Fair Play Native Recognized as Top Shooting Expert

Polk County [Missouri] Sesquicentennial Edition
by Bill Breshears

    One of the greatest firearm shooting experts of all time was a Polk Countian who hailed from Fair Play. Bill Akard's reputation in the early 1900s was so powerful that he unknowingly stopped a bank robbery in his home town.
    Akard's reputation as a great shooter was well documented near the turn of the century. He was a traveling marksman for the Remington Arms Company, known in the same class as female shooting expert Annie Oakley.
    According to the Springfield Press, dated July 26, 1930, and the Humbolt (Cal.) Standard, May 27 1966, Akard discouraged notorious southwest outlaw Henry Starr from robbing the Fair Play bank in December, 1907.
    When Starr and two companions arrived in Fair Play, Dec 9., he noted an advertising poster of the Remington Arms Company which employed Akard. The poster advertised some of Akard's accomplishments.
    Starr recalled that Akard during a meeting one year earlier in Tulsa, Okla., had told him of his vast collection of firearms kept in his home in Fair Play.
    "Does Bill Akard live here?" Starr asked of a native who was lounging in the lobby of a hotel.
    "Yep, this is Bill's home town," replid the resident of Fair Paly. "We're mighty proud of Bill down here and I rekon he can just about lay the best of them in the shade when it comes to shootin' with a pistol or rifle."
    "I'll say he can," replied the outlaw. "Does he keep any of his guns up at his house?"
    "Got a whole room full of them," the man replied. "Every kind of pistol and high-powered rifle you could imagine."
    "Is he home now?" asked Starr.
    "Yep, he's been here for about two weeks," the man said. "Told me the other day he didn't think he would go back on the road for about a month."
    Starr then conferred with his companions. They decided the territory around Fair Play was extremely rough and escape from a posse, properly armed, would be difficult. Akard being home with a large collection of guns also entered into their decision which was to move on six miles south to Aldrich.
    Starr and his companions robbed the Bank of Aldrich Dec. 12. The obtained approximately $3,600 in that holdup. One of the men was captured almost a year later coming back for some $600 in silver which they had ditched in the area after the robbery.
    Akard's reputation was well deserved. He was born John William Akard Aug. 15, 1875, in Fair Play. His grade school years were spend in Fair Play and he attended high school at Springfield Normal. He lived most of his life in the Fair Play and Humansville areas.
    He was the son of a pioneer Polk County family. He was fascinated with guns and, because of his family's good financial status, financing his hobby was no problem.
    He was known as the all-around shooting champion of the world from 1905-1917. Among his many feats were:
    Using a .22 calibre rifle, he hit 1,659 small marbles tossed in the air in succession.
    Triggering a .38 calibre pistol, he disintegrated 827 of 1,000 marbles. A right-handed shooter, Akard did this one left-handed.
    Akard broke 15,000 clay pigeons at the rate of 3,000 per day for five days in October, 1927. Hi did this without a miss with a .22 calibre pistol.
    He worked under contract with Remington for many years and appeared on stage with his good friend Will Rogers, the great American humorist.
    "Will Rogers did a roping act and Akard did a shooting act," current Fair Play resident Elmer Brown said. "The two of them were good friends."
    Akard always had the flashiest, sportiest car in the neighborhood, according to an an article in the Springfield News and Leader, March 30, 1969. For many years he had a car agency in Fair Play.
    He stoked the EMF, a product of the Overland Motor Company. But the car business was not his main interest. He was more interested in shooting. He was not a successful businessman as a car dealer.
    When he wasn't shooting or hunting, he liked to tinker in his shop in Fair Play. He rebuilt and built guns, and even built a rotary lawn mower before the day of power mowers.
    He mounted his mower on wheels, powered it with a gasoline washing machine engine and presented it to the city of Fair Play for use in mowing the cemetery.
    He was also a talented pianist. He played classical, rag time, or hymns.
    While working for Remington, he reworked the cartdridge on the Springfield '03 rifle. That became the Springfield '06 rifile which became the company's standard weapon.
    He developed a scatterload for shot guns and had it patented while working for Remington. The Remington people established that an invention developed by an employee became the property of his employer. He was paid a small bonus for his invention which could have been worth millions in royalties.
    But he never care a lot about money. He made a lot, but spent it all. He died Nov. 23, 1947, and was buried in the Humansville Cemetery.