Page Four CLicaao Sunday Tribune The 40 Year Streeterville War

.•Ma" Streeter as late as 1923, standing before her houseboat, the Vamoose, ready to defend it against invaders.

the Maria, and used her in car- Streeter and the property own- jected to the presence of Police rying passengers from the down ers took on the form of pro- Captain Barney Baer and two town district to the fair grounds longed warfare. To the banners bullets were sent through the The end of the houseboat Vamoose. It was bumed by orders of the cit on the south side. By that time of the Cap'n flocked an assort- top of the policeman's buggy. in 1928. (Tribunephotoa.) he had converted an abandoned ment of folk who wanted to see The next day 500 policemen sur- scow into a house, and in that his wealthy opponents beaten. rounded the District. There was descended in force, raided the when the old fellow gave up th he and Maria lived. Streeter even organized an asso- much maneuvering and skir- Cap'n's place, his castle near the ghost on Jan. 24, 1921, at th As this was transpiring a great ciation and sold and leased lots, mishing, and finally one lone foot of Chestnut street, seized ripe age of 84. Death came t building boom struck Chicago. One William N. Niles was given Lincoln park policeman captured hundreds of bottles of beer, and him on his houseboat as it la There was much excavating nee by Streeter, or assumed on his Streeter's entire army. All were carried Streeter and "Ma" off moored off East Chicago. essary and contractors were own initiative, the title of "mili· acquitted. in a police ambulance. Upon the passing of the age anxious to find dumping grounds tary governor of the District of The killing in Streeterville in This marked the beginning of battler an effort was made t close at hand. The waste of Lake Michigan," The belliger- 1902 of a man by the name of the end of the old man, although substitute" Ma " Streeter as th sand around Streeter's scow was ency of the Cap'n and his bat- John Kirk brought Streeter and he still was full of flght. In 1918 Cap'n George Wellington Streeter of the" Deestrict of Lake Michigan:' plaintif in the case, but it wa inviting, and literally millions tling wife, Maria, began to share others before the courts to he and ••Ma" returned one day shown that she had not bee of tons of refuse, earth, and space in the newspapers with answer for the man's death. to their home to find it in ruins. legally married to the Cap'n an gravel were hauled to the spot. the legal aspects of the case. Streeter finally was found guilty He took to life afioat again. His therefore could not be consi An Old Squatter's Futile In fact, the Cap'n himself later The property owners engaged of manslaughter in connection houseboat went up the north ered as his widow. When th said that a number of eontrac- batteries of lawyers, and Street- with the case and. starting in branch of the Chicago river, heirs of Streeter discovered tha tors paid him for the privilege er marshaled his own legal February 1903, actually served then out and down the lake to a there was a judgment stand in Fight for Property of using the section as a dump- corps. AI>attorneys wrangled several months in Joliet peni- beach near East Chicago, so that against him for which the ing ground. Streeter combed the over points of law, Streeter and tentiary before he was freed on he might establish an Indiana would be liable if they entere (Continued from page one.) river, it is generally believed refuse for old iron, copper, and his wife held forth with lethal habeas corpus proceedings. In residence and get proper juris- the case as plaintifs, they elec pending in the United States that the actual spot of the other junk. While the waste weapons, ready upon a mo- the meanwhile, his wife, Maria, diction for renewed legal action. ed to keep clear of that partie District court in Chicago. They grounding was off the foot of material piled up, the waves of ment's notice to pounce upon had died. While living on the north branch lar bit of litigation, preferrin are trying to collect damages Superior street, just east of St. the lake, trapped by the pier at anyone found "trespassing" In April, 1906,according to the of the river, he stepped from his to file their own suit later. from present owners of prop- Clair street. the north of the river, brought upon Streeterville. It was in Cap'n's statement, he married houseboat one evening to ad- The battle, so far as the 01 erty in StreetervHle, an area It always