Beschreibung:

OAKLEY, ANNIE ("Little Sure Shot"). Autograph letter signed ("Annie Oakley Butler") to an unidentified young girl ("Dear little Lady"), Greensboro, N.C., 17 November 1923. 3 pages, 8vo, black ink on decorative Hotel lined stationery . RARE. ANNIE OAKLEY ON THE SHOW CIRCUIT: "I SHOT FROM A FAST SPEEDING AUTO" A rare autograph letter signed in which Annie -- still shooting at age 63 -- describes recent show appearances: "...What a wonderful little girl you are. I hope to see more of you some day. I fully appreciate all the lovely things you said of me in your recent article. We went to Pinehurst [N.C.] for the opening of the Hotel Carolina. And I gave 5 Exhibitions at the Fair while we were thare [ sic ]. That being the 6th year I have worked thare [ sic ] free. I missed last year. And Mr. Taft wrote us that the Natives went home disappointed. I could not march and shoot at the same time on account of my brace. But I shot from a fast speading [ sic ] Auto and that pleased them just as well....We bought a plot of ground at Pinehurst. And may build thare [ sic ] in the early spring so I hope you will make...a visit...Don't go to Cal[ifornia] to[o] soon for we both want to see your little mother, sister & your self before you go..." Oakley (1860-1926), born in an Ohio log cabin, was a dead shot from the age of nine. In a shooting contest at Cincinnati she beat Frank E. Butler, a marksman and vaudeville performer, and the two were married several years later. She joined his act and soon dominated it; Butler cheerfully became her assistant and agent. They joined Buffalo Bill in 1885 and Annie became one of Cody's star performers. She toured Europe, where Queen Victoria and Wilhelm II were charmed by her, and although seriously injured in a train accident in 1901 she continued to appear at fairs and western shows, often for charity, until her 60s. Her letters -- at all periods of her life -- are rare. "Only a few letters...survive" (Charles Hamilton The Signature of America , 1979, p. 2).