# Chicago Tribune, 1871-11-27, page 2 -- Tribune editorial comment on the investigation so far, Monday 27 Nov. 1871
# Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America, lccn sn82014064; page URL https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82014064/1871-11-27/ed-1/?sp=2
# OCR full text from https://tile.loc.gov/text-services/word-coordinates-service?segment=/service/ndnp/dlc/batch_dlc_clark_ver03/data/sn82014064/no_reel/1871112701/0002.xml&format=alto_xml&full_text=1
# Lines 283-321 of the page OCR (uncorrected OCR, column order as delivered by LoC). Fetched 2026-09-14T06:25:57Z.
# STATUS: newspaper report of the testimony, mostly in reported speech with some direct quotation -- NOT the stenographic transcript.

The investigation now in progress, with a
view to ascertain tlie origin of tlio Chicago
tiro, and the responsibility for its extensive
spread, will, wo hope, result in something
tangible. Nevertheless, it must bo admitted
that very little satisfactory information has
been obtained. The Commissioners have,
however, brought out these facts, viz., that
Mrs. O’Leary wont to bed at half-past S
o’clock on the night of the lire, on account
of her “sore fut;” that Pat McLaughlin,
the fiddler, resides in the front part of the
O’Leary mansion; that Mrs. Sullivan, who
lives opposite the O’Learys, did not save as
mnch from the lire as she conld twist around
her Unger; that Mrs. O’Leary heard Mrs.
White say that McLaughlin had a party,
and tho party wanted oysters, and the
oysters wanted milk to be shtewed” in,
and that they went out an 4 milked her
(O’Leary’s) cow, and that, finally, considera
ble know-nothingism can bo developed
among the Irish, since none of the people
in thar vicinity have any idea of how
long it was, or how far tho fire had got, be
fore tho engines arrived. The McLaughlins
acknowledge that they were having asocial
entertainment in honor of a green-horn”
relative who had just arrived from Ireland.
(The particulars of this entertainment wore
lost by the destruction of the Times news
paper.) But they deny having indulged in
milk pnnch or oyster shtews,” or having
milked the O’Leary cows after Mrs. O’Leary
had gone to bed. All the witnesses seem
agreed that there was a pile of shavings in
tho bam, and that tho fire was first observed
on the side of tho barii where tho shavings
wore stored.