<p><span class="deck"> More than any world’s fair before or since, the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893 had a lasting effect on its visitors, the taste of the times, and the lusty community that brought it forth</span> </p>
<p>Built for speed, with light hull and heavy superstructure, the tall <i>Eastland </i> was unstable. On a sunny Saturday in July, thousands crowded aboard for what turned out to be an excursion to death</p>
<p>People who know nothing else about Chicago’s Great Conflagration have heard of Mrs. O’Leary and her famous cow. But the disaster's real origins are more complicated. </p>
