clicaao sunday tribune the 40 year streeterville...

Page Four

Cap'n George Wellington Streeter of the" Deestrict of Lake Michigan:'

An Old Squatter's FutileFight for Property

(Continued from page one.)pending in the United StatesDistrict court in Chicago. Theyare trying to collect damagesfrom present owners of prop-erty in StreetervHle, an areathe value of which eight yearsago was estimated as high as800 million dollars.

Streeter was a picturesqueold fellow. He served in theCivil war, became a showman,a steamboat operator, and acountry fair faker. In the springof 1886 he built and launchedin Chicago a small boat whichhe called the Reutan. He hadplanned to employ this vesselin river passenger service some-where in the west with the ideaof obtaining as a reward landgrants from the government.As his plans were taking form,however, he put the craft intoservice on Lake Michigan, mak-ing trips to Milwaukee and othernearby ports. On July 10, 1886,according to his own story, hetook a private party to Milwau-kee on the Reutan. A stormblew up and his passengers de-cided against making the returntrip ,to Chicago. Streeter, hiswife, Maria, and his crew start-ed back without the passengers.Years later Streeter's experi-ence on that eventful day wasdescribed in the followingwords:

"By the time we reachedRacine we encountered a tel"rific storm which did not abateits fury for many hours, and bythat time the Reutan was abadly damaged wreck lying ona sandbar off Chicago harbor,behind the government break-water on the north shore .

••It was about 10 o'clock atnight when we drifted near thebreakwater .... We were thenat the mercy of the wind andwaves, helplessly drifting about.Fortunately or unfortunately,just as you may choose to judgeby subsequent events, the winddrove us behind the breakwa-ter, narrowly missing a colll-sion with the pier. Just as soonas we were clear of this dangerI cast anchor overboard, hopingto prevent the vessel from run-ning aground on the beach. Butthe sea was so strong that itnot only broke over the boat intremendous waves, but it alsodragged the anchor across thebottom of the lake, which atthat point was not very deep.

"The boat finally stranded ina shallow body of water when451 feet from the shore."

Although reports have variedas to the exact spot whereStreeter's boat went aground,some placing it as far north asthe foot of Oak street andothers near the pier just northof the mouth of the Chicago

river, it is generally believedthat the actual spot of thegrounding was off the foot ofSuperior street, just east of St.Clair street.

It always was Streeter's con-tention that his vessel sank invery shallow water and that theaction of the waves built anisland around the craft, but an-other story is to the effect thathe had his boat dragged intoshore upon property owned byN. K. Fairbank, who, accordingto testimony at subsequent hear-ings in the controversy over theownership of Streeterville land,ordered the Cap'n off time andtime again.

At any rate, here was Streeterand his wife, Iivlng on a strandedboat in the fall of 1886,near thefoot of Superior street, thewaves piling up sand around hiscurious' dwelling. Land grew so

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-rying passengers from the downtown district to the fair groundson the south side. By that timehe had converted an abandonedscow into a house, and in thathe and Maria lived.

As this was transpiring a greatbuilding boom struck Chicago.There was much excavating neeessary and contractors wereanxious to find dumping groundsclose at hand. The waste ofsand around Streeter's scow wasinviting, and literally millionsof tons of refuse, earth, andgravel were hauled to the spot.In fact, the Cap'n himself latersaid that a number of eontrac-tors paid him for the privilegeof using the section as a dump-ing ground. Streeter combed therefuse for old iron, copper, andother junk. While the wastematerial piled up, the waves ofthe lake, trapped by the pier atthe north of the river, broughtin more land to add to Streeter-ville.

Property owners along theoriginal lake shore saw Street-ervIlle taking large proportions.On the basis of the fact thattheir deeds entitled them totheir land to the very water'sedge, they held that this newlyadded land rightfully was theirs.Among these property ownerswere wealthy men, such as thepreviously mentioned Mr. Fair-bank, Potter Palmer, and GenCharles Fitz-Simons. It shouldbe borne in mind, however, thatthe Potter Palmer mansion inLake Shore drive, to the north,was not involved.

