An Irish Diary

Son of a gun – Norman Freeman on Longford-born sharpshooter Frank E Butler

Entertainer met his match in Annie Oakley

Longford-born rifle marksman Frank E Butler and his wife and fellow sharpshooter Annie Oakley. Photograph: Columbus Metropolitan Library

Norman Freeman
Mon Sep 19 2022 - 19:10

A Longford-born rifle marksman became a legendary figure in the US in an era when the Wild West still resounded to the sounds of gunfire.

The eldest of five children, Frank E Butler was 13 years of age when the family emigrated to the US in 1860. He worked at various jobs, including that of a glass-blower while living in New Jersey.

However, when he developed skills as a sharpshooter, he and a partner, John Graham, began touring in vaudeville shows and circuses that depicted and often romanticised the adventures of cowboys and frontiersmen.

Spectators had revelled in dime novels and stories about sheriffs, buffalo hunters, “Indian fighters” and indeed some outside the law whose speed and accuracy with firearms had helped them stay alive. Butler and Graham provided displays of target shooting. They performed trick shots like rapid-fire fusillades at small objects tossed upwards. The bangs, smoke and smell of gunshots filled the air.

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In his photographs, Frank Butler seemed to present a striking presence, well-built, strong face under a wide-brimmed hat. His carefully groomed moustache and watchful eyes gave him an authoritative demeanour.

By all accounts he never drank, smoked or gambled but he was given to boasting about his prowess as a professional marksman. However, he was in for something of a come-down.

Shooting competitions were part of the gun-culture of that era and in one of these in 1876 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Butler was surprised and amused to find himself matched against a small 15-year-old girl, Annie Oakley. She had gained a local reputation for uncanny skills with a rifle, honed from shooting game to make money for her impoverished family.

Against all expectations, particularly Butler’s, Oakley won the match on a score of 25 to 24. Apparently they became attracted to one another and, despite a 10-year gap in their age, began a courtship and married two years later.

When Annie got a chance to show her extraordinary mastery in touring shows, she became a sensation. With Butler now in a supporting role Annie stunned audiences not just by unerring target shooting but by snuffing out candles, hitting playing cards and small 10-cent coins flung into the air. Butler used go forward, kneel down and then throw small glass balls into the air while his wife shattered them one after another.

In 1885, the couple joined the most famous entertainment of all, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. It was a boisterous, colourful spectacle with a cast of hundreds featuring rough and dangerous rodeo events with cowboys tackling wild animals, mock clashes with native Americans, and theatrical re-enactments of frontier battles.

Oakley and Butler’s performance was a highlight of the show. One of their most breath-taking acts was when Butler put a cigarette in his mouth, walked 30 paces away, stood rigidly sideways. Then his wife raised her rifle and shot the cigarette out of his lips.

In 1887 the show was taken on the first of several tours of Europe. The cast included 97 Native Americans,180 horses, 18 buffalo, steers, elks and, among other things, a Western stagecoach. In Britain, Queen Victoria requested a special performance and spoke to Annie with words of praise.

On a later tour when the show performed in Berlin, the Crown Prince Wilhelm – later Kaiser Wilhelm – wanted to get in on the cigarette act. Anne told him to stretch out his arm and she shot the ashes off his cigarette.

By this time, Frank Butler had stepped out of the spotlight. He was acting as her manager, organiser and publicist. He looked after their finances, issued press releases and stories and produced a theatrical drama in which his wife was the star.

After Annie was badly injured in a train crash and was unable to perform, Butler became a representative for the Remington Arms Company and a cartridge manufacturer.

In 1911, the couple returned to performing in a smaller Wild West show but after two years went into retirement. However, when the US became involved in the first World War, they gave performances to raise money for the Red Cross.

Butler was so distraught when Annie died in 1926 that he was unable to eat and died himself shortly afterwards. Their remarkable story has featured in a number of dramas, most notably the 1946 Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun by Irving Berlin. This was followed by a film version in which the notable actor and bass-baritone Howard Keel played the role of Frank Butler.

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