History Book: Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, featuring Annie Oakley, played Pottsville in 1899

Aug. 19—In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, nobody was bigger in the entertainment field than Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley.

Col. William F. Cody, aka Buffalo Bill, was a buffalo hunter and U.S. Cavalry scout turned showman. For about 30 years starting in 1883, Buffalo Bill criss-crossed the country with his Wild West shows — a kind of traveling circus.

Perhaps the most famous member of the troupe was Annie Oakley, a sharpshooter who baffled audiences with her incredible feats of marksmanship.

On May 25, 1899, Buffalo Bill brought his Wild West show to Pottsville. The headliner was, of course, Annie Oakley.

An estimated 25,000 attended the two shows on Buffalo Bill Day at O'Connor's Farm in what is now the Yorkville section of the city.

People started lining up at the Reading Railroad station in Pottsville in the middle of the night in anticipation of the Buffalo Bill show's arrival.

At 5:15 a.m., three trains totaling 60 cars arrived from Allentown, the Pottsville Republican reported.

"There was a great crowd of spectators at Railroad and East Norwegian streets," the paper reported. "Many were there all night waiting."

Horses of every variety and five buffalo — including a calf that brought "aahs" from the crowd — were unloaded along with a column of Rough Riders in uniform. By 8 a.m., the entire train had been unloaded.

Despite threatening skies, the entourage paraded through Pottsville to the fairgrounds around 10 a.m.

Thousands lined the streets, and people occupied every porch and window along the way to view the spectacle.

A band followed by Sioux Indians on horseback led the parade. German soldiers in white uniforms and shiny nickel helmets, Arab horsemen, Russian Cossacks and a detachment of English Lancers followed.

A group of Hawaiians wearing straw capes over white uniforms were in the line of march. Six years earlier, Hawaii became a U.S. protectorate.

A contingent of Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders, wearing the uniforms of the legendary battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba, received thunderous applause. Among them was Tom Iabel, who allegedly shot the first Spanish soldier in the campaign.

There were "bloodthirsty looking" Indians, a U.S. Cavalry unit, cowboys and a rickety old stage coach that recalled the days of the Wild West.

The Miners Journal, a Pottsville newspaper, said Buffalo Bill had been well received in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Allentown before arriving in Pottsville.

"Buffalo Bill has this year the greatest and best exhibition he has ever gathered beneath his banners," the Journal reported. "Never before in history has its success been as pronounced as it has been this season."

Crowded houses have been the rule all along the line, and the famous old scout had been accorded daily ovations.

The skit on the battle of San Juan Hill, which occurred less than a year earlier, contributed materially to the quality of the show, the Journal said.

"The details of the original being so recently and firmly impressed upon the minds and hearts of the American people, they welcomed the wonderfully realistic representations of the famous battle," the Journal reported.

Cody, who was 53 years old, was as active as ever as he portrayed Teddy Roosevelt in the Battle of San Juan Hill skit.

The sharpshooting of Johnny Baker and Annie Oakley, bronco busting cowboys lent a patriotic bent to the performance, the Journal reported.

The Wild West Show performance was held in a tent without a top to allow for Annie Oakley's trick shooting act.

"Little Missy," as Cody called Oakley, hit glass balls in the air while riding a horse. Sometimes, she used a mirror to fire at a target behind her.

Undoubtedly among the greatest shots in the world — Sioux

Chief Sitting Bull dubbed her "Little Sure Shot" — Oakley is said to have met her match in Schuylkill County.

Accepting a challenge from Fred Coleman, a crack shot from Hegins, Oakley hit 98 out of 100 blue rocks at a specially arranged match in Tumbling Run. Coleman hit 99, according to a story by historian Herwood Hobbs that appeared in the Pottsville Republican on Oct. 21, 1959.

(Staff writer Devlin can be reached at rdevlin@republicanherald.com)