On Feb. 26, 1993, a truck bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of the North Tower of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others. Dat same ole fohty-fo. In 2007, Samuel L. Jackson played Stack-O-Lee in the movie Black Snake Moan, backed by Cedrick Burnside and Kenny Brown. He was a native . He is very active and popular in several social networking sites. Nuno Marques Planeamento e Atividades Econmicas at Municpio de Setbal . Date: December 25, 1895 Location: St. Louis, Missouri Victim: William "Billy" Lyons Cause of Death: Gunshot Accused: "Stack" Lee Shelton Recording: "Stack O'Lee Blues" - Mississippi John Hurt "Staggerlee" - Lloyd Price Synopsis: Stack Lee Shelton was the owner of a St. Louis saloon/brothel called the Modern Horseshoe Club and was a well-known figure in the black neighborhood of Deep Morgan. Cecil Brown, author of 2003's Stagolee Shot Billy, has used the witness statements from Lyons' inquest to compile an account of the night's events. you can rest everybody but cruel Stack OLee? He has been involved in controversial and politically influential motion pictures as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; The China Syndrome, Wall Street and Traffic, as well as such popular films as Romancing the Stone, Fatal Attraction and Marvel's Ant Man and Ant Man and the Wasp. Stagolees work is done, too. 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. BY Billy Lyons. In early 1897, a reporter for the Kansas City Star transcribed some songs often rendered by the negro prisoners of the city jail, including Stacka Lee, an importation from St. Louis: Stacka Lee, cant you see This did not impede him from building cribs in back of his house, where some of his girls conducted business under his watchful eye. Soon, the musical, mythical iteration of Stack Lee supplanted the man himself, as black America cultivated and nurtured a heroic outlaw to admire. Unable to get parole, he died in the hospital of the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City on March 11, 1912, from tuberculosis. Mississippi John Hurt, Cab Calloway, Woody Guthrie, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, and Beck are among the hundreds who have sung a version of Stagolees story. He teaches creative writing at Washburn University and is a former poet laureate of Kansas. As a born-and-bred Oklahoman, the scene immediately caught my attention. Lyons refused, and Sheldon drew his revolver and shot Lyons in the abdomen. Sheltons case was retried in 1897, and Stagger Lee was found guilty of murder and sentenced to the notorious Jeffersonpenitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri. The police and Coast Guard have been involved in search and rescue since Sunday morning but . Permission required for reprinting, reproducing, or other uses. Handy wrote that it probably was a nickname for a tall person, comparing him to the tall smokestack of the large steamboat Robert E. A graduate of Ithaca College (BFA Acting), Billy has performed both regionally and Off-Broadway at the Irish Rep. And that answer wouldnt account for the popularity of Stagolee toastsproto-rap narratives delivered without musical accompaniment. Here are prison records with Stack Lees signature and fingerprints. I think Bill's compassion came from his Mom. By the time he faced off with Billy Lyons the following Christmas, pistol-whipping had become his specialty; at the coroners inquest, three witnesses said that Shelton struck Lyons with the .44 before shooting him. And looking at the history of the man objectively, there is no reason to anticipate that it would. Lee Shelton had no prior criminal record that anyone could locate, and William Lyons was listed as single on his death certificate. Angela Discon. Lincoln in the Bardo features a myriad of charactersdead and alive, historical and imaginary who offer perspective and input on the story as it unfolds. You done stole my Stetson1 hat, Im bound to take your life It includes the verse. Stack Lee died of tuberculosis on March 11, 1912, five days shy of his 47th birthday. This was ready-made folklorea set piece for which every essential prop had been provided. 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. Listening to their exchange for the first time was a singular privilegehearing, muddily but unmistakably, the precise moment when Stagolee stepped from folklore back into fact. 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. When little Lillie Sheldon she first heard the news Billy "Spacey" Lyons is an Actor, Musician, Tattoo Artist and Motorcycle Enthusiast. