The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 22, 1901, Page 10

10 , : THE SUNDAY CALL. DRSHING | ( OF THE OF THE, ~ADD'ES. ¢ ' & by 7. ing atePost and Mar- Hitcheock came flying her esocort, and opera cloak. the Grand Opera- inted a frolic and she sisted that she be allowe pipe, if only for a monient. couid refose thetr loyal com- ng-clang-clang! fog- are in th e o rs ll-wisher nothing, when sud / Y } houts and amber of the engine sound of clank- e “firewoman,” clad in pur- rass and wheels the good city nd fine en, was thoroughly at time would tumbie out wuf- drenched. R I But that was a small happer see Knickerbocker Engine Com- ...t qiginal of women, who was always 5 by on a run. Frequently ygje feliow wéll met in her manner to all would see the strange sight her friende. Even as a girl she had a way r- ired girl clad in fireman's hat of meeting a fireman, slapping him on the nd coat tugeing along at the ropes of y and singing out to him, or ‘runbing with the wien, Jim, how are your" Many n ey wmsib oo s ¢ humblest member of her - 2 beloved 5 got Into any trouble Many would say as they gased, “Well, .5 ready to help him, even to paying a Lillie’s with ‘em to-night,” or “Look, fine if need be, though she was never al- ( ing to this o LILLIE HITCHCOCK e goes Lillie Hitchcock, the daughter lowed to do so. fire Jaddies.” For in those.days, Many 2 time too at a fire, after the A ast half of the fiftles and in the firemen’s duty was done, did she have Ve AS A DASHING coffee and eatables furnished for them at FIRE e Hitchcock was truly the gal- “ 5 od expense at a nearby restaurant. Her ant ¢ s Gl Infecaiity TecOERISM “os s o d to the familles of the member of Knickerbocker Company NO. men, and many have been the thoughtful 6. She had her key to the engine house gand kind acts they have on record of her. street and to the meet- Thoughtfulness ¥s been one of same as any other brave her characteristics, and all her favors were done in no niggardly way, from the flowers 1, sent in a hand- ol some cose as ke, to the generous an Franclsco; & gen- theck sent as a Christmas gift for a sick regime from South “fre laddte Cer who served as a surgeon in the _In 153, Lillle Hitchcock was married to the little one Howard Coit, a fine looking young fellow, afterward crier to the Board of Brokers. Owing to parental opposition they were the daughter of Dr. Hitcheock, he Confederate army. When was disappointed, for he had se rt on the girl being & bo: 1 X e 18 reported te l\s“\e sald: “We married secretly in this city, and then ‘ = ind, we'll 8o the best we to Went to New York to visit friends. But e S0 Lillle came honest- With her marriage she did not lose her in- y ste for mascullne sports and lerest In fires and her beloved “No. 5," and pursuits, which she developed from & : Ex No. § was not her first love in f a fire engine. Across the the Orfental Hotel at Battery where Hitcheocks when she was a tiny e house of No. 4 fon for » of the living they of the fully and fire in that occasi ouse in the hop e, which they and house at 510 S8acramento rding, then -the home of e engine KNICK ERBOCKES " ENGINE NS 5. THOTO. BY HEALE-Y PETALUMA on her wedding day she wore the small jeweied pii:, a number five in dia- ch no one ever remembers see- t home or abroad. In ters she always “Liille Hitchcock r after her husband's which took place many years ago, “oit lived with her mother at the Hotel, where the boys of 5 found a warm wel on the occasion of or other parades, “the daughter. of the fire laddies” wouid appear at her window, clad in her fireman's coat and hat, and give ited and rode like the salute to the tramping boys below. anch at St. He- One of the most prominent decorations of \ with the best of her drawing room was a large painting ung person to en- representing the world. On the top of thout a protes the globe sa ghter of the ried the method of ladd scarlet coat, and s succeeded, and she Tezching out from everywhere were men ¢ Occidental Ho- with wine glasses in their outstretched ere then living. hands, offering the toast, *“To the one wo- r to the estate a man in the world.” Some of the most interest ‘n prominent citizens of San Francleco of that day were recognizable in the paint- ing, which wes presented to Mrs. Coft. A table verse of presentation was written below the plcture. At the yearly banquets of “No. 6" Lillie Hitcheock would always