Annie Oakley Scrapbook

ENGLISH SHOOTING NOTES.

London, England.

EDITOR AMERICAN FIELD:-On September 21 a party of shooters from the United States started to have a little sport at the inclosed grounds of Mr. T. Brown, at Munhead. The day was miserably chilly and a stiff wind blew-which made it very disagreeable. The following were present: Mr. S. K. Hindley, manager Bullard Repeating Arms Co., Springfield, Mass.; Miss Annie Oakley, the wonderful lady shot; Mr. Frank C. Butler, T. T. Cartwright, Mr. T. Brown and Master Tommy Brown, aged nine years.

The shooting commenced with Miss Oakley shooting a match at 25 starlings, which left the trap as if they had a special agreement to beat the telegraph. Miss Oakley was not in as good form as usual and that with the cold raw day and high wind made shooting very difficult. Miss Oakley succeeded in grassing 18 out of 25, using her 20-gauge gun with 3/4 ounce shot, at 25 yards, from five traps, five yards apart, Hurlingham rules. The outcome of this match is that Miss Oakley is backed to kill 40 blue rocks out of 50 at 25 yards rise, 5 traps, 5 yards apart. The birds will be the best that money can buy and the little wonder will have all her work cut out; but her friends are very sanguine she will accomplish the task and some heavy bets have already been made.

A team match was shot, the contestants being Miss Oakley and T. T. Cartwright against Messrs. Brown and Butler. After a very exciting contest Miss Oakley's team won. Mr. Brown then backed himself to kill eight out of ten, but failed, only grassing seven, two of the others dropping dead out of bounds, and the third the retriever ran out of bounds and caught less than two yards from the line. He shot at 28 yards rise. Master Tommy Brown gave an exhibition of his prowess with a gun, using a .410 bore. The objects were glass balls, thrown in the air about ten yards. He succeeded in breaking ten out of twelve. Mr. Hindley then threw up a penny, when the nine-year-old at the first shot sent it spinning into the air with seven shot marks on it. A six-penny silver piece was then thrown up and after two or three attempts Master Tommy also sent that flying. When it is known that a six-pence is the size of a ten-cent piece, it will be seen that Master Tommy is quite a shot.

Miss Oakley is meeting with a great deal of success, socially, here, and several titled ladies are very apt pupils of hers at shotgun shooting. Miss Oakley will go to Germany as soon as her engagement her closes. She has also had very flattering offers from France and Spain and it is highly probable that her many admirers in the United States will not have the chance of seeing her again for a year or more.

It is with great pleasure that I can announce that Buck Taylor, the king of cowboys, has so far recovered from his accident as to be able to appear in the saddle once more at the Wild West show. He received a perfect ovation on his first appearance in the arena after his serious accident and when one of the squaws had the misfortune to fall off her horse, Buck was the first at hand to help her up and such an ovation as he received when he dismounted and assisted her to remount I never witnessed.

T. T. CARTWRIGHT

SHOOTING

182, STRAND, LONDON, NOVEMBER 16, 1887

MISS ANNIE OAKLEY'S GUNS.

SIR, -- I should like to ask Mr. Charles Lancaster why he did not do himself and Miss Oakley more justice than by building her a pair of 20-bores, when it was in his power to have given her something far more effective?

Your remarks on the inadequacy of so small a charge as 2 1/2 drs. and 3/4 oz. of shot for pigeon shooting, to compete on equal terms with 12-bore guns, are perfectly correct, though I should scarcely have expected them; but I fail to see why Mr. Lancaster should have thus handicapped Miss Oakley by compelling her unnecessarily to use them.

You remark on the "difficulty with which Mr. Lancaster has had to contend in building guns for a girl of eight stones weight," and you might have added, "and he has increased the difficulty by the resolution that they shall be 20-bore guns."

Seeing that guns are now advertised of 4 1/2 lbs. weight, and 12-bore, shooting 3 drs. and 1 1/8 oz. of shot, I confess it puzzles me why Mr. Lancaster should have gone out of his way to give Miss Oakley guns a full 1 lb. heavier, of inferior bore, and shooting a far inferior charge. With those light 12-bores, and their charge, she could have competed with other 12-bore on equal footing, and her shooting would not then have been open to the charge of cruelty under which it at present would seem to lie in your estimation, by using so small a charge at 25 yds.

CIGAR.

THE SPRINGFIELD DAILY [UNION?]

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1887.

AN EXPERT MARKSWOMAN.

REMARKABLE PERFORMANCES OF MISS ANNIE OAKLEY,

A Young American Girl Who is Creating a Furore Among the Crack Rifle Shots of England—Some Account of Her Feats—Coming to Springfield in 1888.