The controversy between

Streeter and the property own-ers took on the form of pro-longed warfare. To the bannersof the Cap'n flocked an assort-ment of folk who wanted to seehis wealthy opponents beaten.Streeter even organized an asso-ciation and sold and leased lots,One William N. Niles was givenby Streeter, or assumed on hisown initiative, the title of "mili·tary governor of the District ofLake Michigan," The belliger-ency of the Cap'n and his bat-tling wife, Maria, began to sharespace in the newspapers withthe legal aspects of the case.The property owners engagedbatteries of lawyers, and Street-er marshaled his own legalcorps. AI>attorneys wrangledover points of law, Streeter andhis wife held forth with lethalweapons, ready upon a mo-ment's notice to pounce uponanyone found "trespassing"upon Streeterville. It was in1899 that five policemen cap-tured the Cap'n Inan unguardedmoment. As the bluecoats be-gan to gloat over their feat ashower of boiling water descended upon them. Maria hadseized a kettle and dashed tothe rescue. In the confusionStreeter freed himself andgrabbed his rifie.

• ••During the following year sev-

eral shots were fired within thedangerous precincts of the Dis-trict. Once Samuel Avery triedto build a fence across theCap'n's deadline, and was pep-pered with bird shot. A monthlater the military governor ob-

Facsimile of document which, with other claims, was tbe basis of Cap'n Streeter's contention that he was theowner of the property comprising Streeterville.

rapidly that it was not long untila hundred acres of white sandhad sprung up around thestranded boat. Streeter calledthis stretch of beach ••Districtof Lake Michigan." He pro-nounced it ••Deestrict." It wasno part of Illinois, he said. "No,sir! It was a separate common-wealth under the direct juris-diction of the federal govern-ment." It was not until 1889that physical efforts were madeto evict the Cap'n. In July ofthat year Streeter and his val-iant Maria, with loaded rifles,drove five constables out of theDistrict of Lake Michigan.

According to the Cap'n's story,he repaired the Reutan, refloatedher in 1893, rechristened her

jected to the presence of PoliceCaptain Barney Baer and twobullets were sent through thetop of the policeman's buggy.The next day 500 policemen sur-rounded the District. There wasmuch maneuvering and skir-mishing, and finally one loneLincoln park policeman capturedStreeter's entire army. All wereacquitted.

The killing in Streeterville in1902 of a man by the name ofJohn Kirk brought Streeter andothers before the courts toanswer for the man's death.Streeter finally was found guiltyof manslaughter in connectionwith the case and. starting inFebruary 1903, actually servedseveral months in Joliet peni-tentiary before he was freed onhabeas corpus proceedings. Inthe meanwhile, his wife, Maria,had died.

In April, 1906,according to theCap'n's statement, he marriedElma Lockwood, who ever afterwas known as "Ma" Streeter.He took her to live in a brickhouse that he had erected not agreat distance from the site ofthe old scow.

Three years later the old fel-low once more broke into print.Marching down to the foot ofChicago avenue and discoveringa gang of workmen engaged incivic improvements, he doffedhis aged plug hat and said:

" I warn you that you are tres-passing upon my property andthat I will have you all arrestedand punished."

For his efforts, the Cap'nfound himself once more brieflybehind the bars.

Streeter saw a chance to makemoney selling beer on Sundaysto thirsty pilgrims from acrossthe border in Illinois. Businessstarted off briskly, but it wasnot long before the authoritiesheard about it. So one Sunday,some time in 1915, the invaders

The end of the houseboat Vamoose. It was bumed by orders of the citin 1928. (Tribunephotoa.)

descended in force, raided theCap'n's place, his castle near thefoot of Chestnut street, seizedhundreds of bottles of beer, andcarried Streeter and "Ma" offin a police ambulance.

This marked the beginning ofthe end of the old man, althoughhe still was full of flght. In 1918he and ••Ma" returned one dayto their home to find it in ruins.He took to life afioat again. Hishouseboat went up the northbranch of the Chicago river,then out and down the lake to abeach near East Chicago, so thathe might establish an Indianaresidence and get proper juris-diction for renewed legal action.While living on the north branchof the river, he stepped from hishouseboat one evening to ad-dress the Dill Pickle club. Hesaid:

"The courts tried to get meon everything but adultery, andI beat them every time."

