1
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000
Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

2
00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:16,680
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,

3
00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:20,599
Speaker 1: a show that takes aim at history seven days a week.

4
00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,880
Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Louzier, and in this episode, we're talking about

5
00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:28,680
Speaker 1: a celebrated markswoman known far and wide for her skills

6
00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:40,360
Speaker 1: with a rifle little sure shot, herself, Miss Annie Oakley.

7
00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:48,000
Speaker 1: The day was March five, two. At the Pinehurst Gun

8
00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:52,320
Speaker 1: Club in North Carolina, a famous sharpshooter named Annie Oakley

9
00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,840
Speaker 1: set a new record for women's trap shooting at sixty

10
00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,120
Speaker 1: two years old. It was a late career highlight for

11
00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:02,280
Speaker 1: a woman who had been considered one of the world's

12
00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:07,920
Speaker 1: greatest shooters for nearly fifty years. Phoebe Ann Moses was

13
00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,120
Speaker 1: born in a cabin in Dark County, Ohio, back in

14
00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,240
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty. She was the fifth child of Susan and

15
00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,840
Speaker 1: Jacob Moses, and her four older sisters quickly took to

16
00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:23,480
Speaker 1: calling her Annie. After two more children were born, Jacob

17
00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:28,360
Speaker 1: Moses passed away from pneumonia during a blizzard. Susan remarried,

18
00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:32,480
Speaker 1: but her second husband also passed away after the birth

19
00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:37,000
Speaker 1: of her eighth child. To help the family survive, a

20
00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:41,160
Speaker 1: seven year old Annie started trapping quail and other animals

21
00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,840
Speaker 1: for food. A year later, she made her first shot

22
00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,680
Speaker 1: with a gun when she killed a squirrel for dinner

23
00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,640
Speaker 1: just outside her house in Greenville, Ohio. Her mother was

24
00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:55,240
Speaker 1: understandably mortified when she learned that her eight year old

25
00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:59,000
Speaker 1: daughter had fired a loaded rifle without her knowledge, but

26
00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:02,520
Speaker 1: the squirrel did not go to waste. Annie later said

27
00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,800
Speaker 1: that after her first shot, she was forbidden to touch

28
00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:09,400
Speaker 1: the family rifle for eight months. From then on, though,

29
00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:12,360
Speaker 1: the young girl hunted in the woods of Ohio and

30
00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,600
Speaker 1: sold her kills to a local grocery store that supplied

31
00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:19,840
Speaker 1: hotels and restaurants with meat and Cincinnati. The money she

32
00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,480
Speaker 1: earned was a lifeline for her impoverished family, and they

33
00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:26,280
Speaker 1: were even able to pay off the two mortgage on

34
00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,799
Speaker 1: their cabin. When Annie was fifteen years old, a hotel

35
00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,560
Speaker 1: operator who was familiar with her skill suggested she enter

36
00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:38,720
Speaker 1: a shooting contest in Cincinnati. Her challenger would be a

37
00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:44,000
Speaker 1: traveling professional sharpshooter named Frank Butler. He toward the country,

38
00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,720
Speaker 1: offering a one dollar prize to any local marksman who

39
00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:52,240
Speaker 1: could shoot more clay pigeons than him. Annie was nervous

40
00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:55,519
Speaker 1: to take on such a renowned shooter, not only because

41
00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:59,120
Speaker 1: of her youth, but because she was a girl. After all,

42
00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,400
Speaker 1: target shooting was a predominantly male sport. But in the

43
00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,799
Speaker 1: end she agreed to the match anyway, and on Thanksgiving

44
00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:11,840
Speaker 1: Day in eighteen seventy five, she came to win. Frank

45
00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:15,760
Speaker 1: Butler reportedly laughed when he first saw his opponent. He

46
00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,000
Speaker 1: then proceeded to shoot an impressive twenty four out of

47
00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:25,080
Speaker 1: twenty five targets, presumably still laughing. Then Annie hit all

48
00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:29,200
Speaker 1: twenty five targets and that shut him up. To be fair,

49
00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:32,480
Speaker 1: though Butler took the loss in stride, he didn't throw