Miss Annie Oakley, the celebrated woman shot, whose picture we publish with this sketch, was born at Woodland, Darke county, O., August 13, 1866. Ever since a mere child she has been an inherent lover of firearms and hunting. At the age of 10 years she 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 12 she was presented with a small bore, muzzle loading shotgun. With this she improved rapidly and became such a fine shot that she rarely missed quail or pheasant. At the age of 14 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 fire arms she attracted wider notice. For the past six 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—4 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, gave 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 [Griffin?], O., she once shot a 10 cent piece 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 caliber rifle. The best record was 979 made by Dr. Ruth. Miss Oakley used a Stevens 22 caliber rifle and broke 943. Her first attempt at clay pigeons and trap shooting was about three years ago in Cincinnati, O., shooting with such fine shots as Banale, McMurchy 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 15 yards rise. Out of the 5000 shot at, she broke 4772. On the second thousand, she only missed 16, making the best 1000 ball record, 984. This feat was accomplished near Cincinnati, in less than nine hours. Besides the thousands of exhibitions she has given she has shot in over 40 matches and tournaments, winning prizes in all but six. Her collection of medals, cups, works of art and fire arms, which she has won or had presented to her, is considered the finest in America. Among them is the London, Eng., gun club medal, presented to Miss Oakley in May of this year, by the club in appreciation of the exhibition she gave before the club at the club grounds at Wormwood Scubs. The medal cost $250. Another medal which Miss Oaklely prizes highly is the one presented by Charles Lancaster, the noted gunmaker of London, on the occasion of her killing 41 blue rocks out of a possible 50, a feat uneualed, as Miss Oakley was using a 20 gauge gun and stood 25 yards. Another badge is one presented to Miss Oakley previous to her leaving New York for England by her women admirers for her fine riding, picking up a pocket handkerchief from the ground, the horse going at full gallop. 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 Nothern 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, she has a record of 96 out of 100. At live pigeons her best record is 23 out of 25 in America, and 41 out of 50 in England. It must be remembered that 41 out of 50 of the English birds is considered an extraordinary score, as English blue rocks are very swift flyers and are small birds. The 23 out of 25 was in a match for $100, and the 41 out of 50 was in a match for $500, a well known trap show matching 35 birds against Miss Oakley, the match being shot September 30 last, at Charles Lancaster's grounds at Willesden, London, T.T. Cartwright of this city being appointed referee.

Miss Oakley is now giving exhibitions with the Wild West show at the American exhibition and is one of the taking cards of the show. She is a great favorite with the English people, her private tent in the camp being crowded from morning to night. Her tent is kept well supplied with the choicest bouquets from her admirers of both sexes. On August 13, which was her 21st birthday, Miss Oakley recieved no less than 67 very nice presents, among them being a photograph of Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales, send by the princess herself. It is seldom a day passes but that Miss Oakley is invited to some reception, dinner or party. Miss Oakley is now using a pair of 20-bore hammerless shot guns and a 12-gauge, also hammerless, made by Charles Lancaster of London. These guns were specially made for Miss Oakley after experimenting to see just what suited her. The stocks are a great deal straighter than the American gun stocks and are made in every way just as she wanted them. The 20-gauge weigh five pounds two ounces each and are magnificent weapons. The charge used in 35 grains of Schultze powder and three-fourths of an ounce of shot. The following is the socre of the 50 shot match. Steptember 30:

1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1—8 1 0 1* 1 1 1 1* 1 1* 1*—9 1 1 1* 0 1—4 1 1 1 1 1 1* 0 1 0 0—7 1 0 1 1* 0 1 1 1 1 1—8 1* 1* 1 1* 1—5

Total 41

[* Denotes both barrels fired.]

Miss Oakley is recieving a great deal of praise in the newspapers of England as well as this country, and a few of the English comments are given to show how completely she has won the hearts of the sport loving Englishmen:

The highest complement we can pay this little lady is to say she can ride as well as she can shoot.—Society Times, June 22.

Exhibitions of schooting were given by Buffalo Bill, Miss Annie Oakley, and Miss Lillian Smith. Miss Oakley being far and away the best show.—Evening News, May 10.

November 30, 1887.

The applause of the evening, however, is reserved for Miss Annie Oakley, becasue her shooting is clever, precise and dramatic.—The Referee, May 10.

Miss Oakley undoubtedly made the hit of the show.—The Era, May 16.

Miss Oakely was then presented to Her Majesty: she made the prettiest of bows and then scampered off.—Daily Telegraph, May 12

Miss Oakley has accepted a three months' engagement in Germany after the close of her engagement with the Wild West in London. She has also offers from Monaco, France and Brighton, Eng., which will keep her in Europe for a year longer. She has also recieved some very good offers to make a tour of this country on her return.

Miss Oakley has promised to give one of her first exhibitions in this city on her re-turn, and is backed to shoot a 100 shot match against a well known sportsman of this city September 30, 1888. That Miss Oakley will meet with a grand reception from the sportsman of this city there is not doubt. The Bullard Repeating Arms company has recently shipped to England for Miss Oakley one of its finest rifles, and is now making her a repeating shot gun on its repeating rifle system to use in her fancy shooting exhibitions.

MISS ANNIE OAKLEY.

An interesting ceremony took place on Saturday, the 29th October, in Miss Oakley's tent at the "Wild West Exhibition," when Mr. Withers, on behalf of the Schultze Gunpowder Company, Limited, presented that lady with a gold medal commemorative of her stay in England. Mr. Withers said his visit was one in which pain and pleasure were involved—pain in having to bid Miss Oakley farewell, pleasure in handing her a token of appreciation from the Company he represented, which he hoped she would accept, with best wishes for her happiness and success "in storm or in sunshine, on land or by sea." Miss Oakley, with a grace peculiarly her own, expressed herself as being very proud of the gift, which she would much value, and desired Mr. Withers would thank his Company for her. She added, with much naiveté, that had she not found "Schultze" powder to be the best powder she had ever used it would have found no favour with her. The medal, which is of pure gold, is suspended by a colored ribbon from a clasp and bar, is circular in form with a cable edging and bears, in blue enamel, the Company's Trade Mark, a close hand grasping lightning, with the motto "Inter fulminasecurus." Pendant from the medal is a smaller one of like pattern with the monogram A.O. likewise in enamel, on the obverse of the large medal in the inscription "Presented by the Schultze Gunpowder Company, Limited, to Miss Annie Oakley, as a souvenir of her visit to England, and in appreciation of her skill in the use of Schultze Powder.—October, 1887." Messrs. Hunt & Roskell, the eminent jewellers in New Bond Street, executed the work from an original design. The style was very highly approved, one very charming lady, a visitor and friend of Miss Oakley, describing it as "perfect, and very artistic." This opinion, emanating, as it subsequently transpried from an artist, was regarded as most gratifying.