No one knows where or when Fellonious Winchester was born. Sister Roberta was locking the doors one evening at her orphanage outside of Baltimore when she found the child rolled up in a blanket on the front porch. Inside was Fel, with a note that simply said, "Please help me." Sister Roberta brought him inside, bathed him, blessed him and put him to bed. The next day, Sister introduced him to the rest of the children, who welcomed him to the family. When sister was not around, Fellonious began to prove his name -- running poker games after dark and playing three-card monty for the other kids' porridge.
At 16, when this picture was taken, Fel ran away from the home, with the clothes on his back and Sister's revolver as his possessions. He ran into the Tribe as they were passing through Maryland and hitched on. He took his name from the gun he was carrying.
It was the end of the Civil War and reconstruction in the South was costly. The Tribe, as they were passing through North Carolina on their way to Arkansas, stopped at an Army-Navy Surplus sale. Fel got an idea. He turned to the captain of the tribe and said they should purchase one of the leftover cannons, to which he could be shot from. It was that day when Fel made circus history.