WEBVTT - Doing it for the Deeestrict: George Streeter 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:02.720 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:07.520 Zaren Burnette. Elizabeth, it's Mearen Burnette. 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:09.200 Hey, it's me Elizabeth Dutton. 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:16.079 I got a question. May know something ridiculous? 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:17.640 Yes? 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:19.400 No, not Helen Thomas. Me. 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:24.320 Okay, Zaron Burnett from the Associated Foreign Press. Uh, did 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:28.080 you see this story recently reported about the hikers who 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:29.760 lost their buddy in New York? 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.440 They're all worried. Oh yeah, so these these two guys 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:37.080 they were hiking in the Adirondacks in New York, right, 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:41.720 and they got really worried because the third guy who 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.840 was with him died. Oh no, I know, right. 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.600 So they they then see that they call them stewarts, 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:50.199 like the park Rangers to see the steward, like on 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.520 the mountain. They go, hey, we're lost and our buddy died, 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.560 and so like in the park Rangers, Stuart, it's like, Okay, 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:58.520 you guys are messed up. And I just looks at 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:00.680 him and knows they're messed up. Mean, while these guys 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:02.680 are like, okay, he's not helping. They like leave, I guess, 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:05.399 and they like call nine one one and they report 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:09.520 that their buddy's dead. They're lost or on this mountain Meanwhile, 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.760 after they called nine one one, uh, this Stewart was 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:16.880 able to determine that they were incorrect. The friend uh 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:22.240 then called and said that they were not dead. I'm 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:25.000 totally fine, guys. You guys went left, I went right. 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:27.840 It was like so basically they were that high on shrooms. 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:33.120 But they allot these two guys convinced themselves the third 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:38.480 guy was dead and went through a whole thing. I 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:41.240 had like this, the forest rangers looking for him. They 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:43.160 had nine one one looking for him. And then the 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:45.800 buddy called like, hey, I'm lost. They're like, are you 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:48.720 with two hikers? You want a mountain because I need 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:50.600 to connect you guys, And so they connected him and 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:51.720 camp goes. 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.240 Off on a different path. I guess they turned around. 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:55.440 He's not there, Like he's dead. 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.680 We thought you was Exactly. 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:01.360 Craig died. They meet up at the campsite. That must 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:04.280 have been like one probably second coming of like, since 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:06.000 Jesus you're. 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:07.840 Dad man, have you come back now? 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:12.079 They belong to the Church of Greg Exactly. It's ridiculous, 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:15.080 very ridiculous. Do you want to know what else is ridiculous? 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:16.480 I love ridiculous. 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:40.679 Stealing land, but not in the name of colonialism. Oh oh, 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:45.240 this is ridiculous crime A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers. 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.840 Heis and cons it's always ninety nine percent murder free 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.079 and one hundred percent ridiculous. 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:52.000 I know you don't. 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:55.440 I know, I done heard that. This one comes to 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:56.920 us courtesy of Hailey Huntley. 0:02:57.080 --> 0:02:58.080 Thank you, Hailey Huntley. 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:02.120 Haley wanted to show some criminal Chicago pride. 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:03.040 Hell yeah, right. 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:04.760 You and I both love Chicago. 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:05.720 Shout out Chicago. 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:06.800 It's a great city. 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:08.960 I love the whole place, south side, north side, all 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:09.160 of it. 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:12.960 Everything. It's fantastic. It's one of my favorite places. You 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.720 know what's really cool about it. My cousin lives there. Oh, 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:17.919 I mean, so that's God's super cool. That makes it 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:23.079 for him. But Chicago, right, it always brings the realness, yes, 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:24.920 And it brings the crime. 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:27.520 Yes, which is it's America's best kept. 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:31.160 Secret, it really is. It brings crime in so many ways. 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:33.440 Oh my goodness. Yes, also many of. 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:35.760 Them outside of what we would talk about here. 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:38.080 This is true, very true, has a reputation. 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:40.880 But I've got a ninety nine percent verder free one 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:42.120 for you. 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:43.160 Do you take a lot of research? 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:46.480 Yeah, it really did I want to tell you about 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:48.240 George Wellington's streeter? 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:50.000 Okay, George Wellington Street. 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:52.240 Yeah, so this is Haley tipped us off. This is 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:52.680 a good one. 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:53.080 Good look. 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:56.800 He was a native son of Flint, Michigan. 0:03:57.160 --> 0:03:59.080 Born in Cargo Transplant. 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:04.160 Eighteen thirty seven. Whoa so okay at that time Flint 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:05.280 was a frontier summing. 