Catherine O'Leary (née Donegan; March 1827 – July 3, 1895) was an Irish immigrant living in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, Illinois, who became famous when it was alleged that an accident involving her cow had started the
Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago, Illinois during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left mor ...
of 1871. Born Catherine Donegan, she and her husband, Patrick O'Leary, had three children. Their son,
James Patrick O'Leary, later ran a well-known Chicago saloon and gambling hall.
Great Chicago Fire
On the evening of October 8, 1871, a fire consumed the O'Leary family's barn at 137
DeKoven Street. Due to a high wind and dry conditions, it spread to burn a large percentage of the city, an event known as the Great Chicago Fire.
After the Great Fire, ''Chicago Republican'' (now defunct) reporter Michael Ahern published a claim that the fire had started when a cow kicked over a lantern while it was being milked. The owner was not named, but Catherine O'Leary soon was identified, because the fire had begun in her family's barn. Illustrations and caricatures soon appeared depicting Mrs. O'Leary with her cow. The idea captured the popular imagination and still is circulated widely today.
However, in 1893
Ahern finally admitted he had made up the story.
The official report simply states: "Whether it originated from a spark blown from a chimney on that windy night, or was set on fire by human agency, we are unable to determine".
Mrs. O'Leary testified that she had been in bed when the fire began, and she had no idea what caused it. Daniel "Pegleg" Sullivan, the first person to raise the alarm, said that on seeing the barn on fire, he ran to free the animals, which included a cow owned by Sullivan's mother. He then informed the O'Learys, who were in their home and were unaware of the fire.
Anti-Irish attitudes at the time encouraged making scapegoats of the O'Leary family. It was claimed that the alleged accident happened because she was drunk or that she had hidden the evidence of her guilt. Neighbors were reported to have claimed that they saw broken glass from the lamp, though all these "reports" were unverified. One man claimed he had found the damaged lamp, but it had been stolen by another Irishman to protect the O'Learys.
Other rumors insisted that Daniel Sullivan had started the fire, or that perhaps it was
Louis M. Cohn, who claimed to have been gambling in the barn with the O'Learys' son and others. One of the O'Learys' sons,
James Patrick O'Leary, who was two years old at the time of the fire, did go on to become a well-known gambling boss and saloon owner in Chicago.
Death and aftermath
Catherine O'Leary died on July 3, 1895, of acute pneumonia at her home at 5133
Halsted Street
Halsted Street is a major north-south street in the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois.
Location
In Chicago's grid system, Halsted Street marks 800 West, west of State Street, from Grace Street (3800 N) in Lakeview south to the city limits ...
, and was buried at
Mount Olivet Cemetery. In the PBS documentary ''Chicago: City of the Century'', a descendant of O'Leary's stated that she spent the rest of her life in the public eye, and she constantly was blamed for starting the fire. Overcome with much sadness and regret, she "died heartbroken".
The last remaining immediate relative of Catherine O'Leary died in 1936. Amateur historian Richard Bales gathered sufficient evidence on Sullivan to convince the Chicago City Council to exonerate O'Leary of any guilt in 1997.
Cultural references
* "Old Mother Leary", a parody of the
minstrel
A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. The term originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist enter ...
song "
There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight
"A Hot Time in the Old Town", also titled as "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight", is an American popular music, American popular song, copyrighted and perhaps composed in 1896 by Theodore August Metz with lyrics by Joe Hayden. Metz ...
" (1896)
* Chicago band Welcome to Ashley's song "Madame O'Leary", released on their 2007 EP ''The Catbird Seat''
* "O'Leary's Cow" by
Johnny Horton
John LaGale Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960) was an American country, honky tonk, and rockabilly musician during the 1950s. He is best known for a series of history-inspired narrative country saga songs that became international ...
* "Cate O'Leary, We're Sorry" by The Entire City of Chicago, a piece composed by YouTuber
Rob Scallon and his team as part of an Instrument Roulette challenge
*
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...
' instrumental track titled "
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" was inspired by the fabled cause of the Great Chicago Fire, and served as the representation for the
classical element fire on their abandoned ''
Smile
A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile.
Among humans, a smile expresses d ...
'' project.
* A fictional interpretation of the story behind O'Leary's cow is central to the plot in
Ilona Andrews' book ''Burn for Me''.
* In "
Voyage of the Damned
''Voyage of the Damned'' is a 1976 drama (film and television), drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, with an Ensemble cast, all-star cast featuring Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Lee Grant, Max von Sydow, James Mason, Lynne Frederick and Malco ...
," the 6th episode of Season 5, of the 1990s U.S television show
Frasier
''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Casey, and David Lee (scr ...
, the titular character Dr. Frasier Crane, references Mrs. O’Leary’s cow, when referring to another character in the episode, Mimi Cosgrove, played by
Stephanie Faracy, as “Mrs. O'Leary's Cow of our current predicament!”
References
External links
Patrick & Catherine O'Leary's graveMrs O'Leary and her cows
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oleary, Catherine
1820s births
1895 deaths
19th-century Irish people
People from Chicago
Irish emigrants to the United States
Great Chicago Fire