FWIW, In 1997, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution exonerating Catherine O’Leary and her cow.
The myth is that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern and started the fire probably came about when people combined two separate accounts of the origin of the fire. One report claimed the fire was started by a cow. Another said the fire started near the O’Leary barn. The two stories became intertwined, and anti-Irish, anti-immigrant sentiment clicked in, and as a result, poor Mrs. O’Leary and her cow became metaphorical ruminants of the scapegoat kind.
Clumsy people are funny. Mr. Larson apparently believed that extended to clumsy bovines, as well. If you’re one of the people who isn’t amused by clumsy people, you probably aren’t amused by this, either.
Ok,.but are these scenes from various parts of that cow’s life, or scenes from that one fateful day, somehow leading up to the outbreak of the fire? Honest, I can’t put together the narrative.
Mitch4 – They are depicting various clumsy accidents she had through out her life. She’s even depicted as being different ages in some of them (hence her skinniness in the early panels.)
And yes, the joke here is that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow had a long history of clumsiness– she was klutzy calf, a ham-fisted heifer, and later, a maladroit milker– in general, she was a bungling bovine, or as depicted here, a heavy-handed Holstein (or if you prefer, a fumbling Friesian) (although most of the older drawings of the alleged event depict the cow in question as what appears to me to be a Shorthorn or an Ayrshire).
“are these scenes from various parts of that cow’s life, or scenes from that one fateful day”
While the clues in the artwork described above give the answer, so does the text of the caption. It refers to “the life and times of…” and not “a day in the life of…” the famous cow.
“… The two stories became intertwined, and anti-Irish, anti-immigrant sentiment clicked in, and as a result, poor Mrs. O’Leary and her cow became metaphorical ruminants of the scapegoat kind. ”
ja, you may as well add lactose-intolerant to that list.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Mr.s O’Leary’s cow allegedly started the Chicago Fire. Apparently, she was a clumsy calf.
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What James Pollock said…
FWIW, In 1997, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution exonerating Catherine O’Leary and her cow.
The myth is that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern and started the fire probably came about when people combined two separate accounts of the origin of the fire. One report claimed the fire was started by a cow. Another said the fire started near the O’Leary barn. The two stories became intertwined, and anti-Irish, anti-immigrant sentiment clicked in, and as a result, poor Mrs. O’Leary and her cow became metaphorical ruminants of the scapegoat kind.
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Sure, but what’s the joke?
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” what’s the joke?”
Clumsy people are funny. Mr. Larson apparently believed that extended to clumsy bovines, as well. If you’re one of the people who isn’t amused by clumsy people, you probably aren’t amused by this, either.
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Ok,.but are these scenes from various parts of that cow’s life, or scenes from that one fateful day, somehow leading up to the outbreak of the fire? Honest, I can’t put together the narrative.
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Mitch4 – They are depicting various clumsy accidents she had through out her life. She’s even depicted as being different ages in some of them (hence her skinniness in the early panels.)
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Thanks! I can (mostly) see it now.
(So the big X on the barn door was a longterm feature, and not a clue that panels 3 and 4 were around the same limited time. Hunh.)
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>>So the big X on the barn door was a longterm feature
Diagonal braces are very common on barn doors, and often highlighted in white when painting a classic red barn.
e.g. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/hobbyfarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/18104250/better-barn_istock-thinkstock.jpg
And yes, the joke here is that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow had a long history of clumsiness– she was klutzy calf, a ham-fisted heifer, and later, a maladroit milker– in general, she was a bungling bovine, or as depicted here, a heavy-handed Holstein (or if you prefer, a fumbling Friesian) (although most of the older drawings of the alleged event depict the cow in question as what appears to me to be a Shorthorn or an Ayrshire).
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The X is cross-bracing. Commonly used in doors or gates that are constructed of lumber that’s not joined.
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“are these scenes from various parts of that cow’s life, or scenes from that one fateful day”
While the clues in the artwork described above give the answer, so does the text of the caption. It refers to “the life and times of…” and not “a day in the life of…” the famous cow.
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Okay, thanks everyone! As I confessed earlier, I am just no good with wordless comics.
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“… The two stories became intertwined, and anti-Irish, anti-immigrant sentiment clicked in, and as a result, poor Mrs. O’Leary and her cow became metaphorical ruminants of the scapegoat kind. ”
ja, you may as well add lactose-intolerant to that list.
badumpump
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ja, thank you for that very, very desciptive comment!
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