Photo: Elizabeth Servaty…..Frontier Partisans
She was born Elizabeth Servaty in New Haven, Connecticut in 1882, the daughter of German immigrants. Three years after she began working for the Winchester gun company, Elizabeth went to a vaudeville circus shooting act and it featuring a young man from Boerne, Texas, Adolph “Ad” Toepperwein.
Photo: Adolph ” Ad” Toepperwein…..Showman Shooter
Ad, who was a crack shot, apparently won her heart, and after the touring circus had moved on, the young couple stayed in touch with long letters of loving declarations. When the vaudeville show ended its national run, Adolph returned to Connecticut where he and Elizabeth were married in 1903.
The now newly-married Mr and Mrs Toepperwein moved to Texas, to San Antonio. Soon after arriving in the Alamo City, Adolph decided to give his bride some shooting lessons, and very quickly realised that she was a “natural” talent.
Photo: Adolph and Elizabeth Toepperwein….Texas State Historical Association
Within a very short time, she was splitting playing cards, held edgeways, at a distance of 25 feet !!
Photo: Plinky card shooting….Showman Shooter
Ad had so much faith in her aim, the pair put on shooting exhibitions for friends and family. In one demo, Ad stood 20’ from his wife holding a 1” piece of chalk in his fingers, which she promptly shot from his steady hand. They then went one step further, and she amazed everyone by shooting the chalk from Ad’s lips.
Photos: Plinky Toepperwein shooting demonstration…chalk in the lips……Youtube
Ad decided to develop Elizabeth’s talents further, and he soon had her not only shooting at stationary targets, but also at tin cans thrown in the air. One day while shooting at these cans for practice, Elizabeth proudly shouted out “I plinked it” Her husband was amused by the expression, and so her nickname of “Plinky” was born.
During her life, she became widely-respected as a trailblazing trapshooter, and earned the reputation as the best female marksman of all time !
Photo: Plinky Toepperwein…..Wikipedia
In fact, famed shootist Annie Oakley is reported as saying to her, “Mrs Top..you’re the greatest shot I have ever seen”…a pretty good endorsement !!
Photo: Annie Oakley….Historical Firearms
One of Plinky’s “specialties” was to use a six shell pump shotgun and disintegrate 6 clay targets before they hit the ground. Considering that to do this, a new shell had to be loaded into the chamber for every shot, one can see why she had earned the reputation as the best woman trap shooter in history.
Photo: Plinky Toepperwein….Texas Sports Hall of Fame
She was also the first female shooter in the United States to qualify as a national marksman using a military rifle. She was the first woman to successfully hit 100 traps in a succession. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, she achieved this feat 200 times during her life.
She hit 200 traps without missing one on 14 occasions, and her highest successive total without missing was 307 !!
In Montgomery, Alabama in 1916, she proved her stamina and endurance by hitting 1,952 targets out of 2,000 in one session…a world’s first for both men and women shooters. This feat took her 5 hours 20 minutes ! Incidentally, Annie Oakley’s record was 700 out of 1,000.
With her husband Adolph, Plinky toured extensively throughout the United States giving shooting exhibitions to thousands of adoring fans. Their tours, which were sponsored by Winchester and the Western Cartridge company, always included a short presentation on the safety rules for handling guns, the first of which was to always determine if the gun was loaded.
Photo: Plantanswers
Plinky Toepperwein passed away today 80 years ago at her home on Avenue B, three weeks after suffering a massive heart attack. She was 62 years of age. Her husband and mentor Ad lived for another 17 years.
Photo: Author
There is an extensive display of the amazing feats and careers of Ad and Plinky Toepperwein in the Buckhorn Saloon in San Antonio
Photo: Author
Additional story:
* Plinky Toepperwein was quite the sportswoman. Not only a crack shot….but also a record-breaking 10 pin bowler as well !
Photo: San Antonio Light
Sources:
San Antonio Light
San Antonio Express
Texas State Historical Association
Texas Highways
Frontier Partisans
Wikipedia
howdyall.com
Petticoats and Pistols
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Memories of San Antonio 