Babe, an American, arrived in the Cape Colony (modern-day South Africa) circa 1865 as a sales representative for the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and also as a special correspondent for the New York World.
At Jacobsdal he demonstrated the 1866 .44 Henry Winchester rifle's quick firing by shooting 16 rounds in ten seconds, resulting in a large number of sales.
[1] Babe was unimpressed with the technique that was then in use on the diamond fields, of excavating a quantity of gravel and then removing it to the nearest water source, often some distance away, for washing and screening.
[6] Sales of the Baby, income from excavating diamonds, sales of diamonds purchased from other miners, and profits from "grubstakes" (whereby he earned a cut of profits from miners to whom Babe provided capital, materials or provisions) made Babe a fortune.
This work was mentioned in a discussion on potential rivals by Mark Twain in a letter to journalist John Henry Riley.