honor the boys an that, she with at least a brief presence, and it that her within were impossible, po matter where in the world she might e, she sent a floral token extremos of her thought and a letter beginning: ys it “Dear Number Five to be But engine “Number §' and her be- The joved as ter are widely separated now. a grand Tjllje Hitcheock Coit is in Paris and is not mbers all {n good health, while the once busy en- hen they gine is living 2 life of honorable jdleness M it was at Petaluma cold to that r mbered. ity many s ago, where it also saw rried for many ye T some active that red the sixty-five men who were at White ar e slik thrown to them one {ymes on the roster o they thirty-three men constituting the Knick- erbocker Engine C: Assoclation, with headquarters rooms of the Veteran Firem eiation on Fourth street., Perhaps the two most cherished object Jn the possession of these remaining ickerbockers” the large giit bus fllfe Hiteh resented to the asso- Dr, Mac the time-stained, cracked oi} ing of the old engine itself. The Knickerbocker Engine Company Ne. 5 was organized on October 17, 1850, by New Yorkers, whence it recelved its name, Harry Wheeler, E. B, Vreeland and P, Bur re the cniy men now living who belonged to the company in the first vear or so after its organization. James H. Cutter, a New Yorker who then had a store on Front street, was the prime ore ganizer and the first foreman of the come Sac{u_mento street, whence dates thelr and took the matter Into court. Judge retarned the visit and was entertained in to $1000 a side, half forfelt. The Howards 1y lnddr‘g&um_{ of the ‘‘daughter of the fire Norton tdoc(ded that the Board of Dele- San Francisco. were afrald to meet the doughty Knick- A 2 / addies ’ 5 ¢ Eates of the Fire Department, a govern- In the election of Chief Englneer David erbockers, and got out of it, whereat tho m:w.Lnil:::vlex:‘\'el::c:nr:lr‘e'a.tmlcg;-tlrtylrni:; i No.. 5 side-stroke engine bullt ment body, was the only body having Scannell, in 1860 the company cast a full papers of that day came out with co. e e R oAby Lot aa8' Ly, Tames | nd s authority to disband them. They were vote, numbering sixty . the only com- toons representing the Howard boys as immense bouguot. together mith 3 oo }AI‘. out of service for two or three weeks and .pany known to cast a full vote, In Sep- old women in a big wash-tub and the good Wishes to “Kate” Hayes, the servies of the coms of engine-house and appurten- tember, Stevhen Bunmer, now sergeant lads of No. b dressed as devils, with o et dnger of the tior 'Tne‘ .L"X t o ”“'1 rr:mn s. But for two y afterward they of police, who was then big hose them overboari. - onend el w2 e eng ",(f ca f-“i |.u;] A . continued contrar and had to pay all fore n of the company, was presen On_Septe the members of memento, aad mee piich was afterward sold to Carson City. their own expenses and do everytni by J. H. Reynolds with a handsome gold 1 pre alrman, the last r rer 2 A e e e e G R T mselves, even to greasing t own front, with a resolution from com- retiring foreman, with a handsome gold Talmage; Supervis H. Titcomb,( the bla g sh ;Pr‘_ :;sdf‘n; diio{);: :’ Y P Al Kif ose, on account of refusing to recognize Pany praising his activity and faithful- watch and chain. E. B. Vreeland and E. ¢ Y I. MeCart et » Superviso Vg the Drders of Whitney, for whom they had some ob- Ness in service, and, above all, his temper- J. Chase are the two survi ng foremen Joe Roberts and Messr: ie house of the Chief Engineer of the Fire Depart- jection, e habits, of the company. Reynolds and Flahert strect, was ment, F. E. R. Whitney. The company ~ In 1554, the company, 110 strong, visitea ~ Knickerbocker Engine Company No. 5 - On Decornben G, 5 ot € i A ey el e M AN O N ¢mployed Messrs. McDougall and Sharp, Sacramento, taking aiong engine No.. 5 once challenged Howard Company No. 3 and her saen wen service. omer ¥ went to the epgine-house on crack lawyers of the day, to defend the and and. In 1855 No. 1 of Sacramenlo to play a match against them for $500 It is a remarkable fact that from the Messrs. Reed and Chase, signed her Coft—5." h young fei- aving designi s as she called them of h rs on whom ck ranks of Knickerbocker Engine Company No. 5 have been furnished men who r filled almost c within the gift of th of Presider nd Vice Pre members thus honor: McDougall, Gove Dr. Knicker- re of tell- Assembly;