50
00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:36,200
Speaker 1: a fit over losing to a teenage girl. Instead, he

51
00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,360
Speaker 1: fell in love with her. The two got married the

52
00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,280
Speaker 1: following year, and they stayed together for the rest of

53
00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:47,920
Speaker 1: their lives, eventually dying just three weeks apart. Shortly after

54
00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:52,120
Speaker 1: the wedding. Annie took the stage name Oakley, allegedly after

55
00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:55,720
Speaker 1: a neighborhood in Cincinnati near her home. She and her

56
00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:01,320
Speaker 1: husband performed in vaudeville shows and circuses around America. Originally,

57
00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:05,400
Speaker 1: Annie was Butler's assistant, but they later switched rolls when

58
00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,720
Speaker 1: it became apparent that a five foot tall female sharpshooter

59
00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:11,960
Speaker 1: was a much bigger draw than he was. As you

60
00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:15,400
Speaker 1: may be aware, the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun

61
00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,920
Speaker 1: was loosely based on the life of Annie Oakley. There

62
00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,200
Speaker 1: are a lot of similarities, but one big difference is

63
00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:25,520
Speaker 1: that Oakley wasn't really a tomboy like she's portrayed in

64
00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:30,200
Speaker 1: the show. She liked emphasizing her femininity and typically wore

65
00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:34,520
Speaker 1: her own homemade costumes on stage. She reportedly had a

66
00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:39,320
Speaker 1: real knack for embroidery. The husband and wife duo continued

67
00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:42,800
Speaker 1: touring for the better part of the next decade, establishing

68
00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:46,320
Speaker 1: a wide and diverse fan base in the process. One

69
00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:51,159
Speaker 1: notable admirer was Sitting Bull, the Lakota sued leader who

70
00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:55,280
Speaker 1: defeated General Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Eight

71
00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:59,040
Speaker 1: years after that victory, Sitting Bull attended one of Annie's

72
00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,560
Speaker 1: exhibitions and st Paul, Minnesota, and he was amazed by

73
00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,800
Speaker 1: her marksmanship. In fact, he was so impressed that he

74
00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:10,440
Speaker 1: later sent sixty five dollars to her hotel, hoping to

75
00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:14,880
Speaker 1: buy an autographed photo. Annie was flattered and decided to

76
00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:18,799
Speaker 1: do the chief one better, As she later recounted, quote,

77
00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,159
Speaker 1: I sent him back his money and a photograph with

78
00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,839
Speaker 1: my love and a message to say I would call

79
00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,600
Speaker 1: the following morning. The old man was so pleased with me,

80
00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,800
Speaker 1: he insisted upon adopting me, and I was then and

81
00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:37,320
Speaker 1: there christened with Tania Cecilia or Little Sure Shot. That

82
00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:40,000
Speaker 1: nickname would stick with her for the rest of her life,

83
00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:43,880
Speaker 1: and her friendship with Sitting Bowl would also continue. A

84
00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:48,560
Speaker 1: year later, in eight five, Annie Oakley joined Buffalo Bill's

85
00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:53,320
Speaker 1: Wild West Show, a famous traveling outdoor show that celebrated

86
00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,599
Speaker 1: life in the American West. Annie was involved with the

87
00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,599
Speaker 1: show pretty much from its start, and according to her,

88
00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:03,799
Speaker 1: the audition process was a breeze. She later said, quote,

89
00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:07,040
Speaker 1: I went right in and did my best before seventeen

90
00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:11,880
Speaker 1: thousand people and was engaged in fifteen minutes. Later that year,

91
00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,640
Speaker 1: Annie and Sitting Bowl reunited when he joined the Wild

92
00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:19,040
Speaker 1: West Show for a four month stint. They became even

93
00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:23,000
Speaker 1: closer friends during that time, with Annie later writing quote,

94
00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,240
Speaker 1: he is a dear, faithful old friend, and I have

95
00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:30,280
Speaker 1: great respect and affection for him. Annie Oakley reached the

96
00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:33,440
Speaker 1: peak of her fame during her seventeen years of touring

97
00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:37,000
Speaker 1: with the Wild West Show, she was so popular that

