So who or what started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871? The most popular, yet still unproven theory, is that Catherine O'Leary and her cow named Daisy are to blame. Fittingly, Catherine O'Leary was an everyday Irish-Catholic immigrant, just like many of the common people of Chicago at the time that Sandburg talks about. In those days, the Irish made up the lowest rung on the social ladder, and so Mrs. O'Leary was an easy target. The legend goes as follows. The O'Learys had just put away plenty of coal, wood shavings, and hay in order to help them and their animals through the winter, so the barn was fully stocked with flammable material. Mrs. O'Leary went to milk her cow Daisy one night, and during the milking, Daisy kicked over a lantern which ignited the blaze. There are several pieces of evidence that seem to support this theory. The morning after the fire, Mrs. O'Leary supposedly admitted to several people that she was in the barn the night before when one of her cows had kicked over a lantern. The fire has been proved to have been started in the vicinity of her barn, and many experts agree that the barn was the place where the blaze was ignited. Ironically, the cottage of Mrs. O'Leary was unharmed by the fire.33
A picture taken of the O'Leary cottage after the fire. The cottage and many houses in the immediate vicinity somehow survived the fire. 34
But there are several other theories as to how the fire began. Daniel �Peg Leg�
Sullivan testified that he had been two houses down from the barn when he had
seen the fire ignite. He had sprinted 200 feet to the barn and attempted to
rescue the animals before having to leave to save his own life. But that story
seems impossible to be true, as there would have been a house and a high fence
in his line of sight. Also, it seems difficult to believe that he sprinted 200
feet on a wooden leg in a time as fast as he said he did. He also admitted to
having often used Mrs. O'Leary's hay to feed his cow. So some theorists think
that Sullivan caused the fire himself, either by kicking over a lantern,
dropping his pipe, or through some other method. 35
This is a drawing by artist Marshall Philyaw that shows one theory on how the Chicago Fire started. The man standing is Daniel "Peg Leg" Sullivan and the other man is Dennis Regan. The testimony of both men following the fire seemed highly suspicious, but their guilt was never proven.

There is one man who has actually admitted to starting the fire. When Louis Cohn
turned his $35,000 estate over to Northwestern University briefly before his
death, the university released a one-page statement. In the last paragraph, it
is revealed that Cohn �steadfastly maintained that the traditional story of the
cause of the fire -- Mrs. O'Leary's cow that kicked over a lantern -- was
untrue. He asserted that he and Mrs. O'Leary's son, in the company of several
other boys, were shooting dice in the hayloft . . . by the light of a lantern,
when one of the boys accidently overturned the lantern, thus setting the barn
afire.� Cohn would have been 18 years old at the time of the fire, and his
story is supported by several facts. There are records of several �Cohns�
living within walking distance of the O'Learys.  The son that Cohn was
reputedly gambling with at the time was the O'Leary kid Jim, who would have
been only 9 years old. While his young age may seem to disprove Cohn's story,
one must remember that Jim O'Leary would grow up to be �Big Jim� O'Leary, a
notorious gambler and an off-track betting operator. 36

 

There are other theories, two of the notable ones being that Daisy acted alone
and that a comet split up into pieces and caused the fire. The latter theory is
said to explain the other fire that occurred in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, at the same
time and a smaller fire that occurred in Michigan. But the most popular theory,
and the one that most people still adhere to, is that of Mrs. O'Leary and
Daisy. 37

Stories and Legends from the Fire
Story #1
#2
#3
#4 & #5