Annie Oakley Scrapbook

The Spirit of the Times

Annie Oakley, the champion shot of Buffalo Bill's show, has made a sensation in Rotten Row by her cool, comfortable and handsome riding costume. A lady writes to the Society Times to urge English women to adopt this improved habit, and says that Miss Oakley rides as well as she shoots.

PRICE 3 PENCE

THE RIFLE QUEEN, ANNIE OAKLEY.

"Little Sure-Shot."

LIFE, FEATS, EXPLOITS, ADVENTURES HUNTING WONDERFUL DEAD-SHOT ON THE WING AND RUN.

of Wild West Exhibition. LONDON; THE GENERAL PUBLISHING Co, 280, STRAND, wc

THE BAT. OCT. 4, 1887.

THE inhabitants of West Kensington do not look upon the Wild West as a rose fallen from Heaven, and are signing a strong petition praying that the music licence may not be renewed. They plead that the entire neighbourhood has been ruined socially and financially (if that were possible) ; that dissolute roughs and drunken idlers swarm together ; that residents' houses are continually peppered with shot and fragments of glass balls ; that house property has fallen in value, and that the increase of traffic at late hours disturbs their rest. They consequently say that if the present Exhibition, "or any other objectionable entertainment, be continued after October," it will force many of the better class of residents to leave the neighbourhood. It would be a pity if such trifling matters should compel us to forego the delights which civilisation experiences at seeing Miss Annie Oakley perform with her rifle.

THE SPORTSMAN'S JOURNA

Miss Annie Oakley is shooting in fine form now. In a match the other day she killed 22 blue rocks out of 25, using a twenty-bore hammerless, at 24 yards rise, loading with 3/4 ounces of shot and Schultze powder. Previous to the match she won three out of five sweepstakes, killing 36 out of 41 shot at. A match is on the tapis, a gentleman betting $500 that Miss Oakley cannot kill 40 blue rocks out of 50, 25 yards rise, 5 traps, he to find birds. The match will probably take place at some private grounds, and is causing a good deal of speculation, as the party who is backing the birds is a well-known sportsman and knows what he is talking about when he talks shoot ; but Miss Oakley will do it and I hope to be able to send you a full report.

Barrhead Independent

BARRHEAD, JULY 30, 1887.

Amongst the skilled in arms of precision, a very popular performance was given by Miss Annie Oakley, who at "wing shooting" would make a formidable antagonist Colonel Carver, a wellknown mechanical shot.

This celebrated girl-shot, we find, was born at Woodland, Darke County Ohio, August 13, 1866. Ever since a toddling child she has had an inherent love for fire-arms and hunting, and at the age of ten she, as often as ammunition was obtainable, would smuggle her brother's musket and steal into the woods, where game, at that time, was plentiful. Naturally she was a good shot, and came home well supplied with game. At the age of twelve she was presented with a 14-gauge muzzle-loading shot-gun. With this she improved rapidly, and became such a fine shot that she rarely missed quail or pheasant; and at the age of fourteen she had paid off a mortgage on her father's homestead with money earned from the sale of game and skins, shot and trapped by herself alone. Then came a local reputation, and with improved firearms she attracted wider notice. For the past five years she has been shooting before the public with great success; though, like the modest little girl she is, she never laid claim to being a champion, yet in 1883-84 Richard K. Fox, of New York, had so much confidence in her ability that he offered to back her against any other so called champion. Sitting Bull, the great Indian chief, after seeing her shoot in St. Paul, Minn., adopted her in the Sioux tribe, giving her the name of "Watanya Cicila," or Little Sure Shot.

The first two years before the public she devoted to rifle and pistol-shooting, and there is very little in that line she has not accomplished. At Tiffio, Ohio, she once shot a ten-cent ppiece held between the thumb and forefinger of an attendant, at a distance of 30 feet. In April, 1884, she attempted to beat the best record made at balls thrown in the air, using a 22-cal. rifle. The best record was 979, made by Dr. Ruth. Miss Oakley used a Stevens 22-cal. rifle, and broke 943. Her first attempt at clay pigeon and trap shooting was made about three years ago, in Cincinnati, shooting with such fine shots as Bandle, M'Murchy, and other noted shots. In February, 1885, she attempted the feat of shooting at 5000 balls in one day, loading the guns herself. In this feat she used three 16-gauge hammer guns. The balls were thrown straight away from three traps, fifteen yards rise. Out of the 5000 shot at, she broke 4772. Of the second thousand she only missed 16, making the best 1000 ball record - 984. This feat was accomplished near Cincinnati, Ohio, in less than nine hours.

Besides the thousands of exhibitions she has given, she has shot in thirty-one matches and tournaments, winning twenty-five prizes. Her collection of medals and fire-arms, all of which have been won or presented to her, is considered the finest in America.

She has hunted in many of the game sections of America and Canada, and says, with a pardonable pride, that she has shot quail in Virginia, ducks in Illinois, prairie chickens in Kansas, and deer in northern Michigan. Her style and position at the trap is considered perfection by such critics as Budd, Stice, Erb, Bogardus, Cody, Carver, and the English champions, Graham and Price. Shooting clay pigeons her best record is 23 out of 25, made in a match for $100.

That she understands how to manage a horse, the will show: - In the fall of '84, a gentleman near Greenville, Ohio, who owned a valuable but vicious and unbroken horse, told her he would give her the animal if she could ride him in less than three days; and without any assitance she broke him in the saddle, and has since used him when not engaged, sometimes riding as high as fifty miles in one day. At the fair at Newton, N. J., she proved herself to be at home in the saddle by winning four out of five half-mile races, although the horse she rode was selling for third place. What makes Miss Oakley's feats more surprising is the fact that she is small in stature and weighs only 110 pounds.