b'Buffalo BillsWild WestShowPART 2 By Alan RockmanTHE FIRST TRAGEDY tried, as usual, to put a positive public face to thethe first of the two very famous new arrivals who AND A PAIR OF disaster, despondently he cabled Salsbury: "Outfitwould throw in their stars in with Cody for the 1885 VERY WELCOME at bottom of river, what do you advise?" Salsburyseason, the season that saw the Wild West show rise NEW ARRIVALS responded, "Go to New Orleans. Reorganize andlike a phoenix from the ashes and win the hearts of Bringing Salsbury on boardopen on your date. Have wired you funds" (Sell andthousands of Americans and Canadians.as a full-time manager, andWeybright, p. 140; Carter, p. 265).having rid himself of the very unstable Carver - who"LITTLE SURE SHOT" AND SITTING BULLwent off to a rival show and thence obscurity - CodyTo top bad things off, Major North, who had beenThe Annie Oakley story is pretty well-known, and was looking forward to starting the 1884 season afreshrecuperating from injuries suffered when he fell fromthere is no need to elaborate upon her earlier years, and with new acts on board. Just as Cody was about tohis horse during a previous show, had succumbedexcept that her family endured hard times when both bring his show to New Orleans, the first of three majorjust a week after he responded affirmatively toher father and stepfather died while she was still physical disasters struck. Just prior to Christmas 1884sending the show more Pawnee scouts and a newyoung. She quickly adapted to the hardscrabble life the very riverboat carrying all of the animals andbuffalo herd. that fell upon the rest of her family, learning how to much of the show\'s equipment collided with anothershoot and bring home the family dinner. Sent to a steamer off the cold waters of the Mississippi shoreCody was about to throw in the towel and cutpoorhouse, the kindly matron there taught her how to and quickly went down with all of the animals, thehis losses when luck arrived on the scene in thesew - something that would become quite useful when equipment, and the transportation. While they wereform of a pretty, diminutive 25-year-old girl withshe ended up sewing her costumes for the Wild West able to save that venerated Deadwood Stage and thea rifle who showed up at the New Orleans Wildshow. Sent out to a farm where she was mistreated, horses, the show ended up losing almost all of itsWest show encampment just after the disaster. Hershe managed to get away, re-establish contact with wagons, arms, ammunition, equipment, all of thename was Phoebe Ann Moses - or Mosee - but herher mother who had once again married. She soon donkeys, buffalo, cattle, and one elk. While Codystage name was Annie Oakley, and she would beestablished a reputation as a crack shot, feeding her family and winning local shooting contests until barely in her teens she met another sharpshooter by the name of Frank Butler. Butler challenged the little lady to a shooting match - and to his surprise, lost - but perhaps even more to his surprise he fell in love with the little lady and they soon wed. Although Annie was still an adolescent, not quite 17, this was a marriage that lasted half a century, ending with their deaths just weeks apart in 1926.Thus it was Annie - and Frank Butler, already working quite unhappily for the Sells Circus (a name that would haunt Cody three decades later), who crossed the tracks and inquired about employment in the Wild West show. At the time Cody had already replaced Carver with sharpshooting ace Captain Adam Bogardus (portrayed so well by another shooting and riding ace, the late, great Ben Johnson in the 1980 TV movie "Wild Times"), and after the Mississippi River fiasco, Cody was understandably reluctant to bring onboard another sharpshooting act. However a discouraged Bogardus parted company with the Wild West show, Oakley and Frank Butler persevered, and Cody finally relented and brought on board the husband-and-wife sharpshooting team. Cody knew instinctively that it would be little Annie Oakley who would be a major star of Cody knew instinctively that it would be little Annie Oakley the show, wowing audiences worldwide who stared who would be a major star of the show, wowing audiencesincredulously at the pretty little gal who amazingly worldwide who stared incredulously at the pretty little gal whoshot almost anything she aimed at.amazingly shot almost anything she aimed at. Thus the little lady with the keen eye and sharp shot would remain a star attraction for the next 15 years 18 June 2021'