With his success as an editorial writer , Hay 's duties expanded . In October 1871 , he journeyed to Chicago after the great fire there , interviewing Mrs. O'Leary , whose cow was said to have started the blaze , describing her as " a woman with a lamp who went to the barn behind the house , to milk the cow with the crumpled temper , that kicked the lamp , that spilled the kerosene , that fired the straw that burned Chicago " . His work at the '' Tribune '' came as his fame as a poet was reaching its peak , and one colleague described it as " a liberal education in the delights of intellectual life to sit in intimate companionship with John Hay and watch the play of that well-stored and brilliant mind " . In addition to writing , Hay was signed by the prestigious Boston Lyceum Bureau , whose clients included Mark Twain and Susan B. Anthony , to give lectures on the prospects for democracy in Europe , and on his years in the Lincoln White House
great fire there
Great Chicago Fire
John Hay