BlackJack
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Thanks But No Cigar
One chilly November afternoon in 1889, a fur-coated crowd assembled in Berlin's Charlottenburg Race Course to enjoy a performance of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, which was touring Europe to great popular acclaim. Among the audience was the Reich's impetuous you ruler, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had been on the throne for a year. Wilhelm was particularly keen to see the show's start attraction, Annie Oakley, famed throughout the world for her skills with a Colt .45.
On that day, as usual, Annie announced to the crowd that she would attempt to shoot the ashes from the cigar of some lady or gentleman in the audience. "Who shall volunteer to hold the cigar?" she asked. In fact, she expected no one from the crowd to volunteer; she had simply asked for laughs. Her long-suffering husband, Frank Butler, always stepped forward and offered himself as her human Havana holder.
This time, however, Annie had no sooner made her announcement than Kaiser Wilhelm himself leaped out of the royal box and strutted into the arena. Annie was stunned and horrified but could not retract her dare without losing face. She paced off her usual distance while Wilhelm extracted a cigar from a gold case and lit it with a flourish. Several German policemen, suddenly realizing that this was not one of the Kaiser's little jokes, tried to preempt the stunt, but were waved off by His All-Highest Majesty. Sweating profusely under her buckskin, and regretful that she had consumed more than her usual amount of whiskey the night before, Annie raised her Colt, took aim, and blew away Wilhelm's ashes.
Had the sharpshooter creased the Kaiser's head rather than his cigar, one of Europe's most ambitious and volatile rulers would have been removed from the scene. Germany might not have pursued it's policy of aggressive Weltpolitik that culminated in war twenty five years later.
Annie herself seemed to realize her mistake later on. After World War I began, she wrote to the Kaiser asking for a second shot. He did not respond.
David Clay Large, from "What If?" ed. by Robert Cowley
One chilly November afternoon in 1889, a fur-coated crowd assembled in Berlin's Charlottenburg Race Course to enjoy a performance of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, which was touring Europe to great popular acclaim. Among the audience was the Reich's impetuous you ruler, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had been on the throne for a year. Wilhelm was particularly keen to see the show's start attraction, Annie Oakley, famed throughout the world for her skills with a Colt .45.
On that day, as usual, Annie announced to the crowd that she would attempt to shoot the ashes from the cigar of some lady or gentleman in the audience. "Who shall volunteer to hold the cigar?" she asked. In fact, she expected no one from the crowd to volunteer; she had simply asked for laughs. Her long-suffering husband, Frank Butler, always stepped forward and offered himself as her human Havana holder.
This time, however, Annie had no sooner made her announcement than Kaiser Wilhelm himself leaped out of the royal box and strutted into the arena. Annie was stunned and horrified but could not retract her dare without losing face. She paced off her usual distance while Wilhelm extracted a cigar from a gold case and lit it with a flourish. Several German policemen, suddenly realizing that this was not one of the Kaiser's little jokes, tried to preempt the stunt, but were waved off by His All-Highest Majesty. Sweating profusely under her buckskin, and regretful that she had consumed more than her usual amount of whiskey the night before, Annie raised her Colt, took aim, and blew away Wilhelm's ashes.
Had the sharpshooter creased the Kaiser's head rather than his cigar, one of Europe's most ambitious and volatile rulers would have been removed from the scene. Germany might not have pursued it's policy of aggressive Weltpolitik that culminated in war twenty five years later.
Annie herself seemed to realize her mistake later on. After World War I began, she wrote to the Kaiser asking for a second shot. He did not respond.
David Clay Large, from "What If?" ed. by Robert Cowley