# Bales 2002 via Open Library search-inside — working report

Source book: Richard F. Bales, *The Great Chicago Fire and the Myth of Mrs. O'Leary's Cow* (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2002).
Internet Archive item `greatchicagofire0000bale` (lending copy; OCR text restricted). Only one IA/OL full-text index entry exists for this title
(IA advancedsearch for creator "bales" + chicago fire returns exactly one item; the 2005 McFarland paperback is NOT separately digitized on IA).

## API pattern that works
`https://openlibrary.org/search/inside.json?q=<urlencoded query>&limit=10`
- Semantics (established by probes q0001–q0017, see query_log.tsv): every quoted phrase and every bare word is a **required** (AND) clause;
  `OR` is just the word "or"; `|` yields 0 hits; a trailing `*` works as a prefix (q0013). `limit` = number of *books* returned (max 100), not fragments.
- Each book hit carries `highlight.text`: at most **5 fragments**, each ~100 characters, centred on the matched phrase (Lucene fast-vector highlighter behaviour),
  boundaries snapped to word/punctuation. Fragments are ranked by number of highlighted spans, ties in **document order** (front matter → chapters → appendices → notes).
  So a 5-phrase query returns one fragment per phrase if each phrase occurs once, and a phrase occurring N times returns its first N occurrences in book order.
- `fields.page_num` is always `[[358]]` (leaf count) — no per-hit page numbers. Page numbers below come only from running heads, TOC lines, figure captions and footnote numbers visible inside fragments.
- A single common phrase may leave Bales outside the top hits (e.g. `"12th witness"`: 38 books, Bales not in top 10); adding a phrase unique to the book
  (I use `"loosened them as quick as I could"`, which occurs once, in Sullivan's testimony) forces the book to the top at the cost of one fragment slot.
- Text recovery is by **chaining**: take the last 4 words of a known fragment, query them (batched 4 phrases per query), receive the next ~100-char window
  centred on them, i.e. ~40 new characters per phrase. Driver: `chain.py` (state in `chains.json`); every request is logged in `query_log.tsv`, raw JSON in `raw/qNNNN.json`.
- The API is flaky: intermittent "connection reset by peer" and HTTP 500 (both retried with backoff). No 429 seen at ~1 request/s.

## Edition / copyright page
(pending — see section "Copyright page" below once recovered)

## Findings (query id → fragment; OCR verbatim, {{{ }}} = API highlight)
(sections below are appended as results come in)