98
00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,599
Speaker 1: she was given top billing as Miss Annie Oakley, the

99
00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:45,560
Speaker 1: Peerless Lady wing Shot. Her husband, Frank Butler, continued to

100
00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:50,320
Speaker 1: perform alongside her as her assistant. For instance, one popular

101
00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:54,080
Speaker 1: stunt involved Annie shooting a dime out of Butler's outstretched

102
00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,800
Speaker 1: hand or a cigarette from his lips. Some of her

103
00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:01,279
Speaker 1: other feats included using a mirrored shoot a target behind

104
00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:05,240
Speaker 1: her and shooting a playing card from ninety feet away.

105
00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:08,360
Speaker 1: In the latter trick, Butler would toss the playing card

106
00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:10,960
Speaker 1: up into the air and Annie would shoot it five

107
00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:15,240
Speaker 1: times or more before it hit the ground. That popular

108
00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:18,960
Speaker 1: display eventually led to the use of Annie Oakley as

109
00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,920
Speaker 1: a slang term for a free ticket to an event.

110
00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:27,080
Speaker 1: Why because in those days, free admission tickets had holes

111
00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,240
Speaker 1: punched in them to keep the ticket seller from selling

112
00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:34,280
Speaker 1: them to someone else. To this day, some people still

113
00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:38,520
Speaker 1: refer to complimentary tickets as Annie Oakley's, whether they have

114
00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:42,360
Speaker 1: holes punched in them or not. Annie and her husband

115
00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:46,280
Speaker 1: traveled all over the US with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show,

116
00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:50,480
Speaker 1: but they also followed it to Europe on occasion. For example,

117
00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:54,720
Speaker 1: in eight seven, they performed in London for Queen Victoria's

118
00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:58,920
Speaker 1: Golden Jubilee, and three years later they performed in Berlin

119
00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,960
Speaker 1: for Kaiser Wilhelm the Second, the last German Emperor and

120
00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:07,680
Speaker 1: King of Prussia. Allegedly, the Kaiser even volunteered to be

121
00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,200
Speaker 1: in the show, resulting in Annie shooting a cigarette out

122
00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,440
Speaker 1: of his hand, a brave move on both their parts.

123
00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:19,320
Speaker 1: After returning to the States, Annie and Butler continued touring,

124
00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:23,120
Speaker 1: although with less frequency. After a train wreck in n

125
00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:26,760
Speaker 1: O One injured Annie's back, the couple decided to hang

126
00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:29,400
Speaker 1: up their rifles for a while and take it easy.

127
00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:34,240
Speaker 1: Fifteen years later, they moved to Pinehurst, North Carolina, where

128
00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:36,880
Speaker 1: they joined the staff of the Carolina Hotel and the

129
00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:42,080
Speaker 1: Pinehurst Gun Club. There, Annie gave shooting lessons and exhibitions

130
00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,520
Speaker 1: twice a week. It was during one of those demonstrations,

131
00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:50,760
Speaker 1: on March five, two, that Annie broke all existing records

132
00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:55,040
Speaker 1: for women's trap shooting. If you're unfamiliar with the term,

133
00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:59,079
Speaker 1: trap shooting refers to a kind of competitive target shooting.

134
00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:02,360
Speaker 1: It was originally developed is a way for bird hunters

135
00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:05,960
Speaker 1: to practice without the need for live birds. This is

136
00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:10,000
Speaker 1: why the clay disc targets are sometimes called clay pigeons,

137
00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:14,400
Speaker 1: a close cousin of skeet shooting. Trap shooting is set

138
00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:17,920
Speaker 1: apart by its use of a single trap or machine

139
00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:22,000
Speaker 1: to launch the targets. In skeet shooting, targets are launched

140
00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:24,760
Speaker 1: from two machines, one on the left and one on

141
00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:27,719
Speaker 1: the right, and then the targets intersect in front of

142
00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:32,400
Speaker 1: the shooter. However, in trap shooting, a single target is

143
00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:35,920
Speaker 1: launched forward, away from the shooter and is meant to

144
00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,080
Speaker 1: be hit as it rises into the air. At the

