A quiz question · easy
True or false: Mrs. O'Leary's cow started the Great Chicago Fire by kicking over a lantern.
False. The cow story was invented in 1871 by a Chicago Tribune reporter named Michael Ahern, who in an 1893 interview admitted he had made it up to make his coverage more vivid. The actual cause of the 1871 Chicago Fire's ignition is genuinely uncertain. The Chicago Board of Police and Fire Commissioners' 1871 investigation specifically exonerated Catherine O'Leary, but the exoneration received almost no coverage.
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The Fire That Was Not the Cow's Fault The Great Chicago Fire killed three hundred people and burned a quarter of the city. Mrs. O'Leary's cow had nothing to do with it. A reporter admitted he made the story up.
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