A Hearst Paper Said Annie Oakley Stole for Cocaine. She Sued 55 Newspapers.

A Hearst Paper Said Annie Oakley Stole for Cocaine. She Sued 55 Newspapers. On 11 August 1903 two of William Randolph Hearst's Chicago newspapers, the American and the Examiner, reported that Annie Oakley had been jailed for stealing a man's trousers to buy cocaine. The woman in the police court was a burlesque performer who had used the name. Annie Oakley was at home in New Jersey, recovering from a train wreck. She sued 55 newspapers for libel, attended the trials in person, and over the next seven years won or settled every case but one. The official version is the Broadway musical. This film follows the documents: Phoebe Ann Mosey's childhood in Darke County, Ohio and the county infirmary, the shooting that paid off her mother's mortgage, the match with Frank Butler and the 1882 marriage record, Sitting Bull and "Little Sure Shot", Buffalo Bill's Wild West, Queen Victoria and Paris, the Edison film of 1894, the 1898 letter to President McKinley, the 1901 train wreck, the Chicago story, the suits, the Hearst investigator sent to Darke County, the one loss in Richmond, and Annie Get Your Gun. A note on accuracy: the arrested woman is not named, because her name is not firmly established. The Chicago award is usually given as about $27,500. The date of the Butler match is disputed (1875 or 1881). The Kaiser story is given as a story she told. CHAPTERS 0:00 The headline 0:55 Darke County 1:24 The wolves 2:07 The rifle 3:01 The match 3:53 Mrs. Butler 4:41 Sitting Bull 5:19 The Wild West 6:24 The image 7:04 Europe 7:35 Edison 7:57 Nutley 8:40 North Carolina, 1901 9:24 The newspapers 9:52 The story 10:36 The real woman 10:56 The apologies 11:17 Fifty-five 11:37 The witness 12:18 The defence 12:40 The detective 12:59 Richmond 13:42 Seven years 14:11 The comeback 15:11 Greenville, 1926 15:48 The musical 16:37 What the record says 17:45 Close Fortieth film in a series on Gilded Age America. Same method as the rest: the official version, then the documents. SOURCES Chicago American and Chicago Examiner, 11 August 1903. Annie Butler v. The News-Leader Co., Richmond Circuit Court, 1904. Annie Oakley to President McKinley, 5 April 1898. Edison Manufacturing Co., "Annie Oakley", 1 November 1894. Marriage registration, Windsor, Ontario, 20 June 1882. IMAGE CREDITS Library of Congress; National Portrait Gallery; Allen & Ginter; William Notman studio; Peter Newell. All public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. #AnnieOakley #WildWest #BuffaloBill #Hearst #History