145
00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:44,000
Speaker 1: trap shooting demonstration on March five, Annie Oakley hit out

146
00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,480
Speaker 1: of one hundred clay targets from a distance of sixteen

147
00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:51,640
Speaker 1: yards or fourteen and a half meters. She reportedly hit

148
00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:54,959
Speaker 1: the first fifty with no problem at all, but then

149
00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:59,080
Speaker 1: missed the fifty onest and sixty seven targets before finishing

150
00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:03,400
Speaker 1: strong with an their thirty three consecutive hits. It's worth

151
00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:07,160
Speaker 1: noting that some sources claim Annie hit all one hundred

152
00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:10,560
Speaker 1: targets that day, but whether it was eight or the

153
00:10:10,559 --> 00:10:13,280
Speaker 1: full one hundred, it was better than any woman had

154
00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:15,840
Speaker 1: ever done in the history of the sport, which was

155
00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:19,280
Speaker 1: a little over a century old at that point. Annie

156
00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:21,880
Speaker 1: was clearly still at the top of her game in

157
00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:25,760
Speaker 1: her early sixties, and after that performance, many expected her

158
00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:30,720
Speaker 1: to make a comeback and maybe even announce a new tour. Unfortunately,

159
00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:34,200
Speaker 1: that wasn't meant to be, as later that summer, she

160
00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:38,199
Speaker 1: and her husband were in a serious car crash in Florida.

161
00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,319
Speaker 1: Annie fractured her hip and ankle and had to wear

162
00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:45,559
Speaker 1: a leg brace for the next four years. In six

163
00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:48,840
Speaker 1: she and her husband moved back to Ohio, and on

164
00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:53,800
Speaker 1: November three that year, Annie passed away from pernicious anemia

165
00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:58,719
Speaker 1: at the age of sixty six. Frank Butler died eighteen

166
00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:02,120
Speaker 1: days later, and the couple was buried together in the

167
00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:07,040
Speaker 1: Moses family plot. Not everyone is a fan of guns

168
00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:09,840
Speaker 1: like Annie Oakley was, but it's hard not to be

169
00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:13,559
Speaker 1: impressed by someone who honed a skill out of necessity

170
00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:16,880
Speaker 1: and then turned it into a lifelong career that entertained

171
00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:20,800
Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of people. There's also something to be

172
00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,960
Speaker 1: said for Annie's advocacy. To be clear, she wasn't a suffragette.

173
00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:27,440
Speaker 1: She actually said at one point that it would be

174
00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:31,240
Speaker 1: fine with her if quote only the good women voted.

175
00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:35,360
Speaker 1: But Annie Oakley did campaign for equal pay for equal

176
00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:38,680
Speaker 1: work throughout her lifetime, and she was a vocal supporter

177
00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:43,120
Speaker 1: of women participating in traditionally male dominated fields such as

178
00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:47,960
Speaker 1: sports and the military. Thanks to her, future generations grew

179
00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:50,520
Speaker 1: up knowing that women could be a crack shot with

180
00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:55,680
Speaker 1: a rifle just as well or even better than a man. Hopefully, though,

181
00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:58,959
Speaker 1: those girls waited until they were a little older than

182
00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:04,679
Speaker 1: eight to find that out for themselves. I'm gay, Bluesier,

183
00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:08,320
Speaker 1: and hopefully you now know a little more about history

184
00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:12,000
Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. If you want to keep

185
00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,160
Speaker 1: up with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook,

186
00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:19,480
Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d I HC Show, and if

187
00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:22,400
Speaker 1: you have any comments or suggestions, you can always send

188
00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,600
Speaker 1: them my way at this Day at I heart media

189
00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:29,440
Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks as always to Chandler Mays for producing

190
00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:32,480
Speaker 1: the show, and a special thanks to Joey pat our

191
00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:36,080
Speaker 1: guest editor for this episode, and of course thank you

192
00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:39,440
Speaker 1: for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for

193
00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:49,600
Speaker 1: another day in History class. For more podcasts from I

194
00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:52,439
Speaker 1: Heeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or

195
00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:54,080
Speaker 1: where every listen to your favorite shows