### Targeted queries (stream `targeted1.out`, q0046–q0089; each query also carried the anchor phrase). OCR verbatim.
- q0046 `sidewalk` — App. D Sullivan: "you stand there? / A. Isat down on the sidewalk, a big high sidewalk that was there. There was a great big"; Bales (chapter): "his location, stating that he was sitting on the sidewalk, by a fence “at the head of White’s house or head [of his lot.” William White did own land ...]"
- q0048 `"in front of White"` — 0 hits (Bales's wording is "in front of White’s" / "at the head of White’s house"); q0049 `"one hundred and ninety"` — 0 hits (numbers are given as digits).
- q0050 `"line of sight"` (5 occurrences, all in Bales's argument): "testimony, as any buildings that blocked Sullivan’s line of sight were not in existence at the time of the inquiry[. Therefore, his claims as to seeing the ...]"; "[... realize that the Dalton home (and very] likely the Forbes house) would have blocked his line of sight.” Is it possible that Sullivan saw the smoke [of the burning barn rising above Dalton’s ...]"; "depicted, the house clearly blocks Sullivan’s line of sight. Unfortunately, Musham’s reference material"; "height) would have certainly blocked Sullivan’s line of sight (Figure 78). [section heading:] Determining the Distance That Sullivan Allegedly Ran to the Barn"; figure caption: "would have nonetheless obstructed Sullivan’s line of sight. (Diagram by Douglas A. Swanson)".
- q0054 `blocked Sullivan` — figure labels: "the barn ... (blocked by Dalton's house) Street / Approximate location of ... Sullivan, by a fence, in"; "house, as at least one neighboring home blocked his view. Sullivan testified that while in front of White’s".
- q0056/q0058/q0065 `"Lot 19"`, `"Lot 18"`, `"east half"` — land records: "half of lot 19 (Figure 64). She [Catherine Sullivan] purchased all of lot 18 in 1864 and the west half of lot 19 a year later"; "[the west half-lot was] described as the west half of lot 18, the middle halflot was the east half of lot 18, and the half-lot on [the east was the west half of lot 19]"; "[Daniel Sullivan] must have lived in a house on the west half of lot 19 (the east halflot) because he testified that after"; "[William] White owned the adjoining land to the east, the east half of lot 19. Andreas states that there was a “vacant lot” west"; "vacant, if Daniel Sullivan lived on the west half of lot 19, (the east half-lot) and if Mrs. Sullivan lived [on lot 21, it ...]"; "21, that he lived in a house on the west half of lot 19, and that his mother lived in a home on lot 21"; "this must have been the middle half-lot, the east half of lot 18. These title company records also indicate that"; "one barn and one horse in another barn. If the east half of lot 18 (the middle half-lot) was vacant, if Daniel Sullivan"; "only remaining Sullivan parcel—the west half of lot 18, or the west half-lot. So where was the other barn".
- q0059/q0063 `"Lot 12"`, `"Block 38"` — "[Bales:] ... wide and 118 feet deep. The O’Learys lived in Block 38 in this subdivision. As platted, DeKoven Street"; "appropriating a 15-foot-wide strip of land in Block 38. This land was taken for use as an alley, running"; "1864, she was deeded lot 18 in a subdivision of Block 38 of School Section Addition to Chicago. In 1865"; McDermott letter (App. C, text + facsimile OCR): "there, at No. 137 DeKoven street, on the east ½ of Lot 12, in Block 38, School Section Addition to Chicago, found Dennis". `"Block 37"` — 0 hits.
- q0067 `"could not have seen"` — section heading "Sullivan’s Testimony Crumbles— He Could Not Have Seen the Fire. By utilizing Chicago real estate [records ...]"; bullet: "startling conclusions are revealed: • Sullivan could not have seen the fire from his position in front of William [White's ...]".
- q0069 `"Dalton's house"` — "been set back as much as Dalton’s house (and it appears that Dalton’s house might have been set back"; "Finally, an eight-foot-high fence ran from Dalton’s house to his shed, located at the rear of his property;"; "argue that perhaps Sullivan saw the fire above Dalton’s house. However, Sullivan testified that when he [entered the barn, the fire had ...]"; "[the barn of] O’Leary, was only fourteen feet in height.(n.10) Dalton’s house was one of the first buildings to be destroyed".
- q0071/q0073 times — App. D [256]: "about twenty minutes past nine to twenty-five minutes past nine.(n) [256] Said I, “It is time for me to [go in ...]"; "Q. The fire broke out about half past nine? A. Yes sir, from twenty to twenty-five minutes past nine." (occurs in a note with "See Daniel Sullivan, Inquiry, vol." and in App. D); chapter: "from about twenty minutes past nine to twenty-five minutes past nine.” As he turned around, ready to go home".
- q0075/q0078 `"8:30"`, `"8:45"` — "cows kicking over a lighted kerosene lamp between 8:30 and 9:00 P.M. on Sunday, October 8; that it was"; "inquiry: “If the O’Learys were in bed and asleep at 8:30 P.M. and for the next half hour, they were certainly"; "[... per]suasively argues that the fire began as early as 8:45 P.M., it is quite possible that the fire started"; "[Dalton testified (?)] that on the night of the fire, at about 8:45 P.M., he heard a woman scream. Dalton maintained"; "that the fire began much earlier, no later than 8:45 P.M. This evidence consists of the recollections"; "favorable light. If the fire broke out at about 8:45 P.M. and not at nine-thirty, then what was Schae[fer ...]"; "correct? Did the O’Leary barn ignite as early at 8:45 P.M.?(n.4) The entire history of the Great Chicago Fire". `"8:40"`, `"8:20"` — 0 hits.
- q0080 `"his mother's cow"` — "he used to go to the barn to bring feed to his mother’s cow. Why would he lie about something that could"; "probably did go to the O’Leary barn to feed his mother’s cow—until Catherine Sullivan’s sons bought her".
- q0085 `perjur*` — 0 hits. q0087 `"cover up"` — Chapter Five is titled "The Inquiry—Charade or Cover-Up?" (running heads pp. 141, 143, 145, 147).
- q0089 `McDermott affidavit` — "Michael McDermott that was published in the Chicago Tribune on October 20. In this affidavit Sullivan"; "Michael McDermott, notary public and surveyor. In October he submitted her “statement and affidavit” (Figure"; "earlier claimed in a sworn affidavit that “Denis Ryan” awakened him. This affidavit was published in the Tribune"; TOC: "Appendix C: “How It Originated”—The McDermott Letter and the O’Leary and Sullivan Affidavits".
- q0083 (bare `smoking`) — Bales's conclusion: "No, I have not. I have no smoking gun; there is no longer even a smoking city that might give testimony".

