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July 2020 THE INDIAN TRADER
Annie Oakley
America’s Most Famous Sharpshooter Was also a Women’s Rights Advocate Although Annie Oakley’s career drew to a close many years ago, most Americans know her name. Annie was famous for an uncanny proficiency with firearms – particularly rifles. While in her mid-teens, she defeated professional marksman, Frank Butler, in a celebrated Cincinnati trap shoot still avidly recounted by shooting aficionados. Unable to beat her, Frank joined her within a year as husband and manager. Later, as the star of “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Wild West Show, from 1885-1901, she thrilled audiences in the U.S., Canada, and abroad, becoming the highestpaid performer of her time. Her repertoire encompassed stunts like backward shooting (while sighting through a polished Bowie knife) and simultaneously throwing five glass balls into the air, turning a cartwheel, grabbing her Marlin 39 lever-action carbine, and shooting the balls before they hit the ground. Another crowd-dazzler was firing out the flames of burning candles. Marvelous as these displays were, her most publicized feat accomplished during an 1891 European tour when she shot the ashes off Kaiser Wilhelm II’s lit cigarette. Later, after World War I broke out, Annie herself publicly lamented her unfailing accuracy! LIVING LEGEND Annie became a living legend, but legends fade. A considerable number of 19th Century pioneer women forced to rely on hunting for survival developed remarkable expertise with guns.