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.040 Yeah, he was there when they found He's like, yeah, 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:09.560 he's like, we should call this place Flint. 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:15.080 He's there. He was born into this huge family, thirteen kids. 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:15.760 Oh wow. 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:17.200 The family was total. 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.240 Had nothing to do back then, just a lot to. 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:21.479 Create a lot of just what you got to churn 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:22.800 out workers for the farm. 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:24.880 Yeah, a lot of bed tests and a lot of spares. 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:29.120 Disease taken a couple of them. Let's be real, say 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:29.839 of getting kids. 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.760 Through exactly, and you know, you got a lot of duds. 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:39.680 Such a high standard, it's like poor poor health and hygiene, 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:40.719 you're eating lead. 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:42.520 You know, it's just it's not a good time. 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:46.680 The family though, salt of the earth. Yes, good working 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:51.880 class folks, hard working, upright, very patriotic military family. His 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:54.480 great grandpa fought in the American Revolution. 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:55.159 Oh wow. 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.240 His grandfather served in the War of eighteen twelve. Oh, 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.880 like this family didn't play deep American roots right serious, 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.800 as was common for the freedom its freedom's. 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.040 Never freez established it and kept it. 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:08.600 You pay a hefty hefty feet. 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:10.000 Yes, generation to generation. 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:15.520 It's so it's common at that time among working class 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.320 families for the kids to not really have a formal 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:20.000 education beyond elementary school. 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:21.679 Yeah, you know, that's just what happened. 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:24.560 You know, my grandpa only made it to sixth grade. 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:25.560 There you go, there you go. 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:27.200 I only made it to fourth grade. 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:28.880 There's backwards. 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:30.599 Yeah, we're going backwards in my family. 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:32.040 I don't know anything past third grade. 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:33.400 I never went to kindergarten. 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:34.960 I still can't spell fourth grade? 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:36.760 Where am I? Where? 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:37.960 Pants? 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:41.800 Are these? My pants? So he didn't go past elementary school. Yes, 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:44.840 but he had something better street smarts. 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:46.440 Ah, streeter smart. 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:52.160 Oh there it is, good job you're learning. Yeah, as 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.840 these street smarts, I feel like flint. Street smarts just 0:05:55.920 --> 0:06:00.640 hit different, maybe even back in frontier times. So Streeter 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:05.760 he also had another quality. He loved spectacle, the able, razzle, dazzle, 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:06.520 the carnival. 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:08.400 Ah, who doesn't you know? 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:13.320 I don't know? No, actually I do well not really. 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:15.320 It depends not a huge. 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:21.599 On the situation. So his early career Streeter's early cruise 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:25.840 basically like a nineteenth century picuresque novel. Seriously, he worked 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.360 as a logger and a trapper. Oh wow, he was 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:32.280 an ice cutter on Saginaw Bay. Yes, he got a 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:37.400 gig as a deckhand on vessels that navigated Canada's Georgian Bay. 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:40.600 He did a little mining in the iron and copper 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:44.800 regions of Upper Peninsula. He was a sideshow barker at 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:45.479 a carnival. 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:46.919 Dude, are you kidding. 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.039 I'm not kidding you. It was around this time that 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:51.880 a war broke out, the American Civil War. 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:52.880 Oh. 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:55.840 As friend of the show Axel Rose once wondered, what's 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:59.799 so civil about war anyway? Cue the whistling, It's Chinese 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:04.320 because christ Civil War, the War of Southern Aggression. Uh. 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:08.880 A Streeter enlisted in the Union Army, and he set 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:10.680 off to fight for him. Yeah, he set off. I'm 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:11.640 going to fight the traders. 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:14.480 It's a family tradition at this point, a family tradition. 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:17.280 And he did a good job of it. He was 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:20.720 really good at it. He earned the rank of captain. 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:21.400 Damn. 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.600 It was a title that he No, I'm never sarcast you. No. 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:27.840 He used that title for the rest of his life. 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:31.960 Captain post bellum everyone called everyone called him cap. 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:39.480 You very rarely hear that post post. 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:38.480 Let's talk about that cap. 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:40.360 Everyone called him cap, not captain. 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:44.120 No Cap. He said that he fought in all these 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:50.560 major battles, Missionary Ridge, who knows. Here's the thing, there's 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:54.400 no reliable military record that shows that he served as 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:58.080 a Union officer or even as an enlisted man. So 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:00.400 there are all these historians and biograpy. 