ger on board the _Yarmouth_ was supposed to
have purchased or contracted for land at La Gloria, and practically all
had done so. The steamer was commanded by Capt. E. O. Smith, a popular
and efficient officer, and carried besides her complement of crew and
waiters, two hundred and eleven passengers, all men with one exception,
Mrs. Crandall, the wife of an employe of the company. The colonists
represented all sections of the country, from Maine to California, from
Minnesota to Florida. No less than thirty states sent their delegations,
two territories, Canada, Prince Edward's Island, and British Columbia.
All came to New York to make up this memorable excursion. The genial and
stalwart Gen. Paul Van der Voort of Nebraska, who was commander-in-chief
of the national G. A. R. in 1882-'83, had led on a party of over twenty
from the West, several of them his own neighbors in Omaha. The others
were from different parts of Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa. General Van
der Voort was the assistant manager of the company, and a little later
became its president. He went to Cuba in the double capacity of an
officer of the company, to take charge of its business there, and a
colonist to make La Gloria his permanent residence. Honest, affable, and
humorous, a magnetic and convincing speaker, with a sunny nature
singularly free from affectation and ardently loyal to his friends,
General Van der Voort was a natural leader of men, well fitted to head a
colonizing expedition. One of his sons had been in La Gloria for some
time working as a surveyor in the employ of the company.

[Illustration: GEN. PAUL VAN DER VOORT.]

General Van der Voort's party, however, formed but a small fraction of
the Western representation. Twelve men came from Illinois, six from
Michigan, five from Minnesota, four from Wisconsin, four from Indiana,
four from Oklahoma--men who were "boomers" in the rush for land in that
territory--two from Missouri, two from Washington state, one from
Wyoming, one from South Dakota, and one from California. Ohio men,
usually so much in evidence, were hard to find, only one man on board
acknowledging that he hailed from that state. The South was not so
largely represented as the West, but there were two men from Maryland,
two from Virginia, two from Georgia, one from Florida, one from West
Virginia, and one from Washington, D. C. New York state led the entire
list with fifty-one. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts came next with
twenty-