Other Animal (But Non-Buggy) Crackers

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In Dispute: Mrs. O'Leary's cow started the great Chicago fire of 1871.

There's no question that the fire started in the O'Leary family's barn. The belief that it was started by one of the cows has its origins in a contemporary newspaper account, which, however, was wrong in many of its details. The O'Learys, being an Irish family, were something of a free target for slander by the journalistic standards of the time, so the story can't really be taken as meaningful evidence.