The John Hancock Center is a popular tourist draw, but few visitors know that the land it sits on was where a dangerous criminal hatched his notorious schemes.
Using forged documents, Streeter sold property that he had dubious claim to. Police and private detectives tried to oust Cap. He and Maria responded by dousing them with boiling water or firing birdshot at them from muskets. Cap faced the courts several times and was eventually sentenced for the murder of John Kirk. A December 18, 1988, Chicago Tribune article claimed that Kirk was a trespassing night watchman, but a December 21, 2017, Chicagoly article offered that Kirk was a hired gun out to kill Cap. He was pardoned by the governor of Illinois after nine months. The Dead in Chicago website shows that Maria died in 1903 from complications following a trolley car accident.
