On February 13, 1875 the Chicago Times ran a story describing a fire in a local theater. It claimed that more than 200 people had died in the flames, and it published the names of 108 victims. In fact, there had not been any fire, which people would have known if they had paid careful attention to the headline of the story which read "Description of a Suppositious Holocaust Likely to Occur Any Night." The rival Chicago Tribune denounced the hoax, and reported that a woman had collapsed and become insane after seeing her husband's name listed among the victims. However, the Tribune admitted in the same story that this report was, in turn, a hoax.

References: "Burned Alive!" Chicago Times (February 13, 1875): 1.