"The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" is the title of a topical ballad by Bob Dylan.
Recorded on 23 October 1963, the song was released on Dylan's 1964 album entitled The Times They Are A-Changin'. It was re-released in 1985 on the compilation album Biograph. Live renditions of the song by its author can be found on the albums Live 1975 (2002) and Live 1964 (2004).
The ballad gives a generally factual account of the careless killing of 51-year-old barmaid Hattie Carroll by the wealthy young William Zanztinger (the song changes his name to "William Zanzinger"), and the lax prosecution as a result of Zanztinger's privileged position: he received only a six-month sentence.
The actual incident took place February 9, 1963 at a ball at the Emerson Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. Dylan's song accurately implies, but never states, that Carroll was black and Zanzinger is white. The song implies that Zanzinger beat Carroll to death with his cane. In fact, he drunkenly assaulted Carroll and several others with the cane; Carroll, who was in poor health, died in hospital the following day, suffering a brain hemorrhage from the stress of Zanztinger's verbal and physical assault, but the cane itself did not leave marks on her body.
On August 28, 1963 Zanztinger was convicted of assault and manslaughter and sentenced to a mere six months, which he began serving on September 15. Dylan recorded his song on October 23, when the trial was still relatively fresh news, but it was not released until the following year.
The New York Herald Tribune conjectured at the time of the trial that Zanztinger was not given a longer sentence because the judges wanted to keep it below the threshold that would have sent him to the state prison, whose largely African American population could easily turn a prison term into an effective death sentence; the shorter sentence could be served in Washington County Jail.
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Last updated: 05-21-2005 02:18:37
