The song's lyrics stemmed from actual events, involving the shooting of James Brady in the Charles Starkes Saloon in St. Louis, Missouri.
[4] Originally recorded by Wilmer Watts & his Lonely Eagles in 1929, it has been recorded numerous times, most famously by Lead Belly, also by Judy Henske, Dave Van Ronk, The Johnson Mountain Boys, New Riders of the Purple Sage, David Nelson Band, Martin Simpson, and Bob Dylan.
On October 6, 1890,[5] several police officers, including James Brady, arrived at the Charles Starkes Saloon in downtown St. Louis, where a bar fight was taking place.
[4] However, a Mrs. Tom Barrett (or Barret), a resident of Marlin, Texas, wrote to folklorist Dorothy Scarborough about the song's lyrics and origins.
[7] It's interesting to note that even though the detailed news article and lyrics from Leadbelly and others identify Brady as the policeman and Duncan as the civilian, Wilmer Watts who first recorded the song places the star on Duncan's chest: Wilmer Watts was born and lived in North Carolina [9] and only recorded for Paramount in Chicago in 1929.