### Manuscript-page markers as seeds (stream `markers.out`, q0108–q0154; `"[nnn]"` + anchor)
Bales's bracketed transcript page numbers are unique to App. D, but the bare number also matches the many note citations ("Daniel Sullivan, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 255-56 ..."),
which precede App. D in document order, so most markers returned only notes. Direct App. D hits:
- [258] "along. I was hollering and shoving in the door when [258] Leary came out. He had nothing on but his pants" (Sullivan); running head "258 Appendix D" seen beside "...appearance of being a bake shop. Sergeant Lull ... was with me there and stayed with me" (that is a later witness, p. 258 of the book, i.e. App. D runs past Sullivan into the police/fire officers).
- [261] "shut off into stalls? A. No, only they were all [261] tied, one by one by a rope. Q. The door was here" (Sullivan).
- [265] "hundreds of times. Q. Do you recollect noticing at [265] the right hand as you went in any quantity of shav[ings ...]" (Sullivan — the "shavings on the right-hand side" question).
- [270] "Q. Do you know when Dalton’s house took fire? [270] A. I don’t. I didn’t keep account of it. I went" (Sullivan).
- [272] "the rear of it? A. Yes sir. Back up to Leary’s [272] barn.” Q. How wide was that alley? A. I do not know" (Sullivan, end of his testimony).
- [120] "There wasn’t any stream put on that house? A. [120] No sir. Not a stream put on that." (Catherine Sullivan).
- [247] "buildings should you think there was on fire then? [247] A. Be—That is more than I can tell. I will tell" and [248] "time she came there. They gave it two or three [248] splashes. Q. They were trying to put the fire out" (Patrick O'Leary).
- Running heads in App. D name the witness: "Selections from the Transcript of the Inquiry (Hickey) 247" — so book p. 247 is inside Michael C. Hickey's testimony. Queried next for all witnesses.
- Note citations seen incidentally give Bales's note structure, e.g. "39. Daniel Sullivan, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 255. 40. Daniel Sullivan, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 256-58"; "44. Daniel Sullivan, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 256, 260-61, 268, 274; Lewis Fiene, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp ..."; "Daniel Sullivan, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 262 (“There was a party in front of Leary’s house.”)"; "Some sources suggest that Sullivan might ..."; "The present location of these diagrams is ..." (n.21); "4. It appears that Anne Murray, O’Leary’s neighbor ...".

### Lesson (q0156–q0194): never add a frequent bare term to lift a marker
`"[255]" Q` returns the same five fragments for every marker: fragments are ranked by number of highlighted spans, and a Q&A window holds three "Q."s,
so the marker is irrelevant. (Same for `sir`, `the`.) The five recurring fragments are nevertheless testimony text (Sullivan's, possibly Bales's main-text quotations):
"Sullivan: Q. This is Jefferson Street? (Showing diagram) A. Yes sir. Q. This is DeKoven? A. Yes sir. Q. I"; "the lower portion. Q. What seemed to be on fire? A. I couldn’t tell. I got excited. Q. It was filled with";
"of it. Q. They were shut off into stalls? A. No, only they were all tied, one by one by a rope. Q. The"; "their things. Q. Do you know whether they were in before or not? A. No sir. I could not say. Q. What three";
'house there." Q. Put them in the house? A. Yes sir. Q. Almost every house? A. Yes sir. Q. They got them'.

