Show 1 1 proposed memorial to annie oakley fails but she remains enshrined in hearts H ea arts of thousands of americans by E ELMO 1510 SCOTT WATSON released by western newspaper paper union RESS dispatches recently PRESS carried the news of an unsuccessful effort by the greenville ohio historical society to convert the early homo home of annie oakle oakley y into a shrine in her memory the place a 10 acre far farm M near greenville was ost lost through lack of funds and has now become private property but oven even though the plan to malta make a public shrine of this home failed it will malta make no difference so far ns as the abul preservation of the memory of annie oakley Is concerned F for or long ago she was en an shrines in the hearts of innumerable americans and her place there is secure long before the movies made mary pickford americas sweetheart that title had been won by annie oakley and an d in the minds of many she never surrendered it to any successor born on august 13 1868 1866 in patterson township darke county ohio a short distance df distance stance from tho the village once known as woodland but now called willowdell Wll Wil lowdell sho she was c christened phoebe anno anne oakley mozee but she was destined de to make the shortened form of her name annie oakley known throughout tho the world for sho she became little miss sure shot undoubtedly the greatest markswoman in history A modern cinderella but there was more to her fame than her skill with a rifle to give her the place in the hearts of young america which she once held her life story was a combination cinderella fairy atory frontier melodrama but a clean melodrama and a sort of female horatio alger rise to fame yarn the cinderella part of it began in that little log cabin in darke county where lived jake mozee and his wife whom as a 12 year old child he had rescued from a brutal stepfather in pennsylvania he had given her a home his sister and after marrying her when she was 15 set out with her to make a new home in the ohio country in this new home moice and his wife fought a constant battle with privation and poverty then mozee returning from the mill was frozen to death in a blizzard a and nd upon the mother feu fell the whole task of providing tor for her seven children at the age of six annie began helping fill the family larder by trapping quail and a few years later she had made the first start star t on the rifle career that was to make her famous one of the few possessions which jake mozee had brought with him from pennsylvania was a 40 inch cap and ball kentucky rifle which hung over the fl fireplace replace but which had never been used because mozee was a quaker with the quaker prejudice against firearms the tomboy annie however did not share that prejudice sho she saw in the weapon an instrument for getting more food for her brothers and sisters and finally gained her mothers reluctant consent but the beginning of her career as a marks markswoman was soon interrupted she went to the county infirmary to get the chance to attend school and while there a stranger appeared and offered to take one of the girls at the infirmary to work for her board and keep annie was the girl selected and in the home of this man began her cinderella existent ente e the man was a brute and his wife a virago annie was held as a virtual slave subjected to all sorts of cruel treatment once when she fell asleep over a basket of mending the woman threw her out into a snowstorm half naked after two years of this existence she finally and ve turned home theae jhc thc e she continued her former role of provider for the family with the rifle ride and thus laid the foundation for the marvelous skill which was to make her world famous news of her skill spread throughout darke county and even to cincinnati where hotel keepers had been buying the game which she killed when annie was 15 there come came to cincinnati the ilia far famed team of butler and company performing deeds of 0 daring and dexterity with firearms seldom om exhibited before the eyes of an audience As a publicity stunt F rank frank F butler was accustomed to issue a challenge to all ome omers t to 0 a shooting tg match the ch challenge was up by one of annies ping patrons who pro pre 77 4 45 1 11 V I 1 I 1 X i 0 X y N wi P 9 IL R b ra IM X annie oakley in action AS sharpshooter upon her to shoot against the professional tho the girl not only won the match but also won the beati ot of frank butler and a year or so later they were married she began taking part in her husbands act and for some time they were billed as butler and oakley then butler who was a skillful showman began giving his wife more and more of the limelight and pushing himself more and more into tho the background within a short time she was a noted figure in the eastern theaters at ono one time while they were playing in st paul a delegation of sioux indians who on their way to washington tor for a conference with the great white father attended tho the theater where butler and oakley were presenting their act one ot of the delegation was the famous sitting bull who gave evidence ot of hi his s approval of the girls marksmanship with many man a wastel wast cis good finally as she performed her most difficult feat that of shooting the end from a cigarette held between the teeth of her husband sitting bull arose in great excitement shouting latanya Wa tanya