Lee Shelton
Lee Shelton | |
---|---|
Born | Pimp, carriage driver | March 16, 1865
Known for | "Stagger Lee" |
Criminal charges | Murder (1895) Assault and robbery (1911) |
Criminal penalty | 25 years imprisonment |
Criminal status | Convicted (1897) Paroled (1909) Parole revoked (1911) |
Lee Shelton (March 16, 1865 – March 11, 1912), popularly known as "Stagolee", "Stagger Lee", "Stack-O-Lee", and other variations, was an American criminal who became a figure of folklore after murdering Billy Lyons on December 25, 1895. The murder, reportedly motivated partially by the theft of Shelton's
Background
The historical Lee Shelton was an
On Christmas night in 1895, Shelton shot William "Billy" Lyons in a St. Louis saloon following a dispute.
William Lyons, 25, a levee hand, was shot in the abdomen yesterday evening at 10 o'clock in the saloon of Bill Curtis, at Eleventh and Morgan Streets, by Lee Sheldon [sic], a carriage driver. Lyons and Sheldon were friends and were talking together. Both parties, it seems, had been drinking and were feeling in exuberant spirits. The discussion drifted to politics, and an argument was started, the conclusion of which was that Lyons snatched Sheldon's hat from his head. The latter indignantly demanded its return. Lyons refused, and Sheldon withdrew his revolver and shot Lyons in the abdomen. When his victim fell to the floor Sheldon took his hat from the hand of the wounded man and coolly walked away. He was subsequently arrested and locked up at the Chestnut Street Station. Lyons was taken to the Dispensary, where his wounds were pronounced serious. Lee Sheldon is also known as 'Stag' Lee.[3]
Further details are preserved in trial accounts. For example, Shelton had first crushed Lyons'
Lyons eventually died of his injuries. Shelton was tried and convicted for the crime in 1897, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was paroled in 1909,
Shelton is buried at the historic Greenwood Cemetery in Hillsdale, Missouri.[6] The Killer Blues Headstone Project raised money to place a stone on his unmarked grave, and on April 14, 2013, a marker was laid during a public ceremony.[7]
Song and tradition
Shortly after the event, the murder became the subject of
The song was first recorded by Waring's Pennsylvanians in 1923, and became a hit. Another version was recorded later that year by Frank Westphal & His Regal Novelty Orchestra, and Herb Wiedoeft and his band recorded the song in 1924.[11] Also in 1924, the first version with lyrics was recorded, as "Skeeg-a-Lee Blues", by Lovie Austin. Ma Rainey recorded the song the following year, with Louis Armstrong on cornet, and a notable version was recorded by Frank Hutchison in 1927.[8]
The song tradition embellishes the story with sometimes inaccurate or fantastic details. The songs play up the importance of Stagolee's Stetson hat as a symbol of manliness.
In 2004, The Black Keys included a song on their third album, Rubber Factory, titled "Stack Shot Billy", telling the tale of the infamous murder.[14] Frontman Dan Auerbach drew inspiration from his heavy blues background, playing the song in open G tuning, finger plucking on an old telecaster.[citation needed]
Impact
Stagger Lee has become an archetype with some black people who admire the gangster type; a parallel to the glorification of the outlaw by a section of mainstream society. In this variation, he is the embodiment of a tough black man; one who is sly, streetwise, cool, lawless, amoral, potentially violent, and who defies white authority.[15][16]
Within thirty years of Shelton's death,
Author and music critic Greil Marcus explicitly ties the Stagger Lee archetype to Sly Stone and his album There's a Riot Goin' On in his book Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music.
From 1982 to 1984, two masked
Dallas Theater Center in Dallas produced an original musical with an adaptation of the folklore around Stagger Lee and Billy Lyons. The characters explore African American history in the Northern United States, and experience racism and violence throughout multiple cities. It opened January 21, 2015 and featured Brandon Gill, J. Bernard Calloway, Tiffany Mann, Cedric Neal, and Saycon Sengbloh.[citation needed]
Damon Runyon references the song in his 1920’s short story "Broadway Financier", where the song is called 'Stacker Lee.'
In 2006, Image Comics published the graphic novel Stagger Lee, written by Derek McCulloch and illustrated by Shepherd Hendrix, examining the historical murder of Lyons by Shelton, and the folklore that came out of it, in the framing setting of a fictionalized version of the African-American community in Saint Louis.
HarperCollins published "A Lush and Seething Hell" by John Horner Jacobs in 2019. Consisting of two novellas, the latter – "My Heart Struck Sorrow" – focuses in large part on a horrific mystery connected to varied acetate recordings made in the 1930s as well as the folklore surrounding "Stagger Lee".[18]
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0674028906.
- ^ "The Story of Stagger Lee". Riverfront Times. June 27, 2007.
- ^ "Staggerlee Roots". Archived from the original on February 23, 2003.
- ^ a b George M Eberhart in A Question of Manhood: A Reader in U.S. Black Men's History and Masculinity ed. Darlene Clark Hine, Earnestine Jenkins, Volume 2, 2001, p. 390 "William Lyons wore a derby hat; if Stack Lee wore a Stetson hat (as most of the songs insist), all the accounts I have found failed to mention it."
- ISBN 978-0811707084.
- ^ St Louis Magazine
- ^ Michael Dauphin (April 12, 2013). "Killer Blues to Install Headstones at the Graves of Stagger Lee, Milton Sparks This Weekend". Riverfront Times. Archived from the original on April 14, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
- ^ a b History of Stagger Lee. Retrieved February 17, 2013
- ^ Matt Marshall, "A Brief History of Stagger Lee and Billy Lyons," American Blues Scene, May 9, 2011 Archived February 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 5, 2013
- ^ Richard E. Buehler, "Stacker Lee: A partial investigation into the historicity of a Negro murder ballad", Keystone Folklore Quarterly, vol. 12, 1967, pp. 187–191. Retrieved March 5, 2013
- ^ "Herb Wiedoeft's Cinderella Roof Orchestra". Red Hot Jazz. Archived from the original on January 5, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2010.
- ^ Howard W. Odum article "Folk-Song..." in Journal of American Folklore 1911
- ^ "Nick Cave – Stagger Lee Lyrics – MetroLyrics". Archived from the original on July 20, 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ The Black Keys – "Stack Shot Billy", retrieved October 10, 2022
- ^ Brown, Cecil (May 9, 2003). "Godfather of Gangsta". The Guardian. Retrieved December 17, 2007.
- ISBN 0253214602.
- ^ Botkin, Benjamin. A Treasury of American Folklore. New York: Crown 1944. rpt 1993, 122 ff.
- ISBN 978-0062880840.
External links
- Lee Shelton at Find a Grave
- The Myth and Song of Stagger Lee History of Lee Shelton and of the song.