Annie

Please move Annie along, let's see how far she can go!

In keeping with the Carnival theme - meet Annie - in honor of Annie Oakley - Trick Shooter

By the time she was a teen, Phoebe Ann Moses' shooting skills were so advanced that she was putting them on public display to help her beloved mother pay off her mortgage. In 1875, Moses bested celebrated marksman Frank E. Butler in a shooting competition, and not long after, these rivals wed. In the 1880s, Moses took the stage name Annie Oakley and began touring professionally with her husband, and in 1885, she joined Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, where she performed for 15 years as a top attraction.

One of her most popular stunts was shooting the lit tip off a cigarette being held in her husband's lips. She even performed this trick for Kaiser Wilhelm II, with the King of Prussia taking Butler's place. Her fame brought her grand introductions to royals and world leaders like Queen Victoria and Sitting Bull, who gave her the name "Little Sure Shot."

By the time World War I rolled around, Oakley had retired. She sought to organize a group of female shootists to form a special sharpshooting unit, but her petition was ignored. It's also said that she reached out to Wilhelm II, asking pointedly for a second shot; that request too went ignored. Finally, Oakley turned her efforts into raising money for the Red Cross. When she passed away in 1926, the whole of America mourned the loss of this iconic cowgirl.

Puchko, K. (2019). 15 Phenomenal Female Circus Performers. [online] Mentalfloss.com. Available at: http://mentalfloss.com/article/62176/15-phenomenal-female-circus-performers [Accessed 14 May 2019].