### Priority queries (q0225–q0290; each with anchor)
- q0225 `hobbled` / q0229: "[... a cow in the] barn, suddenly stretched out his legs as Sullivan hobbled by, causing him to lose his balance and fall. No one knows what really happened in the barn on October 8, 1871, but ..." (Bales's reconstruction, ch. 4).
- q0234 `pipe`: "opinion that someone emptied the ashes from his pipe in the alley in the rear of the cow shed, and this"; "“We have still the O’Leary cow, the man with a pipe who passed through the O’Leary back-yard just before"; "that breezy Sunday evening to more easily light a pipe or cigar. He also comments that “a spark alighting"; "strolling down the alley and stopped inside to light a pipe or cigar. But it appears that although the upper"; "previous chapter. While inside, he dropped a match or pipe in some hay or wood shavings. The hay or shavings [caught fire, and ...]".
- q0237 `"wooden leg"`: "Street. He was nicknamed “Peg Leg” because of his wooden leg. (He apparently lost the original in a railroad [accident ...]"; "seem possible that Sullivan, hampered by his wooden leg, would be able to hobble 193 feet, which is more [than ...]"; "November 26, 1871, Chicago Tribune referred to his wooden leg, and although this is undoubtedly correct, it"; "slipped in the O'Leary barn was because “his wooden leg went between two boards, and he half fell over"; "Daniel Sullivan was using a crutch instead of his wooden leg. When the man (then about ten years old) asked".
- q0240 `passageway` (App. B): "O’Leary passageway across the street / + 84.5 feet = the distance from the entrance of this passageway to the [barn]"; "assume that Sullivan would have run through this passageway to get to the barn, which was at the rear of"; "ran parallel to this street in the rear. The passageway that was east of the O’Leary and McLaughlin cottages"; "distance from the DeKoven Street entrance of the passageway that was between the O’Leary/McLaughlin and Dalton [houses]"; "testifying, Mrs. O’Leary acknowledged that the passageway was “between the two houses.” Catharine McLaughlin".
- q0245 `"feet west"`: "presumed to be a point that is two-and-one-half feet west of the O’Leary-Dalton boundary line. See Figure [...]" (App. B p. 199).
- q0248 `"feet east"`: "bought her, a house that was at least seventy-five feet east of Daniel’s house, located at the southwest corner"; "south side of DeKoven Street, but seventy-five feet east of where her son lived. Lot 21 was at the southwest [corner of DeKoven and Clinton streets]"; "DeKoven and Clinton streets and seventy-five feet east of the west half of lot 19. See Chicago Title [...]"; (testimony) "Gale’s was about 150 feet east of where I boarded".
- q0252 `"feet from"`: "building, apparently constructed only a few feet from the O’Leary home (Figures 47, 50, 53)"; "when the fire reached a point about 150 feet from where he lived, he thought he should rescue his"; "the street. This resulted in a taking of ten feet from the front of what would eventually be the O'Leary [lot]"; "Forbes’ house was probably set back only a few feet from DeKoven Street, just like the McLaughlin cottage".
- q0261 `"total distance"`: "in Figure 54, total 90 feet. The estimated total distance that Sullivan claimed he ran can now be determined"; "or 108.17 feet). Therefore, the approximate total distance that Sullivan allegedly traveled would be:".
- q0265 `seconds`: nothing on Sullivan's timing (fragments are about the fire's spread and Hickey's "ran").

---
## STATUS

### Files
- `REPORT.md` (this file), `bales_argument.md` (Part B: argument, measurements, caveats, with query ids; its appendix = all Part-B chain texts),
  `appendixD/<witness>.txt` (Part A: witness texts with [GAP] markers and a provenance header), `chains_dump.md` (every chain, verbatim),
  `query_log.tsv` (ts, qid, tag, query, limit, http, total_hits, n_hits, bales_frags, err), scripts `olq.py` (one query) and `chain.py` (chain driver).
  Working copies of the raw API responses are not included in this folder.

