Lou’s View

By Lou Bernard

So, in September of 1908 Phoebe Ann Moses came to Lock Haven.

If you’re impressed by that already, I never want to play Trivial Pursuit with you. If you need clarification, read on.
Phoebe Ann Moses was born on August 13, 1860. As she grew up, she practiced with her rifle and got famous for her impressive aim. She worked with Buffalo Bill, creating a show with her trick shooting, even performing in front of King Edward of England once. Along the way, at some point, she switched to her stage name: Annie Oakley.

The headline in the Clinton Republican on September 14, 1908, advertised an upcoming event: “Annie Oakley To Be Here On Saturday, September 24.” She’d been booked to give a free show at a local gun club, the Hill Top Grounds. The show was sponsored by DuPont Gunpowder, which played nicely into the theme.

Annie Oakley showed up at 2:30 on the 24th, on the same day as a small forest fire nearby. With a typical disregard for disaster from that era, the forest fire was mostly ignored. Buildings were burning down every hour on the hour back then anyway, so what was one more? The Clinton Republican made a comment that the smoke might interfere with visibility on the shooting range, which had been set up with a hundred targets for a shooting competition, in which Annie was to take part.

“The pall of smoke and haze caused by the forest fires raging throughout the section made it extremely hard to locate the targets,” lamented the newspaper.

Annie arrived with her husband, Frank Butler, and at one point demonstrated her skill by shooting a cigarette out of his mouth. This also demonstrated that either they had a very, very solid marriage, or Annie considered a slight error during a show to be cheaper than a divorce.

“Her feats cannot be set in type, but must be seen to be appreciated,” the Republican reported. “The largest crowd ever assembled on the grounds was present, not only from this city, but from nearby towns and from the country for miles around, and they were held spellbound while some of the most wonderful feats, with every style of firearm, were performed by this matchless exponent of fancy shooting.”

Annie hung a ball on a long cord, had someone swing it, and lay on her back to put a bullet into the ball. She had the crowd throw potatoes and eggs into the air, which she mashed and scrambled, respectively, a somewhat more impressive cooking trick than Martha Stewart ever tried. Her targets became smaller and smaller as the show went on, including cardboard pieces, pennies, and marbles. (I feel I need to add this: Don’t try this at home.)

After Annie’s show, the shooting competition was held, with D.B. Harrold of Sunbury coming out the winner.

Local men O.G. Munro and C.A. Jobson were the runners-up in the individual category, and then Captain Philip Kift led his team to victory, winning a Remington rifle. Kift was a popular Civil War veteran whom the newspapers called “probably the most well-known person in Clinton County.”

“Altogether her shooting was wonderful and highly appreciated by the thousands present. Annie Oakley will be a welcome visitor if fortune ever again favors us with her presence,” said the Republican. So now we can add another Annie to the history of Clinton County. We’ve had Annie Snyder and Annie Halenbake Ross, and now….Annie Oakley.