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The origins of this tale begin with a Christmas Eve bar fight in Saint Louis in 1895. Click To Watch Free 'NAACP Image Awards 2023' Live Stream. The only remaining option for the deceased killer is hell, and again Stagger Lee asserts himself, this time for control over the Devils domain: Even in death, the larger-than-life figure of Stagger Lee triumphs. Hi, my name is Billy. . Except that the evidence hasnt been missing; its just been missed. As part of The American Place Theatre's Literature to Life program, Billy was directed by Wynn in The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, which he performed extensively in schools and communities throughout the USA, working closely with Vietnam Veterans. Bill, you will be missed, great man, great cop!! Mr. William Hunter "Billy" Lyons, a native of Mobile and resident of Spanish Fort, died Tuesday, June 8, 2021, of complications from a stroke. Privacy Policy, In 1928, Mississippi John Hurt recorded a definitive 1928 version of Stagolees story, Eric McHenrys annotation to the murder ballads oldest known lyrics, https://theamericanscholar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mchenry_audio.mp3, Hilary Mantel, one of Britains most revered novelists, died last year at the age of 70. He died in incarceration in 1912. He's a proud member of AEA. Mindy Lyons is organizing this fundraiser. They both believe, for example, that Stack and Billy were fighting over a craps gamea canard that made its way into the songs after being falsely reported by the papers. Early versions were called "Stack-a-Lee" and "Stacker Lee", while "Stagolee" and "Stagger Lee" also became common. Lee. As the oral legend spread of Stack Lee as a black man who would not back down, Billy Lyons turned into ''a small . The scholar John W. Roberts says that such figures exist more as a projection than a role model, providing an expression of wish-fulfillment a safety valve or release. Into this historical moment strode Stack Lee Shelton, a notorious bad man with a memorable name who would leave your children fatherless if you tried to steal his Stetson hat. Director Billy Lyons Producer Billy Lyons The song exploded in popularity and became #1 on the Billboard Pop Charts. 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. [3] In addition to those activities, he was the captain of a black Four Hundred Club, a social club with a dubious reputation. The quartet included Hugh Bradley, Marty Hale and Bill Lyons. [15], Lloyd Price recorded the song as "Stagger Lee" in 1958, and it rose to the top of both the R&B and US pop charts in early 1959. Lifestyle Your Next Spotify Playlist Might Be Curated with Wine Pairings in Mind. I think the answer to this question (and to the related question of what Stagolee tells us about how legends and folklore are passed down) may lie in the social function that Stagolee serves. And they were acquainted with the story of Stagolee, but as legend, not family history. I never heard that before!, McKinney was born in 1885 and sounds like it. 1991-present. . He always addresses Stagolee, and its always some version of the same two-sentence appeal: Please dont take my life. When I ran my cursor over it, the name of her betrothed appeared: Wm C Lyons. I opened the document and stared at his signature, thinking, I am the only living person who knows Billy Lyonss middle initial. Episode #17 of the Motorcycle Knuckle Busters podcast. Both parties, it seems, had been drinking and were feeling in exuberant spirits. He was paroled in 1909, but returned to prison in 1911 for assault and robbery. Find the perfect Billy lyons stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. actor at billy lyons Greater Dublin. William "Billy" Lyons April 18, 1946 - February 5, 2023 Sacramento, California - William (Billy) Lyons left us much too soon on February 5, 2023, surrounded by his adoring family. Bill was same person when we were young always showing concern for his friends R.I.P. However, as raised up by more than a century of popular culture, the righteous killer Stagger Lee has become an icon to generations, who see in the folk character a defiance of authority, pride of self, and strength in the face of adversity. All of his Stagolee researchboxes of criminal complaints, prison records, clippings, correspondence, photographs, floppy disks, and audio tapeshad been sitting in a St. Louis basement ever since. 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 25th, 1895. Lee was arrested, tried, andafter two trialssentenced to twenty-five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary. 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. Turn-of-the-century St. Louis was a shockingly violent place. Friday's invite-only (and non-televised) awards dinner will go on as scheduled from L.A. Live Event Deck, a popular event venue located . [13], In 2004, The Black Keys recorded a song on their third album, Rubber Factory dubbed Stack Shot Billy, which tells the tale of the infamous murder. Keith's Cancer Fund. Turn-of-the-century St. Louis was a musical placethe cradle of ragtime, full of barroom bards and river roustabouts who were constantly turning scuttlebutt into song. 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. Taking a knife from his pocket, he proclaimed, Im going to make you kill me!. You can rest everybody but cruel Stack O Lee John Russell David died almost exactly 75 years later at almost exactly the same agejust a few months past his 47th birthday. Stagger Lee was a bad man, the original gangsta, and he murdered Billy Lyons on account of a John B. Stetson hat. He told me when we were young that some day he would be a Sac PD police officer just like his Dad. Or they may be descended from another Billy Lyons altogether, whose death orphaned three young children and left a vacuum of information in which family lore and folklore would eventually merge. Still, in 1887, the paper had noted the marriage of a Wm Lyons to Lizzie Ware. Ma Rainey and her band, (including a young Louis Armstrong on cornet), recordedStack OLee Blues in 1925. He was paroled in 1909,[1] but was imprisoned again two years later for assault and robbery. Stack Lee may or may not have been legally married, but Little Lillie Sheldon was no songwriters invention. 