# Catharine McLaughlin, of No. 137 DeKoven street (tenant of the front part of the O'Leary house; OCR-garbled name line)
# Testimony before the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners, session of Saturday 25 Nov. 1871 (day 3), as reported in the Chicago Tribune of 1871-11-26, page 1
# Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America (lccn sn82014064): https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82014064/1871-11-26/ed-1/?sp=1 ; OCR text https://tile.loc.gov/text-services/word-coordinates-service?segment=/service/ndnp/dlc/batch_dlc_clark_ver03/data/sn82014064/no_reel/1871112601/0001.xml&format=alto_xml&full_text=1
# Page-OCR lines 56-98; uncorrected OCR; written 2026-09-14T06:29:58Z.
# STATUS: NEWSPAPER REPORT (reported speech with some direct quotation) -- not the stenographic transcript. Bales: Inquiry vol. [1], pp. 223-43.

H c.vm.vHixE ii'L.vnr.in.xx,
-fir No. 137 Dekuvcn street, testified that she had
.Hived iu the front part of Leary’s house, but did
iSotret-ide there now. She knew nothing about
-She origin of the fire. Some one cried out Fire,”
Snd she looked around the side of the house uud
*aw Leary’s barn was burning, aud the rear part
of Mr. Dalton’s house Just igniting. There were
r five young men uud two young women at her
.'.house that night. A “greenhorn cousin of hers
IT had just arrived from Ireland, and her friends
and cousins came iu to see him. Her husband
pbived two tunes on his fiddle, and one of the
vjt- women danced a “bout” and another u polka.
That was all the dancing that was done. Uue of
the company went out once or twice during tho
4 ev\ niug, and brought lu half a gullou of beer.
J They dien't cat anything* and she did not cook
anything—did not start the stove. “Before God
f this dsiv,” she didn’t cook anything. The company
J was in the house at the time the lire broke om. She
I got along pleasantly with Mrs. Leary, uud
1 assisted in saving the home from btiug destroy
1 cri. Boys could go into the alley near the bara,
a ss there wtts nothing to prevent them. She did
ns.t notice any engines when she went to look
H where the lire was; hut a few miuutes after
waul there was a steamer ou the corner of Juf-
B’ fer.-on end DeKuvcn streets. She could not tell
B exactly how long a time elipsed between thodls-
B ei>M-iy of the lire and the arrival of the engines;
B Inn die thought about tin minutes. She did nut
H know whether Mrs Leary was in th-' habit of
milking her cows at night- She hved iu tbo front
B part ol the house, and the burn could have been
B turned upside down and she wooldnot have known
B it. Mrs. Learv generally did tho milking about 5
B -Aleck. Tho *bavn was about 40 feet from tho
B house. None of the company went out to get
K milk for punch. She never had sucha thing in
B the house. .She did not know, of herownknovvl-
Bcdge. that Mrs. Lcaiy had saved a calf from tho
Bbaru.