cicilian Cic little sure shot little sure shot was wag the name of one of his daughters who had died and so greatly was he impressed with annie oakless Oak leys prowess that he sent an interpreter to her after the show and x ON r 0 I 1 I 1 6 t i N i K M 5 sitting mill bull chief of the sioux X who named annie oakley lit little e sure shot and adopted ber a as s his daughter asked permission to adopt her as his daughter she consented and the ceremony took place vt at the hotel after that managers were more eager than ever to book the act of sitting bulls adopted in the meantime col W F cody buffalo bill had organ organized his wild west show but the first year had been almost a failure while it was playing in new orleans frank butler and annie oakley who were then traveling with a circus visited the show and decided that they would prefer being n part of t this his outfit than of the circus cody could not afford to pay the salary that butler asked so nothing came of it at the time but the next year their trails crossed again agnin at louisville ky and note nate salsbury buffalo bills partner who happened to be passing by while annie and her husband were rehearsing their act was so impressed by it and its possibilities as a part of his show that he hired them on an the spot so in the year 1885 annie oakley joined the buffalo bill wild west show and there began that series of amazing triumphs which this former ohio walf was to share with one of the greatest figures the show w world orld has ever known it was through her influence that another feature was added to the show how which greatly enhanced its popularity for home bome time buffalo bill had been trying to induce sitting bull to join his company but tile the old sioux leader steadfastly refused after annie joined the show cody tried again ho he sent an interpreter to sitting buu bull with tho the word that latanya Wa tanya ciculla Cic CIcI llla lIall was with his show and wanted sitting bull to join also there was no further argument sitting bull came forthwith 1 and the crowds which turned out to see the reputed leader af v the indians at thebus the custer battle the great buffalo hunter and the great markswoman increased at every city in which the show appeared after a successful season of on staten island and in madison square garden new york buffalo bill began looking around for new worlds to conquer he found it first in england where he took his show on the oc occasion caslon of queen victorias jubilee in london it was during this engagement that annie won her famous shooting match with the grand duke michael of russia a match which had been arranged by the prince of wales later edward VII two years yeara later buff buffalo alo bills wild west show was showing in paris cody had met with financial reverses and he hoped to recoup his losses in the french capital but on the grand opening day with the president of france and other high officials present it soon became apparent that the show was doomed to be a flop the french simply get the meaning of it all the bucking horses the mimic warfare between the cowboys and the indians whom incidentally they thought were takes fakes but when annie oakley gave her exhibition of marksmanship then it was different he here re was something they could understand and she was given an ovation that a queen might bo be thrilled over for the french had never se seen en such shooting as this here are a few of the stunts stuna that she performed in shooting clay pigeons she stood 20 feet back of the traps started with the pulling i of the trap ran the 20 feet pick picked e d up her gun and broke the pigeon while it was still in the air using three double shotguns she broke six glass balls thrown into the air at once she shot a dime from between her husbands thumb and forefinger at 30 paces perhaps the most famous of her stunts was that of shooting the ashes from a cigarette in the mouth of kaiser wilhelm then th the crown prince of germany had her aim been a little less true the world war might never have been fought 1 tragedy comes again annie oakley ended her career with the buffalo bill show in 1901 then tragedy came into her life again on the last journey of the season the show train was wrecked in north carolina annie oakley was desperately injured but the same courage that had always carried her through every emergency carried her through five operations and years of agony although the doctors had said she could never handle a gun again she staged a 0 comeback ond and at pinehurst N C in april 1922 she broke clay targets straight shooting from 16 yards annie oakley had many other interests besides her shooting she was probably the first advocate of the one piece bathing suit for women coming out for it as early as 1894 although at one time she was making 1000 a week a large salary in those days her estate at the time of tier her death was comparatively small perhaps the fact that she supported and educated an adopted family of 18 children as well as giving generously to many charities had something to do with the small smallness nes of her estate she died in the home of friends in greenville on november 3 1026 1926 her husband frank butler was seriously ill in a hospital in detroit at the time and lie he died 20 days later they are both buried in a cemetery noar near brock ohio where stands a simple monument with this inscription annie oakley 1020 I 1 t rest |