### Exact API pattern that worked
`GET https://openlibrary.org/search/inside.json?q=%22phrase%20one%22%20%22phrase%20two%22%20...&limit=10` (browser User-Agent; ~1 req/s; retry on 500/502/503/504/429 and on TCP resets, which are frequent through the proxy — roughly one in eight requests needed a retry, none were permanent).
Response: `hits.hits[]` (one per book) → `fields.identifier[0]=="greatchicagofire0000bale"`, `highlight.text[]` = up to 5 fragments with `{{{...}}}` markers. Best practice found: 4 quoted 6-word phrases per query (one fragment each), plus the unique anchor phrase `"loosened them as quick as I could"` whenever a query has fewer than 3 phrases. No way was found to raise the 5-fragment cap, to get page numbers, to exclude the note citations, or to use OR/NOT. The 2005 paperback has no separate IA item; the digitized item itself is the McFarland paperback reprint ("first published in 2002 by McFarland", ISBN 0-7864-2358-7 on the back cover; hardcover 2002 ISBN was 0-7864-1424-3 [from memory, not from the scan]).

### Coverage — Appendix D ("Selections from the Transcript of the Inquiry", book pp. ~203–275)
Structure learned: pp. 203–208 editorial intro + witness list ("#3—William Musham, foreman, Steamer Little Giant No. 6, Friday, November 24; #4—William Mullin, foreman, Steamer [Illinois] ... #22—John Tolland, keeper of the crib of the lake tunnel, Tuesday, November 28; #23—George E. Fuller, night operator ... alarm telegraph; #24—Denis J. Swenie, foreman, ... #25—Alexander McMonagle, foreman, Steamer Fred Gund No. 14, Tuesday, November 28; #29—John Campion, first pipeman, Steamer Little Giant No. 6; #30—Peter T. [Burtis]"), then witnesses with running heads "Selections from the Transcript of the Inquiry (Name) p": Brown (statement, ~209–213), Schaefer (~214–215+), Catherine O'Leary (5th witness, ~216–223), Catherine Sullivan (7th, 224–225), Regan (8th, 226–227), McLaughlin (12th, 228–233), Patrick O'Leary (13th, 234–235), Daniel Sullivan (14th, 236–242), Hickey (243–249), Tolland (~251–253), Hildreth (255–261), Williams (263–275?), then Appendix E "After the Inquiry"—the December 12, 1871 Report of the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners. No running heads exist for Musham, Conway, Schimmals, Rau or Fiene (queries q0238–q0254 = 0 hits): their testimony is NOT reprinted in Appendix D (Bales cites them only in notes). Michael Conway, George Rau, William Musham, Christian Schimmels: nothing to recover from App. D; only note citations (e.g. "William Musham, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 29; Christian Schimmals, Inquiry, vol. [1], pp. 131-33; Michael W. Conway, Inquiry, vol. [2], pp. 2-3, 24-26, 25, 38-39; George Rau, Inquiry, vol. [1], p. 179").
Recovered (see appendixD/*.txt; each file lists its chains and [GAP]s):
- Daniel Sullivan — PARTIAL, 9 non-contiguous segments (~2.7k of an estimated ~14k characters): heading + "134 DeKoven Street ... I drive dray. I am a drayman in this city for the last fifteen or [sixteen years?]"; [256] "Said I, 'It is time for me to go in'"; the sidewalk answer ("Isat down on the sidewalk, a big high sidewalk that was there. There was a great big high fence not as high as that door. I sat ..."); [258] "I was hollering and shoving in the door when Leary came out. He had nothing on but his pants"; "barn when you went in? A. In the lower portion. Q. What seemed to be on fire? A. I couldn’t tell. I got excited. Q. It was filled with fire? A. It was all smoke and fire and flames"; [261] stalls/rope; [265] shavings on the right hand as you went in / "The south side of the barn, a little ..."; [270] Dalton's house took fire / lot 21 note; [272] "Back up to Leary’s barn. Q. How wide was that alley? A. I do not know [... feet]". The passage on what he first saw ("I got up and run across" beside running head 237) is only in the fragment "237 Leary’s barn. I got up and run across" (q0345) — not yet chained.
- Dennis Regan — PARTIAL: heading + first answers (Q/A letters dropped by OCR): "Where do you live? DeKoven Street. What number? 1[12]? What is your business? Laborer. Was that between Clinton and [Jefferson] ..." and the running-head fragment "(Regan) [227] Q. You don’t know who were [...]".
- Catherine Sullivan — PARTIAL: heading "sworn (7th witness) Examined by Mr. Brown / Q. Where do you live? A. On the south side of DeKoven Street" + [120] "There wasn’t any stream put on that house? A. No sir. Not a stream put on that. / Catherine Sullivan [note: Mrs. Sullivan originally took ...]".
- Catharine McLaughlin — heading only ("[223] Catharine McLaughlin sworn November 25, 1871 (12th witness) Q. Where do you live? A"), plus stray fragments: "(McLaughlin) 229 Q. Whose coffee mill? A. I"; "231 Q. You hadn’t seen any firemen"; "233 11. The commissioners and marshals"; "Do you know whether they were in before or not? A. No sir. I could not say. Q. What three boys were these? A. Denny Connors"; "Q. Put them in the house? A. Yes sir. Q. Almost every house? A. Yes sir. Q. They got them because they" (witness uncertain).
- Patrick O'Leary — PARTIAL: heading + "Where do you live? A. [137] DeKoven Street. Q. The house that wasn’t burnt? A. Yes sir. Q. On the north side of DeKoven Street, fronting ..."; [247] "buildings should you think there was on fire then? A. Be—That is more than I can tell. I will tell [... I] couldn’t see anything but the fire. Q. Just about ..."; [248] "They gave it two or three splashes. Q. They were trying to put the fire out [...] stop the fire. A. Yes sir. I suppose ...".
- Catherine O'Leary — opening only: "Mrs. Catherine Leary sworn (5th witness) Examination by Mr. Chadwick / Q. What do you know about this fire? A. I was in bed myself and my husband and five children when this fire commenced. [...] was burnt and the horse, wagon, and harness [... I was] the owner of them five cows that ... I had two tons of coal and two tons of hay. I had everything that I wanted in ...". Also from the main text: "Kate the barn is afire!", "Did Mrs. Leary generally do the milking? A. Yes sir. Mrs. Leary used to do the milking".
- William J. Brown — opening of his written statement: "[1] William J. Brown, telegraph operator at the courthouse, being duly sworn on oath, declares that he went on duty at the central office at four o’clock Sunday evening, October 8, [...] remained on duty until 12:30 same evening. At 9:30 I received ...". Mathias Schaefer — not started (his heading form unknown; running head "(Schaefer) 215" exists).
- Not recovered at all: Conway, Rau, Musham, Schimmels (not in App. D), Hickey/Tolland/Hildreth/Williams (not requested).

