Annie Oakley and The Daring Kaiser Wilhelm II Act

As many people know, in the latter part of the 1800's Buffalo Bill's Wild West traveled throughout Great Britain and Europe performing to sold out audiences. The Wild West was thought by many to be not merely show business but also a diplomatic vehicle for the United States. In retrospect, this was true in many ways. The American western frontier was always a fascinating subject for not only easterners in the U.S. but also with people the world over. In the case of Europe, many immigrants had traveled to the New World in search of opportunity. These immigrants settled western frontier towns and worked the fields and the mines in a fast growing and changing nation. When the Wild West toured Europe, in addition to being entertainment it was a showcase for the U.S.

How accurate that showcase was was a subject of debate. Mark Twain, for an example, encouraged the Wild West to go to Europe and show them what America was like. In one sense the Wild West accomplished this. The Native Americans who accompanied the show were truly Native Americans and were a big draw. The Europeans were quite excited to see real North American Indians. The skill of the sharpshooters and riders were genuinely authentic. Along with this however, many of the scenes portrayed, such as the Battle of the Little Bighorn, were really a mixture of truth and fiction. That was probably the way Buffalo Bill Cody intended it to be. To sell tickets it had to be exciting, and sometimes to make it exciting enough, the truth had to be stretched.

Buffalo Bill Cody was shrewd enough to recognize that the Wild West would be publicized even more by the scheduling of it's tour to coincide with several large events. In England, the Wild West made it's first appearance during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. When the show returned to Europe it scheduled it's Paris dates to be alongside the historic Paris Exposition. While touring Italy that same year there were special performances at the Vatican in front of the Pope. Heads of state, royalty and important people of the world were a part of many Wild West audiences. As another example, the Wild West played in Chicago during the 1893 World Colombian Exposition which attracted some six million people.

Annie in Berlin

In 1899, the Wild West performed in Berlin Germany. The German people, like others in Europe, turned out by the thousands to see the Wild West. In fact, people of German heritage were the largest single ethnic group to move overseas to Texas. Many towns in Texas, particularly around the Hill Country west of Austin, have German names such as Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, Gruene, Groesbeck, Luckenbach, Boerne, Schulenburg and Weimar. The German immigrants were considered very hard workers, frugal people and excellent farmers. Some of these immigrants had large business successes such as Carl Hilmar Guenther who traveled to the U.S. in 1848 and founded the Pioneer Flour Company in San Antonio Texas. The Guenther House museum and restaurant in San Antonio is visited by thousands annually. No doubt, when the Wild West toured in Germany, many people in the audience had relatives or certainly knew of someone who had migrated to the American West.

Annie Oakley had many amazing sharpshooting tricks as part of her act. These included shooting through and splitting several playing cards tossed up in the air before they landed. Another was to shoot a metal coin tossed into the air about 27 yards away. Another Oakley staple act was shooting an apple placed behind her using a mirror. Any male sharpshooter her challenged her she beat. She was truly the first female superstar in show business.

One particular demonstration Annie had in her routine was to shoot the ashes off the tip of someone's cigar. The act would start with Oakley asking for volunteers from the audience. Typically no one would volunteer and her husband, Frank Butler, would stand up in their place. When the Wild West was in Berlin, Annie made her usual request. This time someone did stand up to volunteer. It was none other than the newly crowned German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II. Interestingly enough,Wilhelm was a grandson of British Queen Victoria another Wild West fan. Wilhelm was also a relative of many other monarchs and princes of Europe. Before any of his entourage could talk the German Emperor out of it, Kaiser Wilhelm II stood up, took out a cigar, and put it in this mouth. Annie Oakley knew quite well what she got herself into. There are stories out there that say that Oakley, called "Little Sure Shot" years earlier by Sitting Bull, often took a shot of whiskey before her act. If this was true, I'm sure she wished she hadn't this time. The Kaiser put the cigar in his mouth, ash at the end of it, and Oakley took aim with her Colt 45. She pulled the trigger, the shot was fired and the ash was blown off the cigar just a few inched in front of the Kaiser's face.

This is one of those tales that is so incredible you couldn't make it up. A few more aggressive historians and World War One buffs later mused as to how world events might have enfolded in the early 1900's had Oakley unfortunately missed and hit the Kaiser. What is known is that Annie Oakley did send the Kaiser a letter after the start of World War One asking for the opportunity to take another shot. She never received a reply.

(Photos are public domain)