New Britain Herald Newspaper, December 26, 1925, Page 13

| Clrcago Sematter War lages Anew NI hundred million dollars s the prize! But “Ma" Streeter {s shooting at it with legal bullets this time. Once, It s true, the missiles were real—fired rom her trusty rifle. 3ut that was In the good old days— Before her gun eve falled, her trigger finger frew palsled and advancing age mada it Incon. iderately more difficult to draw bead on a blue- toated policeman. Aware of these Inhibitions, the picturesque wi. low of doughty “Cap' George Wellington Streeter, nte autocrat and bushwacking “Columbus” of “hicago's famous ‘‘Deestrict of Lake Michigan," a 00-acre patch of made land stretching north from he river along the city's Gold Coast shore line vhich he claimed to have discovered, has dropped rer arms and at last turned to the courts for re- Ireas. St bristling with fight, but bent and gray, she itrode the other day from out her mysterious re- Hirement in obscure and solitary retreat on a house- roat down along the river front. RETURNS TO FRAY Her sudden reappearance served to stir old mem. iries. It turned back a serio-comlic page In the city's nost melodramic history, But true to her mettle, “Ma" had come back to ight, ‘Woman Bat Not with guns this time. Sire has come to realize the futllity of powder. “Ma’* had found & better way. Bhe filed a lawsuit. it she named 1501 defendants, Including the Title and Trust Co, * wants them to pay to the tune of $100,000, She says thls amount is due her as vivor of the martial mate of her The defendants, according to the peti all eqe guilty in an alleged ¢ ook the “Deestrict” away from wter he had fougit twoscore yeais to r. Thus in more peaceful manner is ehe carrying »n for the ancient mariner of “Streeterviiie.” That {s what the The name is still aelghhorhood. The story at this point goes back to the summer » 1836, ON ISLAND A terriyle storm was kicking up on Lalke Michi zan And trying to outride the gale, was the he ng man—his first wife, Maria, now fead, and their good ship, the Reutan, as proud a nude as ever siapped a flat bottom in any of a Great Lak ding on the brid v ft, us the ‘Cap’” was wont to describe ¢ he peered o tiie left and right, took innume soundings wnd thought he was heading for port— The ¥ ran round, Out jumped the “‘Cap," taking the woman first, n accord with proper sea tradition, They were on “uninhahlted” land, although Chi only a stone's throw away, tained it was an island >cked at the mouth of the anghow, real island or tin can reef, declded to cast permanent moorings. DIES AFTER BATTLE And with that determination the chron hrough years of court ba police, terms n the penitentiary and work and fimally comes to a temporary halt with " death two years ago, at the ripe age to the last with his boots actu; ith for him, it is said, came from pneumonia. nierval between, “Ma' devoted to respectful meurning. And, now, true to promise, she is back 1ting with all of her fast-ebling strength u the weather bureau has no record of orm on the night Streeter claims to have been cked, that scrappy mariner always main: at when the waves grew calm he found on a sandbar at the foot of NRush street site him were the homes of millionaires ng in proud array along the city's Gold Coast waterfront, In time, so he maintains, and with hix efforts, the watery gap between the mainland and the Reu tan filled u By “right of discc hls. No part of Illinois wes his domain To the handful of muddy acres resting on their / tin can f. “District of It was unhde United Sta Tho “Capn The “Cap'n domain to esc calities of legal addre At best it was only a l¢ The first battle occurred five constablcs sought to ev ria drove Niles, Mich garding tae tr MILLIONAIRES BLOCKED millionaires whose . drive awol their built up worth mo; all that stood betwee eir maps lines w I h gave them posses he land was worth r uring it n ns of old th ge and robbery the ju clalm and More bat Campaign No. 2 occurred i tles for 91 “Ma’Streeter Fights On /o “Cap’” Who Claimed o Waterfiont Chica ed by @ lono policeman who had strolled in this work right he e i = SERnaiaE | day 1id clamped tight upon lla strayed the thirsty wurch bells were ringing, to f that cheers dispensed at the t r who heeded Oppor- Is rung up on the castle's ster @s tho dry Chicagoans wth steins of beer, " you see, was not a part of tion etat ffecting a mere adjoin- “TRONTIER TOWN" one bright day when business it's no use talking, but Streeter- mber of cammerce n, and It's got to go No church or W. Cap” ¢ em plenty of that. Hun- ds of cases of the hest bonded and lager stuff , In fact, He was on the road to unaccustomed prosperity, ed by had te yert with f 1, who ) pace START OWN WAR respas 1 that T will t