The Cordova daily times., 1920-09-04
RENEWED
 FOR VALUABLE
 CHICAGO LAND

CHICAGO, Sept. (by Associated Press -"Streeterville, situated in the "Deestrict of Lake Michigan part of Chicago's famous Gold Coast" is about to be the scene of the thousand and first battle in it's history, accord ing to notice served on United States Marshal Bradley by Captain George Wellington Streeter, SO-year old claim ant to a $50,OO0,O00 portion of the ex- elusive Lake Shore Drive section.
 Cap" Streeter and William H. Niles, one time military governor" and com manding general of the army of the "deestrict," having notified the feder- Al authorities that they are about to try to enforce their claim to Streeter vile stating that it is not in any state in the union, have invited the Ameri- can Legion to assist them and set the date for the opening of hOstilities as September 6. A letter to the legion posts, copy of which was also sent to Marshal Bradley, invites the former soldiers to meet me at the foot of Superior street in uniform, armed and carrying a flag, and help to end by force of arms the reasonable acts of s,,1 oto ha fore firing squad" A postscript in- vites the legionaires to bring their lunch.
 ( Captain Streeter has been fighting since 1886 to establish his claims to one of the most valuable sections of Chicago's lake front. In that year his steamer, the Reutan, stranded on the beach during a storm. Captain Street CT built breakwater about the boat 450 feet off shore, and made it his home. The rapidly shifting sands filled in the space between boat and shore and added 193 acres to the city's space. To this land Captain Streeter laid claim, and in the Iext quarter of a century battles by the hundreds were fought in an effort to oust him.
 On one occasion 800 police beseiged Streeterville. "Generap' Miles pro- claimed himself military governor of the district of Lake Michigan and . with 50 men of his "escort" erected breastworks surmounted by barbed wire and stood off the police for sev- eral days, before assertions in the ranks so weakened the defending force that a lone policeman finally executed a flank attack and carried the fort.
 The courts in 1915 ruled that Street erville had no title to the property and his brick castel, which succeeded the steamboat home, was wrecked by dep- uty sheriffs and then burned.
 In 1902 Streeter and two friends were convicted of manslaughter - in connection with the death of John s. Kirke, killed in one of the frequent assaults on the castle. All were sen- tenced to life imprisonment, but after a few months were released.
 }. The site of the "deestrict" is now covered by more than dozen sky scraper apartment buildings and ho tels. The land is valued at more than S50,000, ,000 Many of the present own CTS have purchased deeds from Street CT as we'll as the state in order that their occupancy may not be interfered with by the SO-year old fire-eating vet, eran.
 Streeter's claim is based on the con tention that the act, creating the state of Illinois fixed the "meader 1ine'' of the lake as the boundary, and that therefore his "deestrict" was out side the state and owed allegiance to no one except the United States. The courts held, however, that Illinois ex- tended to the center of Lake Michigan and that all land created by natural secretions of the lake belonged to the adjoining property owners; and that all land created artificially belongs to the state. The stranding of Streeter's steamship created land artificially' It was held.