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MguyXXVI 
"X marks the spot"
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 Posted - 01/11/2009 : 08:16:07
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I think the story is best told by Bob Dylan about the 1963 event that immortalized this rotten fuck:
William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll [a 51 year old Black woman]
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel society gath'rin'.
And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
As they rode him in custody down to the station
And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.
William Zanzinger, who at twenty-four years
Owns a tobacco farm of six hundred acres
With rich wealthy parents who provide and protect him
And high office relations in the politics of Maryland,
Reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulders
And swear words and sneering, and his tongue it was snarling,
In a matter of minutes on bail was out walking.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.
Hattie Carroll was a maid of the kitchen.
She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn't even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level,
Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane
That sailed through the air and came down through the room,
Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle.
And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.
In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel
To show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level
And that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded
And that even the nobles get properly handled
Once that the cops have chased after and caught 'em
And that the ladder of law has no top and no bottom,
Stared at the person who killed for no reason
Who just happened to be feelin' that way without warnin'.
And he spoke through his cloak, most deep and distinguished,
And handed out strongly, for penalty and repentance,
William Zanzinger with a six-month sentence.
Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now's the time for your tears.
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Sal[Au]pian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 01/11/2009 : 15:35:31
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I'd never heard of him but have just read all about his life, which continued down the same rotten path to a horrifying degree.
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Beanmimo 
"August review site"
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Posted - 01/12/2009 : 13:27:33
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A Chilling lyric there....shouldn't the title of this thread read, "BIH - William Zantzinger" |
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randall 
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 01/14/2009 : 02:31:48
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| Bobby Z lost T. |
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Sean 
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 01/14/2009 : 03:36:49
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quote:
Originally posted by Beanmimo
A Chilling lyric there....shouldn't the title of this thread read, "BIH - William Zantzinger"
The "R" could be for "roast".  |
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MguyXXVI
"X marks the spot"
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Posted - 01/14/2009 : 07:50:08
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I was going for "rot," but "roast" works too.   |
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Sal[Au]pian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 01/20/2009 : 08:21:45
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Just had a thought -- at least he died knowing that Obama was going to be president.  |
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 01/28/2009 : 21:08:10
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Not that I'd say anything to venerate this scumbag, but the truth is that Dylan got a few of the facts wrong, possibly inadvertently. The biggest one: Zantzinger actually didn't kill Hattie Carroll with his cane [a toy one he got at a fair]!
In fact, his strike left no mark on her. But it, coupled with his drunken verbal abuse [it wasn't restricted to Hattie; several other hotel employees also had the misfortune to encounter this fop idiot that night] and her medical condition [hardened arteries, an enlarged heart and hypertension] caused the brain hemorrhage that killed her the next morning. At least that was the view of the medical examiner: you can take that with any amount of salt you like, but nobody's ever suspected him of anything but doing his job.
Thus, Zantzinger was booked for manslaughter and assault, not murder. His attorneys argued that Hattie's previous condition made it impossible to tell whether her death was actually caused by their client, but a three-judge tribunal didn't see it that way and found him guilty.
As for the six-month rap, if the judges had imposed a longer one Zantzinger would have had to serve it in state prison, where their honors felt the large black population, who well knew about the infamous crime, would have surely rendered it a death sentence.
There's a note in the police log about a folksinger asking for more details on the case, but it's dated after THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN' came out, so some people think it might be a defensive move. Zantzinger threatened to sue Dylan early on, but then quit huffing and puffing about it.
Don't get me wrong: Zantzinger was an awful man who did a terrible thing, and Dylan's song is one of the most powerful in his catalog. But don't depend on it for the literal truth. |
Edited by - randall on 02/03/2009 22:53:14 |
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RIH - William Zantzinger
