White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1871-11-02
ORIGIN OP THE FIRE.
Interview with Mrs. Leary-The Cow
and L0mD Story.

ana Lamp Story.
Rightfully or wrongly, the great fire of London,
Sept. =, 1866 is laid to the door of bake house,
kept ny one Farryner, in Pudding lane, near the
Tower; and rishtfullv or wrpngfnlly, the great
fire Of Chicago Oct s, l57l, will go down to his
tory As ehargeable to one Mrs- Leary, a dairywo.
man, living on De Koven street, between Canal
and Jefferson streets.
According to Mistress Rumor, the cow-woman
was later than usnal abOut her milking, and to
"ighten" the job she took a kerosene lamp to
the stable. While at her work, the beast she was
draining, mp with her right hind leg and hit the
lamp kick, splashing the burning fluid against
the wall. In an instant the whole stable was in
flames and the woman lad time only to escape
with her life leaving tie kline to roast. Another
slightly varied version is that she MIXED at the
usual hour, but in the evening took her lamp and
went ont to see if all was right, and fanoying that
the cows wanted saltipg, she put the lamp down
by the door and went back for her salt dish Be-
fore she returned the barn was all ablaze.
The story told that night, and before any one
had the least idea that great confagration was
in store, was caught up by the electric wires the
next morning, and flashed wherever telegraphy
extends. Even if it were an absured rumor, forty
miles wide of the truth, il would be useless to at
tempt to alter ''the verdict of history" Mrs.
Leary has made sworn statement in refutation
Of the charge and ii is backed by other afdavits;
but to little purpose She is i'm for it, and no mis-
take. Fame has seized her, and appropriated her,
name, barn, COWS, and all. She has won, in
spite of herself, what the Ephesian youth painted
after.
Now that our reporters have little leisure for
matters Of secondary importance-for things more
curious than essential-we send one of them to
the spot where the fire originated, for whatever
clouds may shroud the cause of the fire, the place
where it began il quite beyond dispute. He had
the good fortune to find the woman herself, and
here is his report of the interview:
In the centre Of the block stands small one
story tenement. On every side are ashes and Gin
ders. Not house or shed remains west, south,
or north of it, and half dozen ash piles tell the
passer-by where stood houses on the east of the
solitary shanty (for it is that and nothing more.
1t is past explanation that all the rest went and
that remained. Especially mysterious is il, from
the fact that the barn in which the fire originated
was hardly more than rod off. As the wind
was blowing fnriously from the south-southwest,
one would suppose the southwest corner of the
block could easily have been saved. But there is
no end to the freaks of Confagration.
We saw a stout Irish woman, some thirty
years of age, standing at the rear door of this
solitary house, with babe in her arms, talking
with one of her cOuntrymen. Without annOun-
cling Our errand, we fell into conversation upon
the subject that everybody ia talking and think
ing about gradually leading her on to the specific
point in purpose. She was nothing 10th to tell her
tale. The dialogue ran substantially as follows:
Reporter you the lady of the houseF
Mrs. Leary-"I am, SIR" R.-aHave You lived
here longf Mrs. L.-"Going OH five years." r.
-"DO Won own this place" Mrs. La dc"
at did" R.-"what was in it Mrs. L.
"Five cows, horse and about two tons Of hay
in the loft" R.-"Is your husband an express
manr Mrs. Indade, he is not. We all
knocked our living out Of those five blessed cows,
and never had clint from the parish in all my
life, and the dirty Times had business to say it,
bad cess to it." R.-"How about that kerosene
lamp storyfn Mrs. L.-"There is not a word of
truth in the whole story. / always MIXED my
cows by daylight, and never had o lamp of any
kind or a candle about the barn. 1t mnst have
been set afire. Two neighbors at the far end of
the alley saw strange man come up about half
past in the evening. He asked them was the
alley staight through. They told him it was, and
he went through. 1t wasn't FIVE minutes till they
saw the barn on fire. Before we had time to get
and the fire was running in every direction. The
hoy turned TO and saved the house. i hope to die
if this isn't every word Of it tr1ie. If you
priest l wouldn't tell it any different"
All further questioning was useless. This wO-
man had nothing more or different to say upon
the subject. Finding that no more was to be
gathered from her, and feeling sorry for the poor
danes loss, our reporter somewhat tanely and
tritely remarked, at was pretty rough on you,
anyway" "Roughw she exclaimed, "why, my
God, man, it was a terror to the worldr'
The fog will probably never rise from that barn.
Whether fired by an incendiary or a kerosene
lamp kicked over by an irate COW, must remain
an open question. The woman would naturally
shrink from the responsibility, knowing that she
would be severely blamed for her carelessness,
and feeling, in her ignorance, that she might be
made to suffer for it, either by mob violence the
hand of the law. On the other hand, there is
nothing improbable in her story. One thing is
certain: Whether man or COW, match or lamp,
the greatest fire of all the ages began i'm dairy
kept in the very heart of the city.-Chicdgo Jour
nal, Oct. 21.