How did the Great Chicago Fire start?

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Gianna M

IT WAS STARTED BY SOME OLD HATEFUL DRUNK, IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE O'LEARYS' COW!
Doesn't any one watch PBS any more?

Thunderklese

Actually ...two young cows were smoking behind the barn and panicked when the farmer drove up on his tractor.

barb

old lady o'leary left a lantern in the shed the cow kicked it over.....

Jody B

A cow kicked the lantern over.

crazymom

Although the song is cute and catchy--the cow...and Mrs O'Leary got cleared. Inconsistencies in testimony from Daniel Sullivan has people believing he caused the fire in the O'Leary barn.
http://www.thechicagofire.com/pegleg.php

"I Want to Know Your Answer

A cow kicked a lantern. and then Puff....FIRE!!!

Blondie

a cow kicked over a candle or an oil lamp

rahkokwee

Ms. O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern into a haystack.

SanDiego21

Mike Ditka put his cigar near William Refrigerator Perry's buttocks, while he flatulated.

basspro420

Well one day a cow kicked over a lantern and then it started a blaze.....which now a days is called the great chicago fire....

bodinibold

Rex Grossman's great great great grandfather Cyrus was trying to throw loaf of bread to his buddy, Jacob Berrian, on the other side of the lantern factory and missed ... horribly. He hit a lit lantern and the rest is history.

babybluz2306

Check out this website

http://www.chicagohistory.org/fire/index.html
And
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chicago_Fire

The fire started at about 9 p.m. on Sunday, October 8, in or around a small shed that bordered the alley behind 137 DeKoven Street. The best-known story of the fire is that it was started by a cow's kicking over a lantern in the barn owned by Patrick and Catherine O'Leary, but Michael Ahern, the Chicago Tribune reporter who created the cow story, admitted in 1893 that he had ,made it up because he thought it would make colorful copy.
An alternative theory, first suggested in 1882, is that the Great Chicago Fire was caused by a meteor shower. At a 2004 conference of the Aerospace Corporation and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, engineer and physicist Robert Wood suggested that the fire began when Biela's Comet broke up over the Midwest and rained down below. That four large fires took place, all on the same day, all on the shores of Lake Michigan (see Related Events), suggests a common root cause. Eyewitnesses reported sighting spontaneous ignitions, lack of smoke, "balls of fire" falling from the sky, and blue flames. According to Wood, these accounts suggest that the fires were caused by the methane that is commonly found in comets

foodguru

Over the years, journalists and historians have offered plenty of theories. Some blamed the blaze on a couple of neighborhood boys who were near the barn sneaking cigarettes. Others believed that a neighbor of the O'Leary's may have started the fire. Some people have speculated that a fiery meteorite may have fallen to earth on October 8, starting several fires that day - in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as in Chicago.

Furious Styles

They say O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern. BUT I SAY she and her old maid friends were kickin' back havin' some moonshine straight from the jug. An argument broke out over who ran the dairy trade in Chicago, things escalated into an all out brawl between the 7-9 women in the barn where an ash tray was sittin' on top of a soap box with lit cigars they had been puffing on.
That very soap box was knocked over during the out of control altercation, all the cigars flew in different directions catching hay on fire that would soon burn uncontrolably and spread through out the city of Chicago.

And THAT is what I think took place.

jenivive

The fire started at about 9 p.m. on Sunday, October 8, in or around a small shed that bordered the alley behind 137 DeKoven Street. The best-known story of the fire is that it was started by a cow's kicking over a lantern in the barn owned by Patrick and Catherine O'Leary, but Michael Ahern, the Chicago Tribune reporter who created the cow story, admitted in 1893 that he had made it up because he thought it would make colorful copy.

Mary Kangaroohead

My dad said it was a little kid playing with matches.

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