Commonwealth Network
"Firebelle" Lillie Hitchcock Coit went to live in the South during the American Civil War. She dressed in men's clothes and crashed their exclusive bastions and affairs. She survived an assassination attempt by a crazed and jealous cousin. Lillie was the beloved of the city's firemen. She was forever grateful to the Knickerbocker Company for rescuing her when she was young. She cheered for them as they fought fires. Her family at first discouraged her attentions, but relented when the city's firemen went to extra lengths to create silence on the street outside her father's house when she was ill. At her death, she bequeathed the city the unusual Coit Tower, shaped like a fire hose nozzle. Her tomb at Cypress Lawn is said to hold a shrine laded with fire memorablia still maintained by unknown persons!