Leon Lewis

Biography

Julius Warren Lewis (April 8, 1833 – October 28, 1920) was an American writer of popular fiction. He used the name Leon Lewis and wrote under that name among others. A prolific Dime novel author in the 1860's and 1870's, his works include "The Silver Ship", "The Web Of Fate", "The Reef Spider" and many others, serialized in publications as The New York Weekly Journal and the New York Ledger. Lewis was born in Southington, Connecticut, the son of James D. Lewis and Patty Bishop. At the age of 21, he was living in Massachusetts and considered himself an author. He began his writing career in Boston, which led him to become editor of the flash paper Life in Boston. In 1852, Lewis edited Northern Light, a literary journal published by A. C. Currier. Lewis received $300 from Enoch Train to start a Know Nothing paper in New York City. The paper failed and Lewis returned to Boston, where he asked for Train's assistance in starting an anti-Know Nothing paper. Train refused to give Lewis any more money and Lewis began sending threatening letters to Train. On January 23, 1885, Lewis went to Train's Dorchester home, informed him that he was armed with a Bowie knife and a revolver, and demanded money from him. Train grabbed Lewis and after a violent struggle, threw him down his front steps and tied him with bed-chord. In 1860 Lewis married Harriet Newell O'Brien (1841–1878) of Penn Yan, New York. The couple began writing serials for the New York Weekly and the New York Ledger. Harriet Lewis died on May 20, 1878. Lewis was a summer guest sometime in the 1870s at a boarding house owned by Thomas Nickerson. He was a retired sailor who had survived the sinking of the whaleship Essex as a cabin boy. (The first mate's 1821 account of the disaster, as well as personal contact with the captain, inspired Herman Melville in writing his 1851 novel Moby Dick.) Lewis encouraged Nickerson to write down his story and in 1876 received from Nickerson a manuscript with additional accounts of

Bio from Wikipedia