was
placed in charge of Col. Thomas H. Maginniss of Philadelphia, Pa., an
ex-officer of the United States regular army and a veteran of the Civil
War, who had come down among the colonists on the _Yarmouth_. Colonel
Maginniss was a handsome man of great stature, youthful in appearance,
mentally alert and physically active, with very prepossessing manners.
Although a little past fifty years of age, he looked to be hardly more
than forty. He was a favorite from the start, and aside from being a
picturesque personality, soon became an influential power among the
colonists. So efficiently did he perform his duties in supervising the
erection of the tent city, that a little later he was regularly given
the position of superintendent of camp, in the employ of the company.
He held this post until his return to the States, early in April.

Our first night in La Gloria was not one of sybaritic pleasure. We were
able to secure some poor cots and one thin blanket apiece. This was
insufficient, for the nights, or rather the early mornings, were quite
cold. Some of the men were obliged to sit up all night to gather warmth
from fires. The rotten cloth on the cots went to pieces, in most cases,
before the night was over, and, altogether, sleep was at a premium. Many
of the tents were crowded; in mine were eight persons, representing
nearly as many states. Fortunately, the insects gave us very little
trouble. The population of the camp that first night must have been
nearly three hundred, and the next day it increased to quite that
number.

* * * * *

While the colonists did not arrive at La Gloria in any considerable
numbers until January, 1900, the preliminary operations began there on
October 9, 1899, when Chief Engineer J. C. Kelly landed with a survey
corps from Texas. It was a splendid corps of bright, hardy, plucky,
indefatigable men, skilful in their work and under discipline as rigid
as that of an army. Chief Kelly was from Eagle Lake, Texas, in which
state he had become well known through the performance of a great deal
of important work. He was an exceedingly capable engineer, a strict but
just disciplinarian, a good financier, and at all times highly popular
with his men, whose devotion to him was as striking as that often shown
by soldiers to their colonel or their general. Mr. Kelly was an
interesting talker, and an athlete and amateur impersonator of no mean
pretensions. With him he bro