Stagger Lee shot Billy

Saint Louis, Missouri

Stagger Lee threw a seven and Billy swore he threw an eight

 It's about a four hour run up to Saint Louis. I book a $350 hotel room for $17.14 though hotels.com. It's right on the river next to The Arch.

Our first stop in Saint Louis is Pappy's Smokehouse. I chose this after studying Trip Advisor for two hours. We stand in line in a hallway for 25 minutes and then they let us in to stand in another line to place an order. The brisket is OK, but basically at the end of the day it's smoked beef and not the paradise of Earthly delights that I had anticipated..

Aside from Lindberg's Spirit of Saint Louis, the most interesting thing that happened in the 250-year history of Saint Louis was the result of a dispute over a hat."Stagger Lee" was Lee Shelton, an African-American pimp living in St. Louis, Missouri in the late 19th century. He was nicknamed "Stag Lee" or "Stack Lee". On Christmas night in 1895, Shelton and his acquaintance William "Billy" Lyons were drinking in the Bill Curtis Saloon. . Eventually, the two men got into a dispute.  Billy Lyons took Shelton's Stetson hat. Subsequently, Shelton shot Lyons, recovered his hat, and left. Lyons died of his injuries, and Shelton was charged, tried and convicted of the murder in 1897. He was pardoned in 1909, but returned to prison in 1911 for assault and robbery, and died in incarceration in 1912.

The Saint Louis History Museum is worth a visit. It was free except for the extensive Prohibition exhibit. Prohibition had a huge impact on Saint Louis because of the Anheuser-Busch breweries in the city.

We also take in the Museum of Contemporary Art. This art is made of broken 2x4s and drywall.

 We cruise though the Bellefontaine Cemetery after the art museum. Some of the horses in Saint Louis have painted toenails.

 The Arch....

 Mrs. Phred....

 Jefferson authorized the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. He paid France about $15 million dollars or 4 cents an acre for Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Louisiana and parts of Texas, New Mexico and Colorado.

One artist whose works were  on display in the Contempory Art Museum made her friends portraits from pieces of string.

On Friday night, we walked down Market Street from the Arch to the old Union Station. It has been turned into a big hotel and Mall. On our way we saw this building. A sign in front said that it was the Saint Louis City Hall.