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.160 Make cap records. Not that hard. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:04.640 We make records for that. So people have cast out 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:08.120 on that the National Archives and Civil War pension records 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:10.840 don't have any evidence of his service under the name 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:12.000 George Wellington Streeter. 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:14.040 They were the best of the record keepers. 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:16.360 Yeah, so, I mean, he's born in eighteen thirty seven, right, 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:20.520 so he was eligible. But we don't really know what 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:21.320 he was doing. Tho. 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.600 I'm guessing he was running the rivers. 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:27.640 He was a cap in spirit. He already and like 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:30.760 at this point he already had a reputation for exaggerating 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:32.960 and like fabricating his. 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:36.199 Backstorylab I'm telling you he was the model for Captain Crunch. 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.839 He had a river boat, he had hat going around. 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:48.000 His persona was like carefully constructed, not doing Captain Crunch. 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:51.560 He posed as this war hero and that would get 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:58.520 him sympathy from veterans, populous, working class bogs. He would 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:03.839 portray himself as this like self made American fought for freedom, 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:07.000 and this would become central to his myth making later on. 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.960 I always tell people that I was an active soldier 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:12.280 in the in the in the Cold War. I tell 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:14.640 people I thought for the Soviets, and I give them 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:16.439 the look and they're like, you aren't even old enough. 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:20.400 I'm like, yeah, you believe me. I like that make 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:21.840 people's day weirder, like. 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:24.280 The front lines of the Cold That's pretty. 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.040 Good right there in the front lines. 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:31.880 Well, like Streeter right, his myth making was essential to 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:35.439 his next gig. He bought a traveling circus. 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:37.440 Oh my god, this. 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:47.679 Thing had all sorts of exotic animals, right, I'm talking porcupines, deer, otters, donkeys. 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:52.600 He had a white he had a white Normandy hog. 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:57.320 What is a white Normandy hog? And all that came 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:00.520 up were like recipes for some dish. But it's like 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:02.839 Normandy pig I saw some photos. 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:05.280 You know, is it like a big is it attractive? 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:13.360 It's got long flutter? He didn't say like, hey, come 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:17.560 look at that. How he said, look everyone, it's a 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:20.319 white elephant. Like he told people, is a weight over 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:23.480 it's an easy mistake to make their. 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.120 Does it have like a trunk? No? 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:27.480 In all fairness, though, the thing was ten feet long 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:32.600 and weighed over fifteen hundred pounds. Whatt I paid a 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:33.719 nickel to go see this? 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:35.679 I would do that. Ain't a hog now? 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:37.800 Once you paid your nickel and you're in there and 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:39.800 they're like, that's not an elephant, and then you're just like, 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:41.320 I'm dizzy. The fumes in. 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:45.160 The crowd whatever, that's like the grandfather of hog Zilla. 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:47.920 That's not a big old pig. A big. 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:51.760 So a lot of plays to drive Arkansas crazy. 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.559 Along the way, he picked up. 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:58.679 A wife money Impressed by the hog, he railed. 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:00.839 The circus with him. They were our couple. 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:03.040 Community. 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:07.480 Yeah. When the circus folded, so did their marriage. See 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:10.040 many signed on to be with a circus baron like 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:11.920 a big dog. She didn't sign on to be with 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:15.320 a failed circus owner. So she bounced out. She took 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:17.960 all the money he had left with her. There are 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:19.800 some who say that she went off to become a 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:23.360 vaudeville star. Oh I I could find no evidence of that, 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:26.120 but like, what do I know. I'm just a simple 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:30.800 country lark. I just work here, lady. Yeah, yeah, so Streeter, 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.120 he worked best with a partner. Sounds like in business, 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:38.280 in romance, in life in hogs. So it wasn't long 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:42.880 before he met and married Maria Mulholland. Oh yeah, no 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:48.080 he I think the many took the hog wrote. But 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.880 so Maria, right, she's this spitfire, she's feisty, feisty. Gasp. 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:58.240 She became his lifelong partner in both legitimate and illegitimate endeavors. 0:11:58.280 --> 0:11:59.480 Oh yeah, so. 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:00.559 Good for him. 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:01.480 Hey he bumped her? 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:02.840 Oh he did? 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:06.480 Right, or die Little Bonnie and Clydes. He bums around 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:08.920 as like a ship's navigator on Lake Michigan for a. 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:10.760 While, bumps around, or bums around. 