NW corner of Convention Plaza (formerly Morgan Street & Delmar Blvd) and 11th Street

The infamous legend of Stagger Lee (also known as Stagolee, Stack O' Lee, Stackerlee, Stackalee) is about a St. Louis carriage driver, gangster and pimp who gets into a dispute with his friend Billy DeLyon (also known as Billy the Lion or Billy Lyons) after losing his Stetson hat to Billy.

While the exact location of the saloon was on 11th and Delmar/Morgan, adjacent to or overlapping with the broader Chestnut Valley district, known for its vibrant nightlife, music, and often dangerous streets.

The story of Stagger Lee, whose real name was Lee Shelton, is rooted in real historical events. Shelton was a Black carriage driver and known figure in the St. Louis underworld. On Christmas night in 1895, at the Bill Curtis Saloon located on Walnut Street (near the Chestnut Valley area), Shelton shot and killed Billy Lyons during an argument—reportedly over a Stetson hat.

One version claims Lee, a Democrat, and Lyons, a Republican, were arguing over politics when Lee snatched Lee's Stetson hat off of his head and wouldn't give it back. Another version claims Lee lost the hat to Lyons while gambling.

Either way, Lee pulls a .44 on Lyons who then pleads to be spared for the sake of his wife and children. Showing no mercy, Stagger Lee cold-bloodedly shoots and kills his opponent. Witnesses said after the shooting, after Lyon fell to his death, Shelton picked up his Stetson and said "I told you to give me my hat." And then walked out the door.

One of the earliest versions in 1928, by John Mississippi Hunt, tells the story like this:
𝐴𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑟, 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 "𝑊ℎ𝑜'𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔?" 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝐵𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝐿𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟'𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑠, 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑦𝑜𝑛'𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑏𝑦.

𝐼𝑛 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛, 𝐿𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑏𝑒𝑑 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑛'𝑠 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑡𝑠𝑜𝑛, 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑡. 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎 .44 𝑆𝑚𝑖𝑡ℎ & 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑡 𝐿𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑡𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑟 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒. 𝐻𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔.

According to an eyewitness, the two men were shooting craps (as in certain versions of the the song) when at some point they began fighting, delivering blows to each other's hats. After Shelton broke Lyons' derby and Lyons took Shelton's Stetson and refused to return it, they threatened each other. Lyons made a move for what was possibly a knife and Shelton shot him with a Smith & Wesson. Lyons' friend, Henry Crump, admitted that he had given Lyons a knife before they entered the establishment. Another man claimed that Shelton killed Lyons to avenge the death of a friend who had been killed by Lyons' stepbrother.

And in 1895, the St. Louis Globe Democrat reported:
"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 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑛, 𝑎 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟. 𝐿𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝐵𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑠, ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐿𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑠𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑛'𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛. 𝐿𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑤 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑡 𝐿𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑚 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑛 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. 𝐿𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑦, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠. 𝐿𝑒𝑒 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑠 '𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑟' 𝐿𝑒𝑒."

The event occurred at the Bill Curtis Saloon (801 North 11th Street - now the St. Louis Board of Education - the bar’s entrance was on the Convention Plaze side), located in the epicenter of what was then St. Louis' thriving vice district called Deep Morgan, about ten blocks south of Chestnut Valley. The red-light district bordered Market, Chestnut and Targee streets and was centered by the infamous Rose Bud Café at 2222 Market. This was the Third Ward, and to St. Louis police officers, the nickname "the bloody third district" was well deserved. The two main bars in this part of town were the Bridgewater Saloon on the corner of 11th Street and Lucas Avenue, and Curtis' Saloon on 13th and Morgan. The two saloons were bitter rivals, and not only because they vied for the same business. Henry Bridgewater was a prominent black Republican, while Bill Curtis' saloon seems to have served as a meeting place for Democrat activists. (The saloon was also a few blocks away from the notorious bordello called The Bucket of Blood. )

Lee's reputation for "badness" is a key to the story. According to some classic musical recordings of the legend, the authorities are too frightened of Stagger Lee to arrest him for his crime. In some versions of the tale, he is eventually caught by the authorities, but the judge refuses to sentence him to prison because he fears that the badman will strike back against him. (In other tellings of the story, Stagger Lee appears in hell after he is killed or executed, but is so "bad" that he takes control of the devil's kingdom and turns it into his own badman's paradise.)

Neither man was a stranger to physical violence. Lyons (31) was a known bully and Shelton (30) bore scars on his face and head. The murder received significant exposure and political scrutiny, and resulted in a hung jury trial after Stagger Lee had hired one of the most prominent lawyers in the state, Nathaniel Dryden. Shelton’s case was retried in 1897 and he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to the notorious penitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri. Around 1903, the first lyrics referring to the Stagger Lee murder were printed.

There are over 400 variations of the song in existence since its original recording in 1923. It has been recorded by James Brown, Nick Cave and Neil Diamond, The Clash, Pat Boone, Fats Domino and Bob Dylan, Duke Ellington, The Grateful Dead, Woody Guthrie, The Ventures, Ike & Tina Turner, Ma Rainey and Jerry Lee Lewis. Tom Jones did it. So did Huey and the News, Beck, the Black Keys and Elvis Presley. This folk song has crossed over Ragtime, Broadway showtunes, Blues, Jazz, Honky Tonk, Country, 50s Rock and Roll, Ska, Folk, Surf, 70s punk, Heavy Metal, 90s punk, Rap, even Hawaiian. In the 1950s it was re written to make it less violent for television performances. Poems have spun off from the song, as well as a musical, two novels, a short story, an award-winning graphic novel, Ph.D. dissertations, a pornographic feature film and a hard cider.

In 1909, as folk versions of the song were cropping up all across the South, then-Missouri governor Joseph Wingate Folk gave Shelton a full pardon on Thanksgiving day. Just two years later 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. But before he could be released, the infamous Stack-O-Lee died in prison of tuberculosis.

Weeks prior on December 6, 1895, the 400 Club was established "for the moral and physical culture of young colored men. We contemplate no acts of violence, and as law-abiding citizens and voters we stand ready and willing to protect the laws of our sity, State and the United States." The order was organized with Mr. Will Richmond as president, Robert Lee as secretary and Mr. Lee [Lee Shelton] as captain.

For more on Stagger Lee read https://www.facebook.com/OurSt.LouisHiSTORY/posts/1415796715429606