It first states that he's already dead, and then he LAY moaning. My interpretation of this is that after death, his body moaned. This makes me think that Stevie was trying to convey that the appearance of his body laying there sent a message to onlookers about the circumstances surrounding his death. So the second line is the scene that caused the reaction of the onlookers basically saying "oh shit, i guess he really wasn't okay while he was out there larking." In my opinion...
