FACTS ABOUT “LITTLE SURE SHOT”

1. She was born on August 13, 1860 in a log cabin to a poor farm family in Ohio.  Her name was Phoebe Anne Moses.  Her sisters called her Annie and later she took the last name Oakley after a neighboring town.  Her father died at age 6 and she was sent to life in a poor house and later spent two years as a servant to a couple who abused her.  She escaped and returned to her mother and paid off the mortgage by providing game to the local grocery store.
2. While her sisters played with dolls, she would go hunting, at first with her father. Her first remarkable shot was at age 8.  She used her father’s musket to shoot a squirrel in the head.
3. She had developed a reputation by her teens so when the famous marksman Frank Butler came to the area and challenged any local shots, she beat him in a shooting contest. He hit 24 of 25 targets, she hit all 25.  One year later, they were married and stayed that way for 50 years.  When she died at age 66 in 1926, he died three weeks later after refusing to ear any more.
4. Originally, Buffalo Bill passed on hiring her for his Wild West Show because he already had a sharpshooter. When he lost his mojo after his weapons were lost in a steamboat sinking and quit, Cody hired her and Frank in 1885.  She quickly became one of the main attractions and reportedly made more money than any performer besides Buffalo Bill.
5. Sitting Bull was so impressed when he saw her perform, he asked for an autographed photo. This began a long friendship.  He gave her the name “Little Sure Shot”.
6. Here are some of her tricks:

            –  shooting dimes tossed in the air

            –  shooting a cigar from her husband’s lips

            –  cutting a playing card held edge-on at 30 paces

            –  shooting the cork out of a bottle at 90 feet

            –  snuffing out a candle at 90 feet

7. Edison filmed her doing her act for an early film that was shown in nickelodeons.

8. She was also famous in Europe where she performed before kings and queens. She amazed Queen Victoria for her Golden Jubilee.  She supposedly shot the ash off a cigarette held in the lips of Kaiser William II.

9. She sued William Randolph Hearst when his newspapers libeled her by printing articles about a poverty-stricken Oakley stealing a pair of pants to pay for her cocaine addiction. It was actually a burlesque performer who used the name Annie Oakley.  She ended up winning $27,000 from the newspaper tycoon, but it was a matter of principle for her.

10. She cut back after a train accident in 1901. She did some acting, but soon went into comfortable retirement.
11. On April 16, 1922, at age 62 she set a record by hitting 100 clay targets in a row.

https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-annie-oakley

https://www.historynet.com/annie-oakley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Oakley