On the evening of December 25, 1895, “Stag” Lee Shelton  was doing the 19th century version of a bar crawl when he entered the Bill Curtis Saloon in St. Louis.  He took a seat next to William Lyons, and they talked about a number of different things.  But when the subject switched to politics, Lyons and Shelton, who whipped up support for opposing parties, began hitting each other’s hats as a form of retaliation. Shelton ultimately broke the crown of Lyons’ derby hat.  Lyons asked for five bits (about $1.25) to replace it.  When Shelton refused, Lyons took Shelton’s Stetson hat.  Shelton promptly shot Lyons, took his hat back and walked out of the bar.  Lyons died of his injuries only hours later.  … Continued