Bob Dylan calls the murder of Hattie Caroll lonesome because there was no true justice for her, she was "abandoned" by the law. Hattie Caroll was a 51-year-old black waitress, and her killer, William Zanzinger, was a rich man. He killed her at an annual dance in Baltimore for wealthy people. Injustice is the engine of the song: he was sentenced to only six months in jail for involuntary manslaughter.