• • •This statement, of course, was

a gross exaggeration. Althoughhe had appeared innumerabletimes in state and federal courts.he never had been able to ob-tain a title to the land lyingwithin the District. His claimwas based upon squatter'srights, upon his allegation thathe had built up the land corn-prising Streeterville, and uponold documents bearing the sig-nature of President Cleveland.These last, in the form of grantsfrom the government, were dis-cussed as follows in a masterof chancery's report as far backas 1918:

••Streeter claims title since1886 by virtue of two alleged

A scene at the Cap'n'. funeral. Note the flag and the plug hat atopthe casket.

Debris left in the wake of a raid on Streeter's headquarters in Streeterville.

land warants, recorded and pur-ported to be signed by formerPresident Grover Cleveland, byHoke Smith, secretary, and S.W. Lamereaux, recorder in theland office. Hoke Smith neverwas secretary to the President,but at the time was secretaryof the interior, and Lamereauxnever was recorder."

The name of Hoke Smith waswritten in as "Oak Smith."

Most of Streeter's battling wasdone with him in the role of adefendant. but on Sept. 5, 1920,he took the offensive, when hefiled his famous suit against theChicago Title and Trust corn-pany and a number of other de-fendants. The case had scarcelygotten under way, however,

when the old fellow gave up thghost on Jan. 24, 1921, at thripe age of 84. Death came thim on his houseboat as it lamoored off East Chicago.

Upon the passing of the agebattler an effort was made tsubstitute" Ma " Streeter as thplaintif in the case, but it washown that she had not beelegally married to the Cap'n antherefore could not be consiered as his widow. When thheirs of Streeter discovered thathere was a judgment stand inagainst him for which thewould be liable if they enterethe case as plaintifs, they eleced to keep clear of that partielar bit of litigation, preferrinto file their own suit later.

The battle, so far as the 01man was concerned, thereforcame to an end shortly after hideath, leaving the property owers of Streeterville still in posession of their various parcelof land. Their titles werbased upon old deeds, accretion(land formed in the lake at thwater's edge of their propertiesand old contracts with the LicoIn park commission.

••Ma" Streeter lived on untthe autumn of 1936,when at thage of 65 she breathed her lain the County hospital. Aftthe Cap'n's death she had rnagood her promise to carry 0

his fight for ownership of tland in Streeterville. Despicourt efforts to remove her, scontinued to live aboard hhouseboat, the Vamoose, untilfinally rotted to the water linIt was burned by the city i1928. In 1924 "Ma" filed sufor a billion dollars against tChicago Title and Trust copany and some 1,500lake shoproperty owners. She ceased tbe active as a court principahowever, when Federal JudJames H. Wilkerson ruled thher marriage to Cap'n Streetwas illegal. It was provedthat time that the Cap'n hamarried one Mary Collins iSouth Bend, Ind., in 1905 anhad never taken the trouble tobtain a divorce.

• • •In 1929 twenty-three heirs

Streeter filed a declarationfederal court asking $5,000,damages of 3,500individuals ancorporations. The tract involvein the suit was the famoStreeterville district. Among thdefendants were Stanley FielPotter Palmer Jr., Kellogg Faibank, the Drake hotel ownerthe Furniture Mart, the Palolive building, the Ogden T. MClurg estate, Northwestern unversity, the University of Chcago, the city of Chicago, tstate of Illinois, GeorgeDixon, Frank J. Loesch, HonoPalmer, the Chicago Title anTrust company, the Illinois Mechants Trust company, thNorthern Trust companCharles H. Swift, Joseph LeiteSilas H. Strawn, George A. MKinlock, and Augustus S. Pebody.

This is the suit that was rmanded to the federal Districourt after an appeal by tStreeter heirs in 1932to the feeral Circuit Court of AppealIt still is pending in the Districourt.