A Caring Friend. As a born-and-bred Oklahoman, the scene immediately caught my attention. 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. That year, musicologist John Lomax received a partial transcription of the song,[9] and in 1911 two versions were published in the Journal of American Folklore by the sociologist and historian Howard W. In 1896, the political scene was extremely tense, and with Saint Louis being one of the largest cities in the country, it was necessary for politicians to get every vote, including the black vote. Violent crimes were much less likely to be vigorously prosecuted if their victims were Black, as Sheltons almost always were. The bad man emerged in their stories and songs as an alternative to more wholesome folk heroes like John Henry. Billy died of his wound shortly thereafter, and Lee was sentenced to a twenty-five-year prison term. [10] The earliest versions were likely field hollers and other work songs performed by African-American laborers, and were well known along the lower Mississippi River by 1910. Less than a year later, Andersons ramshackle brick house was raided by police, who discovered what an IRS agent called the largest cocaine and opium distribution plant in the United States. [1][5], Shelton is buried at the historic Greenwood Cemetery in Hillsdale, Missouri. Additional fantastic legends credit him with the ability to transform himself into animals, of having caused the San Francisco earthquake, and of having fought a duel with Jesse James.[17]. The song continued to capture the imaginations of singers and poets everywhere until 1958, when Lloyd Price released a version simply called Stagger Lee. He will be missed! Hes a junk dealer.. 2023 Missouri Life Magazine. Punk, Hawaiian, HeavyMetal, Disco, Rock, Blues, Folk, Bluegrass, Country, and Soul have all seen recorded versions, often with great popularity and by names as wildly famous as Elvis and the Isley Brothers. And that answer wouldnt account for the popularity of Stagolee toastsproto-rap narratives delivered without musical accompaniment. He is an actor and producer, known for Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), Tron (1982) and Black Moon Rising (1986). Stagolee haunts the prose of Richard Wright and Toni Morrison; James Baldwin worked on a novel about the character and late in his life published a long poem called Staggerlee Wonders., Scholars of African-American studies generally agree that both the pimp protagonists of 70s blaxploitation films and the self-mythologists of gangsta rap are Stagolees direct descendants: mononymous, fearless, and fastidious about their name-brand apparel. In the past several decades, artists of all genres and background have taken to the song. Slums were the natural result, and by the 1890s, 85 percent of the citys black population occupied only 2 percent of its space. It Takes a Lunatic is his first film. [7], The crime quickly entered into American folklore and became the subject of song, as well as folktales and toasts. Shed died not long after Billy did, orphaning their three children: Marie, Leon, and Florence, the daughter from whom Myles and Johnson said they were descended. Ive tried to refrain from any mythologizing of my own, but I cant help conjuring a scene: a prison official asks Stack Lee, bedridden and skeletal, if the friend into whose care hes being paroled is a respectable citizen who makes an honest living. Handy wrote that it probably was a nickname for a tall person, comparing him to the tall smokestack of the large steamboat Robert E. The latter indignantly demanded its return. This was increasingly relevant because the republicans were losing their stronghold, and because Shelton was a democratic organizer, and Lyons a Republican one, according to StaggerLee.com. In Davids taped interviews, Myles and Johnson seem confident that their great-grandfather died in Curtiss saloon that Christmas night. He was paroled in 1909,[1] but was imprisoned again two years later for assault and robbery. Billy Spacey lyons. As the oral legend spread of Stack Lee as a black man who would not back down, Billy Lyons turned into ''a small . Stack Lee passed away in the prison hospital, wasted by his illness to less than 100 pounds. Police officer, how can it be? didi cascais -- Portugal. It had remained latent in his lungs for several years, but the chemotherapy he needed for a bone marrow transplant weakened his immune system, forcing him to take an enervating TB medicine. He was paroled after serving about half of that but returned to prison for good in 1911, following a home invasion and robbery in which he once again fractured his victims skull with a pistol. In its World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival, It Takes a Lunatic, director Billy Lyons (actor, director, teacher, producer and assistant to Wynn Handman) displays the man behind the mask and reveals there is no mask or gloss to Wynn Handman. Odum. The simplest answer may be racism. "I'm heartbroken," the grieving star laments. These are the bare bones of the case, upon which have been piled countless folk tales, legends, and outright lies, ultimately giving rise to what has become one of the most popular American murder ballads as well as one of the most widely adapted song in our national history. His most recognized roles include Enoch Emery in John Huston 's Wise Blood (1979), Ram in Tron (1982), and Billy the Kid in . Billy Wonderful attempts to recreate. At one point, David asks Myles when she first heard the family story about Stack Lee and Billy, and she says, Well, a song came out. When he invites Johnson to share the familys version of the legend, Johnson singsin a beautiful, mournful voicethe lyrics to Lloyd Prices number-one hit. Bill Lyons (I) Writer Producer Actor IMDbPro Starmeter See rank Bill Lyons is known for Emmerdale Farm (1972), In Search of the Trojan War (1985) and Blake's 7 (1978). Billy Lyons is an actor, known for Treaty Live (2022). Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. But maybe that was the error. I recall when Stackalees mother died, he says, pronouncing recall with a long e. The guard from the Missouri Penitentiary brought Stackalee, whose name was Lee Shelton, to his mothers funeral, at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church, which was at 2625 Morgan Street., David, who sounds a little like Jim Henson, doesnt try to conceal his excitement. Episode #17 of the Motorcycle Knuckle Busters podcast. Billy Lyons Profiles | Facebook People named Billy Lyons Find your friends on Facebook Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. Or, as Mississippi John Hurt puts it. Get the latest creative news from Blues Scene about music & art. Nationality. So there are actually two plausible narratives in which Billy Lyons left behind a wife and kids. That same night alone, five murders were committed in Saint Louis, but only one shot to world-wide infamy through a tangled web of politics, folklore, and raw persistence. Lyons was also a member of St. Louis' underworld, and may have been a political and business rival to Shelton. According to the prison record, he had a face and torso that boasted several scars. Lee was arrested, tried, andafter two trialssentenced to twenty-five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary. According to the testimony given the Coroner, David writes in his dissertation, Lyons made no appeal for his wife and children. Daniel Shor (born November 16, 1956) is an American actor, director, writer, and acting teacher with a career spanning over 40 years. Or maybe he got married while in the pen, or while out on parole in 1910. Our family got back to our house around mid-afternoon and, as was her nature, Robin cleaned the Christmas leavings from the countertops and washed plates and glasses . On attempting to enter heaven, he is rebuffed at the gates by St. Peter: Says turn around, go down the other way, we dont. Esio Magalhes Ator, palhao, diretor e professor no Barraco Teatro Campinas, SP. O how I wonder what theyll do Lyons refused, and Sheldon drew his revolver and shot Lyons in the abdomen. He owned one of the tenderloins more notorious nightspots, the Modern Horseshoe Club, and presumably used his job as carriage driver to direct white visitors emerging from Canal Streets Southern Railroad Station to his nightclub, the local bordellos, or directly to girls whose activities he personally oversaw. There's even a love song, "Train In Vain," which the group cut on its . At five-foot-seven, he was a relatively small man with a crossed left eye. According to an account of the incident in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, an argument was started between the heavy-drinking hotheads, the conclusion of which was that Lyons snatched Sheldons [sic] hat from his head. In January 1896, according to a Post-Dispatch item that escaped the notice of earlier researchers, a young woman named Stella Casey took her own life by swallowing a box of rat poison. Geoffrey O'Hara: February 2, 1882 January 31, 1967 Canadian Singer and songwriter. 1991-present. David planned to reveal their story in a book adapted from his unpublished dissertation, but he was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer in 1986 and died early the following year. Despite the tendency of folktales to grow taller, the canonical Stagolee story has remained impressively stable over the years: Stagolee is a bad man who objects to Billy Lyonss stealing his Stetson. June 4, 2022 Episode #17 of the Motorcycle Knuckle Busters podcast. Nick Cave release a song called "Stagger Lee" on an album titled "Murder Ballads" in February 1996 with explicit lyrics. Rest in peace dear friend. Gosh almighty. Why did this seemingly unexceptional crime enter our folklore, and remain there, when a million others faded from memory? Billy grabbed Sheltons hat in anger, and when he refused to return it, Shelton shot Billy in the gut, picked up his hat, and left. 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]. Lyons and Sheldon were friends and were talking together. Police officer, how can it be And looking at the history of the man objectively, there is no reason to anticipate that it would. Actor. It opened January 21, 2015 and featured Brandon Gill, J. Bernard Calloway, Tiffany Mann, Cedric Neal, and Saycon Sengbloh. At the turn of the century, with emancipation receding into memory, African Americans were confronting the new limits of their liberty in a poisonously racist country. To be honest, though, I'd never read too much . We deeply regret the situation into which our unfortunate brother has fallen.. That bad man, oh cruel Stack O Lee, Gentlemans of the jury, what do you think of that? He was Bridgewater's brother-in-law, and had been attacked at Curtis' before. Permission required for reprinting, reproducing, or other uses. He was also booked at various times for stealing a gold watch, carrying brass knuckles, and getting caught in an opium joint. 22 February 1966 (age 57) Deal, Kent, England. Occupation. This was ready-made folklorea set piece for which every essential prop had been provided. The film begins in Hugo, Oklahoma. That year, musicologist John Lomax received a partial transcription of the song,[11] and in 1911, two versions were published in the Journal of American Folklore by the sociologist and historian Howard W. There, the infamous brothel, colloquially known as the Bucket of Blood, could operate without fear of civic interference. Lyons was taken to the Dispensary, where his wounds were pronounced serious. When little Lillie Sheldon she first heard the news British. Lyons died from his wound shortly afterwards. But the fact is that when children live in an orphanage, theyre usually orphans. [1]:4345 Lee Shelton's nickname was later corrupted into various other forms in the folk tradition. Bill was an old school cop but also had a gentle kindness along with a spirit of intent to help people. Episode #17 of the Motorcycle Knuckle Busters podcast. After a century of vilification, its time to separate Lee Shelton the man from Stackolee the myth., A few Newspapers.com searches, however, reveal that Lee Shelton was indeed a serially violent man, even by the standards of the citys Bloody Third district. According to the lines in the song, it was over a game of chance: In fact, if the local newspapers are to be credited, the altercation was political in nature. Despite what had come to seem like long odds, when the spindles finally turned, the sounds that emerged were intelligible: Yes, I remember Stackalee, McKinney says, and David clearly thinks hes referring to the song. In John Russell Davids papers I found whats almost certainly the oldest published sheet musicStack-O-Lee (A True Story From Life), copyright 1910, by the cringe-worthily named Three White Kuhns. As Billy staggered along the bar, clutching the rail, Lee walked up and, retrieving his Stetson, said, I told you to give me my hat! He then turned and walked calmly home. And that same Lizzie Ware, per the 1880 census, was a young African-American widow with two daughters: Ada (age five) and Estella (age eight). Michael Douglas, Richard Gere, Susan Lucci, Eric Bogosian, John Leguizamo, Woodie King, Jr. New York, Documentary, Drama, Art, Biography. Today were bringing you another entry in American Blues Scenes exclusive Brief History of a Song series. Other notable pre-war versions were recorded by Duke Ellington (1927), Cab Calloway (1931), Woody Guthrie (1941),[10] and Sidney Bechet (1945). It was a notorious red-light district, known as Deep Morgan. 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