Generally , it is n’t a full idea to pick a fight with aworld - famous sharpshooter . William Randolph Hearst and his editors found this out the hard way when they ran a level that said the already - legendary Annie Oakley was a drug nut and a stealer . But Oakley did not reach for her rifle . She took Hearst to court , along with many other newspapers that picked up the story . She want to realize her unspoiled name .
If what you know about Annie Oakley amount from the musicalAnnie Get Your Gun , bury most of it . Oakley learned to shoot as a young girl in Darke County , Ohio , because she need to put food on the tabular array for her impoverished kin . Her skill with a firearm was presently notice , and she went up against one of the lead crack shot of the day , Frank Butler , and she outshot him . They married and tour the country as a marksmanship act . He became her manager . From the time she became a sensation ofBuffalo Bill ’s Wild Westin 1885 , she was nationwide noted .
But although Oakley was phone Little Sure Shot and The Princess of the West , she was a demure , married , right Victorian ladywho always went by Mrs. Frank Butler or Annie Butler in her private life . She run up her own costumes and although they showed her ankle joint and some of her lower leg , they were modest by show business standards .
In 1903 , Oakley was taking a rift in her career and , having left Buffalo Bill ’s show , was live in New Jersey , planning a future in acting after a well - received use in the playThe Western Girl . In August of that year , two of Hearst ’s Chicago newspapers ran a story about how Annie Oakley had been arrested for larceny and had turned to thievery to support her cocaine wont . The headline ? " Famous Woman Crack Shot … buy to insure Cocaine . " ( Other papers erroneously extend that Oakley wasBuffalo Bill ’s daughter - in - law — also a all over fabrication . )
The trueness was that a burlesque performing artist who went by the stage name " Any Oakley " had been arrest for theft and imprisoned in Chicago . Hearst’spapers claimedthat the cleaning woman was destitute because of her drug habit , and was 28 but looked like 40 . In reality , the gunslinger Annie Oakley was in her early 40s and was hale , level-headed , and still quite attractive . The fact that the arrested woman was n’t the real Annie Oakley was ignored by Hearst ’s editors and the narrative ran . It was pick up by slews of paper across the country .
The real Oakley was savage . " The tremendous piece … nearly killed me , " she call in . " The only thing that kept me alive was the desire to purge my fibre . "
And chuck her fictitious character , she did . Oakley started by announce that the Chicago woman ( whose real name was Maude Fontenella ) was not her and that the whole story was perfectly untrue . Many newspaper publisher publish retractions right away .
However , Hearstdoubled down . He even sent investigators to Ohio to endeavor to excavate up dirt on Oakley . They found dead nothing that could be used against her .
Oakley did not stop with postulate for retractions . She sued 55 paper for libel in one of the largest libel actions in U.S history . The first typeface came to homage in 1904 and the last one was finally finished in 1910 , but Oakley would not back down no matter how long it take up . She crisscross the country to testify in her own behalf . She look at the sales booth and asterisk down defense lawyers who tried to hold her show business career against her . They accuse her of bringing the lawsuits only for their publicity note value and of immodest performances on stage . Despite the provocations , she stay calm and ladylike on the stand .
Of the 55 libel suits that Oakley fetch , she deliver the goods or fall in 54 of them . She gain $ 27,500 from Hearst ’s newspapers , and between $ 250,000 and $ 800,000 all told , depending on who is doing the estimating . Despite win virtually every case , Oakley lost money . But she become what she was point for : mother her honest name back .
Oakley continued to execute off and on for the rest of her living and even offered to raise " a regiment of women sharpshooter " to help campaign World War I. She died in 1926 at the age of 66 . Her ever - supportive husband , Frank Butler , died 18 day later on .
