Draggingtree Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 Dec 27, 1895: The legend of "Stagger Lee" is bornMurder and mayhem have been the subject of many popular songs over the years, though more often than not, the tales around which such songs revolve tend to be wholly fictional. Johnny Cash never shot a man in Reno, and the events related in such famous story songs as "El Paso" and "I Shot The Sheriff" never actually took place. The same cannot be said, however, about "Stagger Lee"—a song that has drifted from the facts somewhat over the course of its many lives in the last 100-plus years, but a song inspired by an actual murder that took place on this day in 1895, in a St. Louis, Missouri, barroom argument involving a man named Billy and another named "Stag" Lee. Under the headline "Shot in Curtis's Place," the story that ran in the next day's edition of the St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat began, "William Lyons, 25, colored, a levee hand... was shot in the abdomen yesterday evening at 10 o'clock in the saloon of Bill Curtis... by Lee Sheldon, also colored." According to the Globe-Democrat's account, Billy Lyons and "Stag" Lee Sheldon "had been drinking and were in exuberant spirits" when an argument over "politics" boiled over, and Lyons "snatched Sheldon's hat from his head." http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-legend-of-quotstagger-leequot-is-born Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggingtree Posted December 27, 2014 Author Share Posted December 27, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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