Stagger Lee Shelton
Lee Shelton (March 16, 1865 - March 11, 1912) was a black carriage driver and pimp convicted of murdering William "Billy" Lyons on Christmas night, 1895 in St. Louis, Missouri. The crime was immortalized in a popular song that has been recorded by numerous artists. Stagger Lee (also "Stackalee," "Stackolee" and "Stagolee") ultimately becomes a folk figure of the trickster type as numerous legends accumulated around him.
Lee Shelton was not a common pimp — described by Cecil Brown, "Lee Shelton belonged to a group of pimps known in St. Louis as the 'Macks'. The Macks were not just 'urban strollers'; they presented themselves as objects to be observed." Shelton died in prison in 1912, of tuberculosis.
Read more about Stagger Lee Shelton: The Crime, Stagger Lee As Archetype, In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words stagger and/or lee:
“Why does man freeze to death trying to reach the North Pole? Why does man drive himself to suffer the steam and heat of the Amazon? Why does he stagger his mind with the mathematics of the sky? Once the question mark has arisen in the human brain the answer must be found, if it takes a hundred years. A thousand years.”
—Walter Reisch (1903–1963)
“I see you’re a man with ideals. I guess I better be going while you’ve still got them.”
—Mae West, U.S. screenwriter, W.C. Fields, and Edward Cline. Flower Belle Lee (Mae West)