Stagger Lee

The earliest known reference to the song appears in the Kansas City Leavenworth Herald August 21, 1897.

It is understood that Prof. Charlie Lee, the piano thumper, will play 'Stack-a-Lee' in variations at the K. C. Negro Press association. Scarcely any convention held in K. C. is complete unless Prof. Lee is down on the program. The professor is an idol on such a high pedestal in Kansas City that men, women and children fall on their knees in worship of him.
-- Leavenworth Herald, August 21, 1897

Missouri and Wyandotte (*) people have the temerity to place Charles Lee’s piano playing on an equality with that of Mrs. Lulu Cunningham of this city, in the view of the fact that Lee plays nothing but rags, 'by ear!' It is said that Lee cannot distinguish the difference between a note and a Chinaman’s wash ticket. . . . He plays rags with so many variations that the people’s enthusiasm leads them to the belief that he is playing a 'sonata,' or a 'symphony,' or something or other. Mrs. Cunningham is truly a first-class musician; in comparison, Lee pales into insignificance.
Leavenworth Herald, January 16, 1897

* - the county of Kansas City.