Whose cow started the Chicago fire?

Fosse4

Historians agree that on Sunday evening, October 8, 1871, the Chicago Fire did indeed start in the barn of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick and Catherine O'Leary. Check this site which disputes the cause of the fire. http://www.thechicagofire.com/ Jun 11 02, 4:28 PM

Guru???

One dark night, when people were in bed, Mrs. O'Leary lit a lantern in her shed. The cow kicked it over, winked its eye, and said, "There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight." http://www.thechicagofire.com is a good site with lots of info about the possible causes including an exoneration of the cow. Jun 11 02, 5:20 PM

Linda1

Mrs. O'Leary You might want to reference these links: http://members.tripod.com/morse_telegraph_club/telecom.html http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/oleary/ (Did it really start the fire?) Tue Jun 11 11:08:06 CDT 2002 (Reposted from #19780 - Duplicate question - McG) Jun 11 02, 6:09 PM

Friar Tuck

Kate's Cow Cleared in Chicago Fire Windy City politics being what they are, a city council panel has made it semi-official: Mrs. O'Leary's cow didn't cause the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The three-day conflagration that destroyed much of the city and claimed 300 lives has been blamed on Catherine O'Leary's favorite milker for 126 years. But Alderman Ed Burke, chairing the council's fire and police committee, says the bovine apparently is blameless, and the panel earlier this week approved a resolution to that effect. While Burke declared that 'Mrs. Kate O'Leary and her cow are innocent of any blame for the fire that raged behind their house,' history's indictment of the barnyard bovine will likely remain the stuff of the great fire's legend. And the real culprit has yet to be named. An O'Leary neighbor, Daniel 'Peg Leg' Sullivan, is one possibility, among others, according to lawyer Richard Bales, who has been working on the cow's behalf for some years. But the committee resolution was a triumph for Kate O'Leary's great-great-grandaughter, Nancy Knight Connolly, who says the family 'always knew that she was innocent.' O'Leary, who died in 1895, 'like the cow, has suffered enough,' says Carl Smith, a Northwestern University professor. He told The Chicago Tribune that determining exactly who started the fire might be an impossible task, but that Kate O'Leary deserved to be exonerated. http://www.thirdage.com/news/archive/971008-05.html Tue Jun 11 11:27:42 CDT 2002 (Reposted from #19780 - Duplicate question - McG) Jun 11 02, 6:11 PM

finlady

Everyone talks about the Great Chicago Fire, but how many know that north of Chicago in the small town of Peshtigo, Wi on the very same day there was a more devestating fire? Because of prolonged drought and the extremely high temperatures, a cyclonic wind swept through the forests. The Pestigo Fire killed 5 times more people than the Chicago Fire. 2400 sq. miles of land was wiped out. Please go to this site and read all about it: http://www.peshtigofire.info October 8, 1871 was the date of both fires. Jun 12 02, 10:27 AM

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