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. Lyons and Sheldon were friends and were talking together. By signing up, you agree to the our terms and our Privacy Policy agreement. You can check Billy out in the film John Nieto: A 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. [1]:2425 A story appearing in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in 1895 read: 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. British. Lyons refused, and Sheldon withdrew his revolver and shot Lyons in the abdomen. [11] Also in 1924, the first version with lyrics was recorded, as "Skeeg-a-Lee Blues", by Lovie Austin. Billy is an actor, director, teacher, and producer living in midtown Manhattan, where hes trained with and been the close assistant to Wynn Handman for many years. The story was first covered in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat on December 28th, 1895. In the summer of 2010, Stuke was featured on Celebrity MasterChef, where it was discovered that he was not a very good chef, despite his claim that he was. Somewhere in his youth, Lee Shelton had acquired the nickname Stack Lee, presumably after a steamboatthe Stack Lee which was then plying the Mississippi River. Enjoy our next guest, Billy Lyons. Thats one detail that the songs, understandably, have tended to get wrong, insisting that the bad man went proudly to the gallows. Other recorded variants include "Stackerlee", "Stack O'Lee", "Stackolee", "Stackalee", "Stagerlee", and "Stagalee". Before World War II, the song was commonly known as "Stack O'Lee". In November 1894, he beat a man with a revolver, fracturing his skull and inflicting five severe scalp wounds. Less than two months later, he fired a shot without effect at Thomas Gibson. He then hit Gibson over the head with the butt of the gun. The feud between Stagger Lee and Billy Lyons is as legendary as the one between the Hatfields and the McCoys; a truly American folk tale, retold countless times, about Stagger shooting Billy Lyons over, varyingly, a Stetson hat, a woman, a gambling debt, politics, or simply because Stagger was that mean of a man. Billy Lyons is an actor, known for Treaty Live (2022). Evrybody body talk about Stackolee. The Pearsons of St. Louis may be living proof that Billy Lyons had a wife and kids. Duke Ellington recorded a version in 1927, and in 1928 Mississippi John Hurt recorded what is perhaps the most famous and most definitive version of Stagger Lees song in history. 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. Clearly, its the story that has had the staying power, along with the swaggering Stagolee character that the story introduced. Following Lees shooting of Billy Lyons, a St. Louis newspaper printed a letter to the editor from members of the Four Hundred Club, stating that Mr. Apparently, Billy was a Republican. 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. 133 followers 134 connections. 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]. But more importantly, he had the kindest soul of anyone I've ever known. When his victim fell to the floor Sheldon took his hat from the hand of the wounded man and coolly walked away.. 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. HarperCollins published "A Lush and Seething Hell" by John Horner Jacobs in 2019. [4], Lyons eventually died of his injuries. [1]:4345 Lee Shelton's nickname was later corrupted into various other forms in the folk tradition. The disease had taken a terrible toll, and the unromantic truth is that by the time he died, the pimp, gambler, and murderer weighed only 102 pounds. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stagger_Lee&oldid=1139901017, The song is sung by an African American prisoner in Jack Black's autobiography, The song "Wrong 'Em Boyo" by the Jamaican, In John Hornor Jacobs' 2019 horror novella. Following a breadcrumb trail of birth announcements and census records, I tracked down the children of their sister, the late Rosealee Johnson Pearson. Americas number one talk show host who hails from Cape Girardeau. Also learn how She earned most of networth at the age of 43 years old? Billy died of his wound shortly thereafter, and Lee was sentenced to a twenty-five-year prison term. He was subsequently arrested and locked up at the Chestnut Street Station. [1][5], Shelton is buried at the historic Greenwood Cemetery in Hillsdale, Missouri. A couple of summers ago, I started poking around in those collections, and once I started comparing what I thought I knew about the Stagolee legend with what I was seeing in the documentary record, I found that I couldnt stop. That bad man, oh, cruel Stack O Lee, And all they gathered, hands way up high, In his 1996 essay Stack Lee: The Man, the Music, and the Myth, he cites evidence that Lyons was the more belligerent of the two men and that Shelton probably shot him in self-defense. Earned most of networth at the history of the page across from the title. 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