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:15.400 He bumps around. Oops, right, he bummed around, bummed around? Right? 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.960 Then maybe headed for dry lands land ho settled in 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:23.960 Chicago in the eighteen seventies. Something happened in Chicago in 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:28.840 eighteen seventy one. That's right, Elizabeth. It was the Great Chicago. 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:32.160 Fire, right, Yeah, so it was reportedly it. 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:34.880 Was ignited late one night when we were all in bed. 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.640 Old Lady O'Leary kept a lantern in the shed when 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.440 the cow kicked it over. That's what we all said 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:41.160 to be a hot time in the old town. Tonight 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:44.480 got fire, fire, fire, fire, hot town. Someone was a 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:45.719 camp counselor around here. 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:47.920 I'll give you two guests. 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:52.560 The fire was so brutal it burned more than three 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:54.600 square miles of the sat. 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:56.720 The London fire and Chicago fire like the Great Fire. 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:59.080 Yeah, it killed more than three hundred people. It left 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:01.480 more than one hundred thousand people homeless. 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:01.880 Huge. 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.880 One of the structures that was lost was Colonel Woods Museum. 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.679 Not Colonel Woods, it was Popcorn Currentel. 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:13.160 It was right right on the corner of Clark and Randolph. 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:17.200 I don't know where that is nothing sure. It was 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:26.520 an amazing monstie of oddities and antiquities, birds, bugs, snakes, paintings, 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:32.160 no hogs, paintings, model ships, but also a panorama of 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:32.920 the city of London. 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:36.479 Just a little boys room that they turned into a museum. 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:38.400 A rifle owned by Daniel Boobe. 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:40.760 I'm telling you this is a scale model. 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:47.320 Of the Parthenon, a dinosaur skeleton, mummies, and papyrus sheets 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.200 that were once the property of Joseph Smith, founder of 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:50.880 the Mormons. 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.600 Maybe a twelve year old boy historical interest. 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:56.719 Yeah, it's a twelve year old boy with maybe one 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.800 friend two if they're feeling. 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:01.400 So. 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:05.280 Everything was lost in the Chicago fire, but Colonel Wood 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:08.600 didn't let that stop him. He picked up a business partner, 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:13.160 a co owner, George Streeter, and together they reopened the museum. 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:14.400 Just a block away. 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:16.280 They found a theater that was like one block over, 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:17.280 just outside of. 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:18.760 The burn zone I told you about. 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:22.760 And he's like, I know, I'm a hogman, Like I just. 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:25.560 Wanted to one thing. I can partnership a hog man. 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:27.360 But I think I can get into the museum gig. 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:33.280 They started collecting stuff. Yeah, it took a few years, 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:37.000 but they eventually reopened, this time with even more stuff 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:39.160 crammed in there. And it was a big hit really, 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:41.840 But for whatever reason, Streeter cashed. 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:43.600 Out of the venture, out of the curiosity. 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.480 Yeah, he's like, I'm no longer curious, which is good 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:49.280 because the place burned down again less than a decade later. 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.320 I mean, you imagine the dust and the must oh. 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:57.040 Yeah, and when you're building everything out of wood, everything. 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.720 Wood and oily rags. That's how they built everything in 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:03.480 the insolated with oily rags. By that time, though, like 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.040 Streeter had moved on. He became a salesman at county fairs. 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:09.080 He moved up in the perfect him. 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:10.720 When he got tired of that, like he was doing 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:15.280 like the slap chop stuff and like, yeah, exactly. Uh. 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:18.040 When he got tired of that, he went back to 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:20.720 Chicago and he did a short stint as the owner 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:23.200 of the Apollo Theater there. It's no relation to the 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:27.200 New York City. Yeah, So he pops up here and 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.000 there in the papers like sometimes were good, like when 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:32.840 he was helping shore up a house that had collapsed. Uh, 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:36.400 Like he and some other dudes were like, let's let's 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:36.960 help this guy. 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:38.120 Let's play this. 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:40.960 And then once he was he and his family were 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:42.880 the victim of a crime because they were living on 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:44.640 this boat and got burgled when they went to the 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:50.960 park that made the paper. He acquired a steamship called 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.320 the Rutan. Let's get back on the r e U 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:58.400 T A n routin there you go. It was Maria 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:01.160 who named it. So don't blame me. I don't why 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:03.800 she chose the name. Who knows, who knows, and honestly, 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:07.160 who cares it is. So here's the thing about Maria. 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:10.600 She was a complete alcoholic, like a raging drunk. I'm 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:13.640 talking like week long benders where no one knows where. 