was Streeter's con- in more land to add to Streeter- 1899 that five policemen cap- Elma Lockwood, who ever after dress the Dill Pickle club. He man was concerned, therefor the value of which eight years tention that his vessel sank in ville. tured the Cap'n In an unguarded was known as "Ma" Streeter. said: came to an end shortly after hi ago was estimated as high as very shallow water and that the Property owners along the moment. As the bluecoats be- He took her to live in a brick "The courts tried to get me death, leaving the property ow 800 million dollars. action of the waves built an original lake shore saw Street- gan to gloat over their feat a house that he had erected not a on everything but adultery, and ers of Streeterville still in po Streeter was a picturesque island around the craft, but an- ervIlle taking large proportions. shower of boiling water de great distance from the site of I beat them every time." session of their various parcel old fellow. He served in the other story is to the effect that On the basis of the fact that scended upon them. Maria had the old scow. of land. Their titles wer Civil war, became a showman, he had his boat dragged into their deeds entitled them to seized a kettle and dashed to Three years later the old fel- • • • based upon old deeds, accretion a steamboat operator, and a shore upon property owned by their land to the very water's the rescue. In the confusion low once more broke into print. (land formed in the lake at th country fair faker. In the spring N. K. Fairbank, who, according edge, they held that this newly Streeter freed himself and Marching down to the foot of This statement, of course, was water's edge of their properties of 1886 he built and launched to testimony at subsequent hear- added land rightfully was theirs. grabbed his rifie. Chicago avenue and discovering a gross exaggeration. Although and old contracts with the Li in Chicago a small boat which ings in the controversy over the Among these property owners a gang of workmen engaged in he had appeared innumerable coIn park commission. he called the Reutan. He had ownership of Streeterville land, were wealthy men, such as the • • • civic improvements, he doffed times in state and federal courts. ••Ma" Streeter lived on unt planned to employ this vessel ordered the Cap'n off time and previously mentioned Mr. Fair- During the following year sev- his aged plug hat and said: he never had been able to ob- the autumn of 1936,when at th in river passenger service some- time again. bank, Potter Palmer, and Gen eral shots were fired within the " I warn you that you are tres- tain a title to the land lying age of 65 she breathed her la where in the west with the idea At any rate, here was Streeter Charles Fitz-Simons. It should dangerous precincts of the Dis- passing upon my property and within the District. His claim in the County hospital. Aft of obtaining as a reward land and his wife, Iivlng on a stranded be borne in mind, however, that trict. Once Samuel Avery tried that I will have you all arrested was based upon squatter's the Cap'n's death she had rna and punished." rights, upon his allegation that grants from the government. boat in the fall of 1886,near the the Potter Palmer mansion in to build a fence across the good her promise to carry 0 As his plans were taking form, foot of Superior street, the Lake Shore drive, to the north, Cap'n's deadline, and was pep- For his efforts, the Cap'n he had built up the land corn- his fight for ownership of t however, he put the craft into waves piling up sand around his was not involved. pered with bird shot. A month found himself once more briefly prising Streeterville, and upon land in Streeterville. Despi service on Lake Michigan, mak- curious' dwelling. Land grew so The controversy between later the military governor ob- behind the bars. old documents bearing the sig- court efforts to remove her, s ing trips to Milwaukee and other Streeter saw a chance to make nature of President Cleveland. continued to live aboard h nearby ports. On July 10, 1886, money selling beer on Sundays These last, in the form of grants houseboat, the Vamoose, until according to his own story, he to thirsty pilgrims from across from the government, were dis- finally rotted to the water lin took a private party to Milwau- the border in Illinois. Business cussed as follows in a master It was burned by the city i kee on the Reutan. A storm started off briskly, but it was of chancery's report as far back 