Interlude: Lee Shelton

This is the first in a series of vignettes about past Users of the Multiplier. They’ll all follow a similar format; one shots that give a brief glimpse into the life of the user, followed by some real life historical information. Our first subject is “Stack” Lee Shelton, whose Christmas **** of William “Billy” Lyons was immortalized in the song “Stagger Lee” and all of its hundreds of derivatives.

December 25th, 1895. St. Louis Missouri

I’m standin’ outside the door to Billy Curtis’ saloon, making sure I’m lookin’ my best. One thing I’ve learnt in the game is that it don’t matter whatchu doin’ you gots to look good. Gots my tailored jacket on, and lookin good too. It better, damn thing cost me $20. Ain’t nobody takes a pimp seriously if he don’t look the part.

My lucky Stetson is perched on my head, kicked up at an angle. Hat was a gift from Low Key, big red haired honky I met when I first came to St. Louis. He introduced me to the game, gave me my nickname. Said my cock was the size of a riverboat smokestack. I been “Stack” Lee ever since. Nicest white motherfucker I ever met, he was real cool to this yellow nigger.

Tonight I’m meeting with another fucker who’s trying to move in on my bitches. Billy Lyons wants to be one of the Macks, but that shit don’t fly with me. He ain’t dedicated to the Life. Got him a wife and kids. A Mack is married to the game. He got a wife and brats at home he lose focus. His girls don’t respect him and neither do his clients. And I ain’t havin’ no one drop dirt on the name.

Christmas night, and Curtis’ place is pretty empty. Billy has a table to hisself, and at least he looks the part, all duded out in a coat and tails and wearing a three dollar Derby. I pull up a chair and he pours the whiskey.

Well one thing leads to another and we start playing some stud. Motherfucker is cheating me and I know it, so I start dealing from the bottom myself. I cheat better than he does and pretty soon I’m sitting there with all of Lyons’ scratch. He ponies up his Derby, and I laugh. I say sure, I’ll take your hat, but if I win this hand I’m not just taking that but your girls. You lose this game and you’re out of the game.

Well, I win. I smash his Derby. He gets all pissy and goes for my Stetson, starts to walk with it. That’s when Mister .44 comes out and I lay it upside Billy’s head pretty hard. He goes down and I retrieve my brim. When I look up he’s coming at me with a broken bottle, so I just shoot. Billy falls down gutshot and I finish my whiskey.

I look at Curtis who quickly develops a case of blindness, then head off into the night.

The story was first covered in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat on December 28th, 1895. 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. This was increasingly relevant because the republicans were losing their stronghold, and because Shelton was a democratic organizer, and Lyons a Republican one. Stagger Lee hired one of the most prominent lawyers in the state, Nathanile Dryden, and the trial resulted in a hung jury.

Shelton’s case was retried in 1897, and Stagger Lee was found guilty of **** and sentenced to the notorious Jefferson penitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri. It only took until 1902 or 1903, depending on the source, for the first printed lyrics referring to the Stagger Lee ****.

Missouri governor Joseph Wingate Folk gave Shelton a full pardon on Thanksgiving day 1909, but Lee was not to remain free for long. In 1911, Shelton broke into a man’s home, murdered him, and was sent to prison, but by 1912, Shelton received yet another pardon from another governor, apparently due to political pressure. Before he could be released, the infamous Stack-O-Lee died in prison of tuberculosis.