{"id":4615,"date":"2013-04-15T22:37:03","date_gmt":"2013-04-16T06:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/?p=4615"},"modified":"2016-05-23T16:38:16","modified_gmt":"2016-05-24T00:38:16","slug":"did-william-zanzinger-really-murder-hattie-carroll-by-beating-her-to-death-with-a-cane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/04\/15\/did-william-zanzinger-really-murder-hattie-carroll-by-beating-her-to-death-with-a-cane\/","title":{"rendered":"Did William Zanzinger Really Murder Hattie Carroll By Beating Her to Death With a Cane?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. Click <a href=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2009\/04\/19\/music-legends-revealed-history\/\">here<\/a> to view an archive of the music urban legends featured so far.<\/p>\n<p><u><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">MUSIC URBAN LEGEND<\/span><\/u>: William Zanzinger murdered Hattie Carroll by beating her to death with a cane.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll&#8221; is a song that appears on Bob Dylan&#8217;s 1964 album, The Times They Are A&#8217;Changin&#8217;&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/timescha_s.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><iframe src=\"http:\/\/rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/cm?t=legenrevea-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;asins=B0009MAP9A&#038;fc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;lt1=_blank&#038;m=amazon&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;bc1=000000&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;f=ifr\" style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The tune tells the story of the murder of Hattie Carroll by William Zanzinger, and it is based on the real life death of Hattie Carroll after being struck by a cane by William Zantzinger (Dylan dropped the T for some reason).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/hattie-carroll-zantzinger.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/hattiecarrol.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><iframe src=\"http:\/\/rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/cm?t=legenrevea-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;asins=B00136RTU4&#038;fc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;lt1=_blank&#038;m=amazon&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;bc1=000000&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;f=ifr\" style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The song is a sad re-telling of the events, while noticeably avoiding actually mentioning that Carroll was black and Zan(t)zinger was white, leaving it to the listener to discern that for his\/herself, while ending each verse by saying, &#8220;But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears\/Take the rag away from your face\/<br \/>\nNow ain&#8217;t the time for your tears.&#8221; until the end of the song, when we learn that Zan(t)zinger receives only a six-month sentence, and THEN Dylan tells us, &#8220;Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears\/<br \/>\nBury the rag deep in your face\/For now&#8217;s the time for your tears.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Let me get something straight off the bat. William Zantzinger (who passed away a few years back) does not appear to be a very pleasant individual. In fact, he sounds like a rotten scoundrel. Just in the last few decades, Zantzinger sued (and won) awards from tenants in shanties that he owned for back rent &#8211; the only thing was, he had not owned the properties for YEARS, as the Maryland government had foreclosed on the properties years earlier for Zantzinger&#8217;s constant violations of county health codes. He sure seemed to be an awful man.<\/p>\n<p>However, as awful as he was &#8211; Dylan exaggerates what happened in the song so much that I think he basically gives a false recitation of the facts and has caused listeners over the years to have a false idea of what actually happened at the lonesome death of Hattie Carroll.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nThe song opens with:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll<br \/>\nWith a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger<br \/>\nAt a Baltimore hotel society gath&#8217;rin&#8217;.<br \/>\nAnd the cops were called in and his weapon took from him<br \/>\nAs they rode him in custody down to the station<br \/>\nAnd booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And later, Dylan describes Carroll as having&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane<br \/>\nThat sailed through the air and came down through the room,<br \/>\nDoomed and determined to destroy all the gentle.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>and ends with:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel<br \/>\nTo show that all&#8217;s equal and that the courts are on the level<br \/>\nAnd that the strings in the books ain&#8217;t pulled and persuaded<br \/>\nAnd that even the nobles get properly handled<br \/>\nOnce that the cops have chased after and caught &#8217;em<br \/>\nAnd that the ladder of law has no top and no bottom,<br \/>\nStared at the person who killed for no reason<br \/>\nWho just happened to be feelin&#8217; that way without warnin&#8217;.<br \/>\nAnd he spoke through his cloak, most deep and distinguished,<br \/>\nAnd handed out strongly, for penalty and repentance,<br \/>\nWilliam Zanzinger with a six-month sentence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So here&#8217;s what happened &#8211; in the early hours of February 9, 1963, after a white tie Spinster&#8217;s Ball, a very drunk William Zantzinger (who was with his wife) struck a number of employees at the Emerson Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland with a wooden toy cane he had purchased earlier that day. <\/p>\n<p>When Carroll, a barmaid, did not give him his drink quickly enough, he struck her in the shoulder and on the head with his toy cane. <\/p>\n<p>Zantzinger, the filthy individual that he was, threw out a lot of racial epithets as well. He then turned on his own wife, smacking her around and hitting her with his shoe. <\/p>\n<p>Carroll returned to the kitchen and told her co-workers that she was feeling ill after that man had upset her so. She collapsed and eight hours later, she was dead.<\/p>\n<p>The autopsy reported that she had hardened arteries, an enlarged heart and high blood pressure.  They gave brain hemorrhage as the cause of death.<\/p>\n<p>After originally being charged with murder generally (which was basically their way of saying &#8220;homicide&#8221; &#8211; the charges weren&#8217;t actually decided yet), the charges became manslaughter when it was determined that it was his berating of Carroll that caused her death of the brain hemorrhage rather than the blows of the cane (the toy cane did not even leave any marks on her). <\/p>\n<p>So when you look at it like that, while you can certainly complain about him receiving only six months, that&#8217;s certainly not enough to charge anything BUT manslaughter. You&#8217;re not going to prosecute someone for murder when they shock someone into having a stroke. You&#8217;re just not.<\/p>\n<p>And Dylan&#8217;s version of events ignore all of this, and gives the impression that A. He beat her to death with the cane and B. That he was convicted of murder and received only a six months sentence. Those are two tremendous fallacies right there. <\/p>\n<p>Was William Zantzinger a bad guy?<\/p>\n<p>Yep.<\/p>\n<p>Was he a pretty horribly racist?<\/p>\n<p>Yep.<\/p>\n<p>I just don&#8217;t think he was a murderer, and &#8220;The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll&#8221; sure doesn&#8217;t tell you that (it&#8217;s a sad and beautiful song, though &#8211; one of Dylan&#8217;s best). <\/p>\n<p>The legend is&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><u><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">STATUS<\/span><\/u>: False Enough for a False<\/p>\n<p>Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future urban legends columns! My e-mail address is &#98;c&#114;o&#110;i&#x6e;&#64;&#x6c;e&#x67;e&#x6e;d&#x73;r&#x65;v&#x65;a&#x6c;e&#x64;.&#x63;o&#x6d;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the music urban legends featured so far. MUSIC URBAN LEGEND: William Zanzinger murdered Hattie Carroll by beating her to death with a cane. &#8220;The Lonesome Death of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7MjBq-1cr","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4618,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/04\/16\/are-the-trees-from-joshua-tree-and-one-tree-hill-really-both-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":4615,"position":0},"title":"Are the Trees From Joshua Tree and &#8220;One Tree Hill&#8221; Really BOTH Dead?","date":"April 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. 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