you men You woman and two n—the r three wet Surdays the invaders came. les thr 1 the castle walls and blood elr departure, loade of beer were conflscated, and p" among away in poll bulances heavy hand of e upon the the e wife came back to for awhile on the few hen the wind sating down, they 1stle in ruine CASTLE BURNED on there befors and applied ‘orm, 80 the Captain de- 11dy Reutan once more ndlana to was about two it wus driven off befo imself in jail »se half way on its halyards. , as he freely Then the Cap” And “Ma" disappeared. out from But now she is back arunifl she says, the graved ing up an vou can gamble that she meane it. For the Streeters were scrappers. An " Streeter 0 Points Enough~ Sometimes QUATTERS have streaked o zlg zag trall across the pages of American history, The early American wilderness was the scene of desperate struggles between adventuresome sattlers and land speculators. Bitter disputes over squatter soverelgnty—the acquiring of land by occupation—often turned inte warfare, il landy at one time became of speculation and were sold e tracts to capltallsts and ors who lived a long distance from the scene of their purchases. Thesa tracts often were occupled by impoverished but gritty ploneers who came into the new country looking for a home, The settlers would clear & holding on thls land and earn & living on # untfl, in time, the rightful owner with his government titls would coma to dispossess them, When these settlers, or aquatters, had lived upon the land for as long as 40 or 50 years, they would eome to regard it es thelr own and would fight dispossession with guns. Many representatives of the law were killed or wounded by squatters whe attempted to cling to thelr property in the face of legal opposition. Often, howsver, & squatter would receive a fair price for his improve ments or his labor of clearing and fencing. And with the amount realized in this way he would be able to make first payment on land for himself In some other locallty, e GFA\'ERALLY, it seems, the squatter was a squatter im name only. Usually he was “on the move," clearing new lands, losing them, moving on—blazing & path through the wilderness. They knew not whers they were going, but they were always on thetr way. One of them sald: “I was born in Culpeper county, Virginla, raised in North Carolina, got religion in Tennesses, married tn Madison county, Kentucky, and now am settled in Misgourl."” The life of & typical squatter is fllustrated by this story of one Arkansas pioneer: He was one of the six sons of a tavern keeper of Buncombe county, North Carolina. His capital was a “likely” young neg, & dollar “bell” end a gnod “rifle-gun.” He put his wife on the nag with some household fixings, princlipally quiits and erlids,” and took the trail to the west. Reaching the last cabln on the border of the Indlan country, he “squatted,” made a crop, and laid up a supply of dried venison and bear bacon. When the Indians grew threatem- ing In the spring, he returned to hia old home. Becoming restless for more adventure, he set out againg reached the Tennessee River, ex- changed his horse for a canoe, and with his wife and belongings began the long voyage that took him to his He did the steering fo alternately knitted end paddled. Fish and game pro- vided them with a living along the route. i They entered the mouth of White River, took the ‘‘cut-off’ te the Arkansas, made thelr way up thas stream to a point near the moders site of Little Rock, where they pitched a half-faced camp and ™ malined for the rest of thelr life. The wite kept her shuttle ang spinning wheel busy, and soon thetp table wag supplied with all the fool suited to their needs—bacon, cabs bage, buttermilk and corn bread i abundance. ° e IYESTEF\N migration was halted “ to a marked extent dy the War of 1812, A new rush to the northwest and the reglon west of the Mississippl followed the close of hostilities, howe ever. Land at little cost served as the lure to draw people westward. It had been the original intent of Congress to realize upon the ceded “western unoccupled lands" in ordee to pay the publis debt. But indi. vidual states, having thelr own tions to meet, adopted the ne method of raising revenu And in this way Uncle Sam, as & real estate dealer, found himself in competition with four or five states, Squatters who recelved money for lands which they cleared were some- times enterprising enough to invest in Jow-priced, mast-fed pork, and In farm products sufficlent to load a small home-made flatboat for a long drift vovage to New Orleans. By peddling his cargo along the river and selling his flatboat at the end of his voyage, a poor squatter sometimes made himself moderately wealthy——as wealth was estimated