Title: Untitled [Under Frankey's guidance, I made my way]

Periodical: London Evening News

Date: April 19, [1887]

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London Evening News

April 19th

Under Frankey's guidance, I made my way through further rows of neat tents, until we arrived at that inhabited by Miss Annie Oakley, the champion lady shot of America. This young lady is possessed of a decidedly pretty and winsome face, of sweet and gentle manners, and a soft, girlish voice. Having been formerly introduced, Miss Oakley proceeded to give me a few particulars of her life and adventures.

AN AMAZONIAN RIFLE SHOOTER.

"I am about twenty years of age," said this young Amazon, "and have been fond of shooting from the time I was a toddling mite. At the age of twelve I was presented with a fourteen-guage muzzle-loading shot-gun. With this I practised all day long, and became so good a shot that by the time I had reached the age of fourteen I had paid off a mortgage on my father's homestead with money earned from the sale of game and skins, shot and trapped entirely by myself. Once at a place called Tiffin, in Ohio, I shot a ten-cent. piece, held between the thumb and forefinger of an attendant, at a distance of 30 feet. In 1884 I 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. I used a Stevens 22-cal. rifle, and broke 944. A few months after this I attempted the feat of shooting at 5,000 balls in one day, loading the guns myself. I used three 16-guage hammer guns. The balls were thrown straight away from the three traps, fifteen yards rise. Out of the 5,000 shot at I broke 4,772. On the second thousand I only missed 16, making the best 1,000 ball record—984. I took nine hours to do the whole thing. I have shot in many thousands of exhibitions, in thirty-one matches and tournaments, and have won twenty-five prizes. In shooting clay pigeons I have recorded ninety-six out of one hundred, in live pigeons twenty-three out of twenty-five, and I have received congratulations from Budd, Stice, Erb, Bogardus, Cody, Carver, and the English champions, Graham and Price."

Miss Oakley having kindly showed me her numerous costly medals, of which she possesses quite a magnificent collection, and having assured me that she does not claim any championship, but looks upon her skill merely as a matter of dollars and cents, Frankey White bore me off to other camp. En route for the stables

Note: Date may be 1887 or 1888. Newspaper article is incomplete and truncated; composed of cropped portions.

Title: Untitled [Under Frankey's guidance, I made my way]

Periodical: London Evening News

Source: Buffalo Bill Center of the West; MS6, William F. Cody collection, MS6.3681.003.07 (Oakley scrapbook)

Date: April 19, [1887]

Topic: Buffalo Bill's Wild West in Britain

Keywords: Firearms Interviews Muzzle-loading firearms Rifles Sharpshooters Shooting contests Shotguns Targets (Shooting) Traveling exhibitions

People: Oakley, Annie, 1860-1926

Sponsor: This project is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Geraldine W. & Robert J. Dellenback Foundation.

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