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Frankie and Johnny Were Sweethearts
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On October 16, 1899, Frankie Baker fired one shot and killed Allen Britt in Saint Louis, Missouri. 17-year old Britt would die three days later at the City Hospital and the shooting was ruled justifiable and in self-defense. According to Baker, Britt had been abusive and on that fateful night had come into their apartment and threw a lamp at her while she slept. As she tried to get up, he pulled out a knife and came at her. It was then that she reached under her pillow and pulled out her pistol and fired the fateful shot.     Root-a-toot-toot that gal did shoot     Right through that hardwood door     She shot her man     'Cause he was doin' her wrong           - Frankie and Johnny (Traditional) Within a month, Baker had been cleared and it would seem that the crime would quickly fade away. Then a song came out. The ballad version of events immediately moved the location of the shooting to a bar, added in a love triangle, and Al Britt's first and last names were combined to produce the "Albert"-part of Frankie and Albert. Even that name would later change altogether and the song Frankie and Johnny was born. The song had been written, but the story was far from over. Al Britt was buried in nearby St. Peters Cemetery (where Stagger Lee victim Billy Lyons was also laid to rest). Contrary to the events depicted in some versions of the song, Baker did not come to the funeral and was fairly unrepentant for shooting him. However, the song soon became a sensation and first came to Baker's attention while she was walking down the street one day. She would soon become well known in the area for being that "Frankie" from Frankie and Johnny and people would sing the song aloud as she approached. Humiliated, she would flee the area. Baker moved first to Omaha, Nebraska but soon found that the song had reached even there and she would move again. She ultimately settled in Portland, Oregon and took a job and secured a home. Her notoriety was far from over though. In 1935, a movie based on the events called She Done Him Wrong and starring Mae West opened and she once again became known as "that Frankie." She subsequently sued and lost, but was further humiliated a year later when another film adaptation, this time using the name Frankie and Johnny hit screens. She sued for defamation again and was forced to return to St. Louis to argue her case. While her colorful character got a lot of press, she once again lost the case. Baker returned to Portland but both her physical and mental health declined. She was admitted into the Eastern Oregon State Hospital (now Eastern Oregon Correctional Institute) in Pendleton, Oregon in the early 1950s and died there in 1952. Before her death, the Missouri House of Representatives had hired Thomas Hart Benson to paint a mural at the State Capitol, depicting various events in Missouri's history. His work was completed in December 1936. It can still be found today in the room called the House Lounge. There, alongside such things like a Jesse James robbery, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, and the Civil War, is a mural depicting the events of the song Frankie and Johnny. Visit the Missouri History of Frankie and Johnny at the Missouri State Capitol. -Casey H. This entry was edited on October 16, 2008, 11:11 pm.
Filed under: General, Music, Dark Destinations, Murder Ballads	October 16, 2008, 3:18 pm | Permalink | 0 Comments
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