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:16.320 She is, face the bottle and whack out. 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:22.440 Streeter was cool with this. This is quote quote. It 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:24.920 don't matter where she is. She's having a good time 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:26.720 and I'll come home when she's ready. 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:32.240 Like she's his dog, a really old cats. 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:35.400 He respects the spirit. I So she had a lot 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:38.600 of adventures piloted from the inside of a bottle. And 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.040 on one of those benders she made a pal, a 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:48.120 guy named Captain Bowen. So he told her all about 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:52.680 a revolution going down in Honduras and he's like, you know, 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.840 there's this business opportunity for us up here. Anyone with 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:58.360 maritime skills in a boat and it tastes for danger 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:01.080 and adventure. You gotta get into gun running. 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:01.800 Gun running. 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:04.320 Yeah, So he's like, you know what, you take a 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:05.520 load of weapons down there. 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:09.400 The CIA doesn't exist yet, because it's going to be, So. 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.119 You're going to pilot your craft up and down the 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:17.159 Honduran rivers, selling the wares to the revolutionaries, just just 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:18.400 you know, put a sign on. 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:23.960 There, trustworthy by gun. Yeah, guns, like. 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:27.560 A lemonade stand sign. There's some debate about whether or 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:32.040 not a Streeter actually did this. He told everyone that 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:34.720 he wanted to charm, that he had transported weapons by 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.680 boat to like a bunch of different Central American uprisings. 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:42.639 Not just he told tales of his daring do outwitting 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:46.520 foreign governments, like narrowly escaping capture. Because you know, he's 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.480 a military man from a long line of military men, 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:53.480 sure for this, And it was on those runs where 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.520 he honed his nautical skills. It made him a true salt, 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:00.000 and it made him more hard boiled than he was before. 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:03.560 So that's what he said. Anyway. The claims have never 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:08.160 been substantiated so far, have no shipping records, no contemporary 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:13.000 newspaper accounts, no government documents like verifying this gun running actorpts. 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:14.879 He was just like sitting at the beach just staring 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:18.000 at boats, going I'm running guns on that one thing. 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.000 Though, Just because there's no paperwork doesn't mean it didn't happen. 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.800 Like paperwork. To run guns to a foreign. 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:25.920 Government a successful crime. 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:27.040 Yeah, it's not something you want. 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:29.880 The paper you definitely want, I'll give it to them. Check. 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:32.440 Maybe he did it. 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.840 But I must say that historians generally view his alleged 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:39.720 gun running the same way they viewed his supposed Civil 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:44.440 War service, like part of the larger than life persona created. Yeah, 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:48.879 gun running was a genuine occupation for some people, like 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:55.080 adventurers in the eighteen seventies eighteen eighties ADOR's Panama. So 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:59.200 Streeter could have borrowed elements from like those real stories 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.520 to fabricate his you know, was his myth. 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:04.679 Making at the right bar in the right marina or merchant. 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:08.479 Yeah, there's a great website, American Hauntings from Troy Taylor 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.800 has an interesting section on Streeter really tracks all these tales. 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:17.040 So historians they say that he Streeter invented these myths 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:21.000 and legends in order to look patriotic, rebellious. It gave 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:25.080 him an air of global experience, and it backed up 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:28.280 that he was capable of commanding ships and like handling weaponry. 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:30.800 Worked brilliantly for Teddy Rosel, and he did that right 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:32.120 all the way to the President. 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:33.520 But see that's the thing he did to the presidency. 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:35.240 Why was it important for George Street? 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:36.560 Why was it important for George Streeter. 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:41.479 When we returned from this commercial break, we'll look into Yes, 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:03.320 welcome back. 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:05.600 Gun running. 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:07.520 I know, right, be fun. 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:09.439 I was just sitting on the beach dreaming about it. 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:12.119 Seventies gun running, Yeah. 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:14.399 On a boat that's a steamship, would be some cool stuff. 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:22.280 And then you're all like, heloha, who I have the gun? 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:23.640 Did you want to keep Hawaii? 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:26.720 That was a lot of ad time, by the way, 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:29.280 at least I'm assuming it is. We have no idea 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:30.280 how many ads? 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:32.360 What ads? I don't listen to ads. 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:33.040 Don't blame it. 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:34.119 I never listened to. 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:34.879