### Coverage — Part B (bales_argument.md)
Recovered with numbers: the property reconstruction (lots 18/19/21, Block 38, 50 × 118-foot lots, 25-foot White parcels, 15-foot alley, DeKoven widened 40→60 feet, ten-foot takings), the sightline argument (Dalton's house set back "as much as thirty-seven feet", eight-foot fence, barn 20 × 16 × 14 feet, Forbes house, Figure 78), the distance arithmetic (12½ + 75 + 2½ = 90 feet; √(90² + 60²) = 108.17 feet; 100.5 − 16 = 84.5 feet; total 192.67 ≈ 193 feet, "more than one-half the length of a football field"), the timing (9:20–9:25 by Sullivan; Bales's 8:45 P.M. discussion; 8:30 "very good sleepers"), the reconstruction (Sullivan and Regan resting in the barn, match or pipe, hobbled/fell, "No one knows what really happened in the barn ... but the evidence seems clear that the fire was not caused by Mrs. O’Leary’s [cow]"), the affidavit-vs-testimony roof contradiction, the mother's-cow motive, Ahern/Haynie/English and Louis M. Cohn.
Not recovered: any seconds/minutes estimate for Sullivan's run (none found; `seconds`, `"one minute"`, `"wooden leg"` fragments contain no time figure); the full text of Appendix B's McDermott/Mrs. White/McLaughlin-party sections (only the opening "[Daniel Sullivan] left the house, and, while on the opposite side of the street ..." and scattered sentences); the Figure 51 caption body; the pages of Figures 54/78 are inferred, not read.