The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-09-13
STREETER HEIRS
SEEK BIG CHUNK
OF GOLD COAST
Claim Chicago Property Re-
suit of Ancestors Island
Building.
BY FREDERICK c. OTHMAN
TTuifed Press STAFF Corraapo.dapt

CHICAGO, Sept. 13.-The shades
Of Captain George Wellington
Streeter, buried these many years,
probably chuckled tonight upon
learning of the extensive prepara-
lions Of his heirs to take the "dees-
trict of Lake Michigan" Chicago
gold coast property worth approx
imately $8O0,O0O,O0O, away from the
present owners.
Present owners, nothing" Cap
tain Streeter would have said. pres
ent usurperS, you mean"
Way back in the sixties Cap" and
Ma" Streeter were cruising down
the shores of Lake Michigan in their
decrepit houseboat. Came a storm
and the boat was pitched up on a
sand bar several miles out in the
lake from Chicago.
Cap" so the stories go, exerted
almost superhuman effort to get his
boat afoat again. MA" helped as
best she could But not an inch
could they bulge their floating
home. The obvious thing to do,
then, was to leave the boat where
she landed and live on her right
there on the bar out in the lake.
That is exactly what Cap" and
Ma" did.
Wanted Front Yard
Their existence was happy enough,
too, except that ma wanted a front
yard in which to plant posies. Cap
got it for her by persuading barges
dumping refuse in the lake to drop
their loads by his shack, And it
wasn't long before Ma got her front
yard, with posies and everything,
Just like she wanted it.
BY that time old Cap had himself
a large private island out there in
the lake. 1t got to be customary for
all the dump barges to make it
larger. foot by foot as they slithered
their loads of cinders and dirt on it's
ever expanding edges.
The first thing Cap an6 Ma knew
their island had turned into a pc
ninsula of Chicago. One hundred
and eighty acres was the area Of
the tract, abutting on the populouS
and prosperous north side of
Chicago.
Gun Fights, Suits
And then Caps troubles started.
There were gun fights, lawsuits and
more lawsuits, all instigated by citi-
zens of Chicago who wanted to use
the peninsula, which Cap called the
"Deestrict of Lake Michigan"
Cap was a valiant fighter. And
Ma had as sharp tongue as a
person could want. But despite their
bitterest efforts, big business soon
began to creep out into the "dees-
riot" with hotels, apartment houses
and Office blocks.
Ma died and Cap was left to fight
his battles alone. My 1921 Cap had
beer pushed back all the way to
his little shack by the sky-scrapers.
just before he died he instituted an
custer suit to return the whole
''deestrict" to his heirs, two aged
brothers and twenty-one nepheWs
and nieceS.
Worth SSOO,O0O,OOO
Buildings on the area now include
the downtown campus of North
western university, the Drake hotel,
the gigantic Furniture Mart, and
scores of enormous office buildings.
They are worth something like
$500, 100000 right now and probably
will be worth much more as time
goes on.
The heirs ask payment from $500
individuals and corporations. And
attorneys E. G. Ballard, A. H. Jones
and j. Hamilton Lewis are doing
their utmost to get it for them.
Lewis, known as the best dressed
man ever to appear in the Illinois
state senate.s has been connected
with the case so long that he adj
mitted his luxurious red whiskers
had turned from pink to white"
since Cap Streeter started to defend
his "deestrict."
All the details have been attended
to finally, however, and the case
probably will come up for trial this
month, Lewis said.
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