 There's one other thing
about her that's significant: If she hadn't been such a good shot,
there might never have been a World War I (known then as "The Great
War" since it was the only world war up to that point in history).
Phoebe (that's pronounced "Phoebe") was her given name, but it
was her stage name by which you know her.
Phoebe was the fifth of seven children born in a log cabin to
Jacob and Susan Moses in 1860, a Quaker couple living in rural
western Ohio. She couldn't read, but she sure could shoot.
She lost her father when she was just 6 years old. A few years
later, she began hunting for food to help feed the family. She was
such a good aim that she could shoot the head off a running quail.
She was so good at hunting that she was able to support the
family by selling her game to local residents. Local hotel owners
preferred the animals that Phoebe shot because she always shot it in
the head, meaning that there would be no buckshot left in the
animal. She did well enough to pay off the mortgage on the family
home in just three years!
This petite woman -- who stood only 5 feet tall as an adult --
went on to become one of the "Wild West's" biggest celebrities. She
could split the edge of a playing card with her first shot and then
shoot five more holes in that same card before it hit the ground.
In 1881, the spunky little Phoebe competed against a famous
shooter named Frank Butler in a contest near Greenville, Ohio. Now,
Butler was considered one of the top three marksmen in his day, but
he was no match for Phoebe Ann Moses. He lost when he missed his
25th shot, but things still turned out well for him. Frank and
Phoebe began dating, and they married the following year.
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 So she became Phoebe Ann Butler, the greatest American woman to
ever shoot a gun, right?
Wrong. This woman, who would go on to perform with Sitting Bull
and Buffalo Bill, would take a nickname of her own; actually, it was
more of a stage name than a nickname. She took her stage name after
the Cincinnati neighborhood in which she and Frank lived.
Phoebe Moses became known as Annie Oakley.
After they were married, she worked as Frank's assistant in his
show, but they both realized that Annie Oakley had more talent than
he did (their first clue should have been when she beat him in the
shooting match earlier). So he became her assistant.
You've heard the story of William Tell shooting the apple off a
man's head? Well, Annie Oakley once shot a cigarette out of the lips
of Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II, prompting one person to
sarcastically remark that if she had been a worse shot, there might
never have been a World War I.
And what happened with the accusation that she had a cocaine
habit?
Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst published a story
that Annie Oakley was arrested for stealing to pay for cocaine. It
turned out that a burlesque performer was the guilty one and, when
arrested, she told the police that her name was Annie Oakley. When
the real Annie Oakley took Hearst to court and won, he refused to
pay up. She went on to win 54 out of 55 libel suits against
newspapers that reprinted the story.
Why only 54 out of 55? It turns out that Annie Oakley was better
at shooting guns than she was at winning lawsuits.
[Text from file received
from Paul Niemann]
Paul Niemann may be reached at
niemann7@aol.com.
Copyright Paul Niemann 2007
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columns) |
