Copyright © 2002-2009
by James P. Hauser except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
Who was the real Stagger Lee? Folklorists have tried to answer this question for years, just as they have attempted to identify the real life counterparts to legendary figures such as John Henry and Casey Jones. In searching for the actual person that the Stagger Lee legend is based upon, researchers have identified several likely candidates. John and Alan Lomax learned of a Memphis man named Stacker Lee who lived in the latter part of the 19th century. According to one of their sources, Lee was a cruel one-eyed man who worked on the steamboats of the Lee Steamship Line owned by his family. He was of mixed race, both black and white. Another source states that he was not related to the family and simply adopted the name of the Line's owner because of the glamour attached to it.
The legend has also been traced to a black man named Lee Shelton. An article in the St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, dated December 28, 1895, reported on an incident where Shelton argued with and then shot another black man named William Lyons in a crowded saloon. That article is reproduced below.
Shot in Curtis's Place
William Lyons, 25, colored, a levee hand, living at 1410 Morgan Street, 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, also colored. Both parties, it seems, had been drinking and were feeling in exuberant spirits. Lyons and Sheldon were friends and were talking together. 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 drew his revolver and shot Lyons in the abdomen. Lyons was taken to the Dispensary, where his wounds were pronounced serious. He was removed to the city hospital. At the time of the shooting, the saloon was crowded with negroes. Sheldon is a carriage driver and lives at North Twelfth Street. 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. Sheldon is also known as "Stag" Lee.
Writer Cecil Brown filled in the details behind this story in an article titled "The Real Stagger Lee" in the January 1996 issue of Mojo, a British music magazine. According to Brown, Shelton was a hustler whose job as a carriage driver allowed him to engage in more lucrative activities such as pimping. he was also active politically as a member of a group of black pimps known as the "Stag Party". Apparently this is how Shelton came to be known as "Stag" Lee. As William Lyons was a member of the Republican Party, he and Lee were rivals on the political scene.
Neither man was a stranger to physical violence. Lyons was a known bully and Shelton bore scars on his face and head. According to one eyewitness, the two men were shooting craps just as in certain versions of the the song. At some point, they began fighting, delivering blows to each other's hats. After Shelton broke Lyons's derby, Lyons took Shelton's Stetson and refused to return it. They then threatened each other. Lyons made a move for what was possibly a weapon and Shelton then shot him with a Smith & Wesson forty-four. A man who had accompanied Lyons to the saloon admitted that he had given him a knife before entering the establishment. Another man claimed that Shelton killed Lyons to avenge the death of a friend who had been killed by Lyons's stepbrother.
The newspaper account of Shelton's killing of Lyons may at first seem to be adequate proof that it was he who was the actual historical figure behind the legend. But there are still theories pointing to the possibility that the legend was based not only upon him, but also on other people.
Let me explain. Some researchers have suggested the possibility that stories about a black badman named Stagger Lee (or Stackerlee, Stag O' Lee, Stackalee etc.) may have originally been based upon someone like the steamboat worker Stacker Lee or possibly a man from an even earlier time. The stories about his exploits could have been passed on for many years through the African-American oral tradition. And some people who heard the stories may have adopted the name Stagger Lee, masquerading as the badman so that rivals and other folks would avoid messing with them out of fear for their own lives. Considering that Shelton was a pimp and hustler, maybe he did something like this in order to make a reputation for himself as a man who was not to be fooled with. Then, after Shelton killed Lyons, he and his victim, and some of the details of their fight could have been added to a legend that already existed about an earlier badman.
The scenario suggested above is within the realm of possibility since African-American folk tales were not written down until the late 19th or early 20th century. The legend may have been passed on orally for many years (or even generations) before it was finally recorded on paper. This would allow for the tale to undergo some very significant changes over the years prior to its appearance in a written form as storytellers emphasized different aspects of the story, modified it, or added to it to suit their purposes.
We will probably never be certain about whose life originally inspired the myth of Stagger Lee. But the mystery behind the story adds to its allure. And its elements of the old west--the Smith & Wesson .44 revolver, the Stetson hat, and the public hanging--add to its power. Stagger Lee's story is a classic tale from America's bible of violence, and it just may live on forever.