American frontiersman and
folk hero (1770-1823). He was born near
Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania and had a
reputation as very
strong man, an
enthusiastic fighter, and an
expert shot. In fact,
legend has it that, as long as he was using his
rifle, "
Bang-All," he never lost a
shooting contest.
Davy Crockett is said to have
challenged him to a
shooting match once, but no matter what
shooting stunts they pulled -- driving
nails, snuffing out
candles, shooting
flies off a cow's horn -- they were evenly matched. Finally, Fink shot half a
comb from his
wife's head, and Crockett refused to attempt the
shot.
There are a number of
stories about how Fink died. The most likely
factual one says that he was killed on his first
expedition as a
trapper by one of his companions. A more
romantic one says that, during a rifle contest with a
lifelong friend, his friend shot a
can from Fink's head, accidentally grazing his
scalp. Fink,
enraged, shot his
friend through the
forehead when his turn came. Later, one of the
dead man's friends killed Fink in
retaliation.