1928. In 1924 "Ma" filed su blew up and his passengers de- not long before the authorities as 1918: for a billion dollars against t cided against making the return heard about it. So one Sunday, ••Streeter claims title since Chicago Title and Trust co trip ,to Chicago. Streeter, his some time in 1915,the invaders 1886 by virtue of two alleged pany and some 1,500lake sho wife, Maria, and his crew start- property owners. She ceased t ed back without the passengers. be active as a court principa Years later Streeter's experi- however, when Federal Jud ence on that eventful day was James H. Wilkerson ruled th described in the following her marriage to Cap'n Street words: was illegal. It was proved "By the time we reached that time that the Cap'n ha Racine we encountered a tel" married one Mary Collins i rific storm which did not abate South Bend, Ind., in 1905 an its fury for many hours, and by had never taken the trouble t that time the Reutan was a obtain a divorce. badly damaged wreck lying on a sandbar off Chicago harbor, • • behind the government break- • water on the north shore . In 1929 twenty-three heirs ••It was about 10 o'clock at Streeter filed a declaration night when we drifted near the federal court asking $5,000, breakwater .... We were then damages of 3,500individuals an at the mercy of the wind and corporations. The tract involve waves, helplessly drifting about. in the suit was the famo Fortunately or unfortunately, Streeterville district. Among th just as you may choose to judge defendants were Stanley Fiel by subsequent events, the wind Facsimile of document which, with other claims, was tbe basis of Cap'n Streeter's contention that he was the A scene at the Cap'n'. funeral. Note the flag and the plug hat atop Potter Palmer Jr., Kellogg Fai drove us behind the breakwa- owner of the property comprising Streeterville. the casket. bank, the Drake hotel owner ter, narrowly missing a colll- the Furniture Mart, the Pal sion with the pier. Just as soon rapidly that it was not long until land warants, recorded and pur- olive building, the Ogden T. M as we were clear of this danger a hundred acres of white sand ported to be signed by former Clurg estate, Northwestern un I cast anchor overboard, hoping had sprung up around the President Grover Cleveland, by versity, the University of Ch to prevent the vessel from run- stranded boat. Streeter called Hoke Smith, secretary, and S. cago, the city of Chicago, t ning aground on the beach. But this stretch of beach ••District W. Lamereaux, recorder in the state of Illinois, George the sea was so strong that it of Lake Michigan." He pro- land office. Hoke Smith never Dixon, Frank J. Loesch, Hono not only broke over the boat in nounced it ••Deestrict." It was was secretary to the President, Palmer, the Chicago Title an tremendous waves, but it also no part of Illinois, he said. "No, but at the time was secretary Trust company, the Illinois Me dragged the anchor across the sir! It was a separate common- of the interior, and Lamereaux chants Trust company, th bottom of the lake, which at wealth under the direct juris- never was recorder." Northern Trust compan that point was not very deep. diction of the federal govern- The name of Hoke Smith was Charles H. Swift, Joseph Leite "The boat finally stranded in ment." It was not until 1889 written in as "Oak Smith." Silas H. Strawn, George A. M a shallow body of water when that physical efforts were made Most of Streeter's battling was Kinlock, and Augustus S. Pe 451 feet from the shore." to evict the Cap'n. In July of done with him in the role of a body. Although reports have varied that year Streeter and his val- defendant. but on Sept. 5, 1920, This is the suit that was r as to the exact spot where iant Maria, with loaded rifles, he took the offensive, when he manded to the federal Distri Streeter's boat went aground, drove five constables out of the filed his famous suit against the court after an appeal by t some placing it as far north as District of Lake Michigan. Chicago Title and Trust corn- Streeter heirs in 1932to the fe the foot of Oak street and According to the Cap'n's story, pany and a number of other de- eral Circuit Court of Appeal others near the pier just north he repaired the Reutan, refloated fendants. The case had scarcely It still is pending in the Distri of the mouth of the Chicago her in 1893, rechristened her Debris left in the wake of a raid on Streeter's headquarters in Streeterville. gotten under way, however, court.