Mexico weekly ledger., 1894-06-14

She Says Her NeighbOrs, and Not She.
Set Chicago Afire.

The city authorities of Chicago have
been cleaning up the neighborhood of
that historical spot upon which the
great fire of 1871 originated, and the
Tribune is authority for the statement
that since Mrs. O'Leary left the prem
ises the adjoining streets and alleys
have been raised three feet above the
level of the lot by the %gIatuitous and
unsayory contributions of the AUDITING
property owners. Ashes, garbage, tin
cans and old garments for many years
formed the top stratum of the geologi-
cal formation. This would probably
have been the situation still but for
the ravages of the smallpox in the
Nineteenth ward. But the pestilence
set people to thinking about the filth
of their streets and alleys. and finally
the city set to work to grade, pave
and clean them.
The Tribune makes the event an oc-
casion for dragging Mrs. O'Leary be-
fore the public gaze, much to her dis
gust. The famous old lady's family
physician, DR.. Wayne Wickersham,
says of her: ~ was her family ply
stefan for fifteen or twenty years. She
is a remarkable character and Il typi-
cal Irishwoman. When 1 first knew
her, and for years afterward, her
business was peddling milk, carrying
the milk can in her hadd. She was a
strictly honest woman and afraid OF
debt. She kept her money in an old
sock, and paid me for every profess
sional visit / made before l left the
| house.
at would be impossible for me to
describe to you the grief and indigna-
ton with which Mrs. O'Leary views
the place that has been assigned her
in history. That she is regarded as
the cause, even accidentally, of the
great Chicago fire is the grief of her
life. She is shocked at the levity with
which the subject is treated and at the
satirical use of her namein connection
| with it. She has told ME o thousand
times that she was in bed asleep when
the fire broke out, and the blaze was
occasioned by her tenants, the Laugh
Inns, breaking into her stable and at
tempting to milk her cow. That she
mas been substituted tor the Laugh
Inns she attributes to the Chicago press,
for which she entertains the bitterest
hatra1 St,n admits M rnnnrfart RI har
presence, and she is determined that
whatever ridicule history may heap
on her it will have to do it without
the aid of her likeness. Many are the
devices that have been tried to pro-
cure a picture of her, but she has been
too sharp for any ofthem. No cartoon
will ever make any sport of her feat
ures. She has not a likeness in the
world and will eve have one.
when the eyclorsma of the burn
ing of Chicago was first opened here
the proprietor made u determined eff
fort to use Mrs. O'Ieary as an adver-
tisement, and | did what / could to
help him. We rode to her house to-
gether in a carriage, but Mrs. OLeary
would not even admit the proprietor
to the lot. She IA glad to see me,
however, and I laid the matter before
her in the most seductive way I could.
| told her the proprietor wished to
employ her husband at a good salary
to do odd jobs about the building on
the condition that she should sit where
she could be seen and sell her likeness
for her W profit. | was also author
lied to offer her a large sum of money,
if necessary, to close the engagement.
But the proposition only struck her
with horror and disgust. She said she
was not in need of money, but even if
she was there was not enough money
i'll the world To pay her to do such Il
thing. There was nothing left but
for me To beat a retreat, and nothing
left for the cyclorama but to get along
without her.