Eddie W. Roberts was born in Stanly County, North Carolina on September 20, 1892. A resident of Wadeville, Montgomery County, in 1918 he and his brothers-in-law were arrested for violating the prohibition law. They were sentenced to time on the Stanly County roadwork chain gang, but he was later pardoned by Governor Thomas W. Bickett. In 1926, Roberts testified against Nevin C. Cranford, his former superintendent on the chain gang who was on trial for murdering three African American prisoners. Roberts died in Montgomery County on June 22, 1987.