution having been adjudged insane. Lewis died in Whiteville on March 1, 1928.