Bisbee daily review., 1918-04-14
FAMOUS OLD CLUB IN PASS CITY IS ALIVE ONE NIGHT
McGintys' Non-Existent for Many Years, Open Doors in Reunion to Surviving Mem bers of Pioneer Days.

FL PASO, Tex, April 1S. - Presi- dents and prize-fighters, ministers and monte dealers were entertained by the famous old McGinty club of Fl Paso. which has been non -existant for many years but which held a reunion Of the suryil ing members recently.
 In the frontier days when Fl Paso Ea5 wide open and saloons never closed, there was a club which was organized for gambling. card playing and drinking. lt was so expensive that few but gamblers and saloon owners could belong. This was called the Cactus club To provide amuse- ment for the men Of the little border town who could not belong 10 the eX- elusive organization, the McGinty club wal ciganized among the less prosper ous residents of the settlement.
 The open meetings of this club be- came famous throughout the west and NcGinties were known in the east. When. President Harrison visited Fl Paso the McGinty club acted as an es- cort for the presidential party. firing siN-shOoter salutes as they galloped down the one main street. When Bob Fitzsimmons came here to train in Juarez for one of his fights. he was the guest of honor at a McGinty club entertainment
 The government. wishing to test the theory that the discharge of high eX- plosIves attached to balloons would cause rainfall. sent scientists here to conCucf a series of experiments. They fired tons of explosives from the peak of Mount Franklin and from the tails of kites and captive balloons. Not a cloud appeared in the sky. Just as the scientists were preparing to returp east the McGinty club staged special entertainment for the ''rainmakers, as the scientists were called locally. They occupied the seats of honor un- der the caves Of the clubhouse and watched a member dressed as an In dian medicine man do a rain dance. At the conclusion of this dance the rain csme-from a garden hose in the hands of the perpetual president Of the club who sat astride the roof and sprinkled the "rainmakers.'
 Tke McGinty club bOasted of its ar my. which was composed of the entire membership of the club. This army would drill each time the club met and all members belonged.
 At the command: Generals to t-le front" half the command would ad- vance "ColOnels to the front would bring a half of the remaining members Captains and lieutenants would ad- vance upon command until only one lone man remained in the rank. He would advance at the command Of "prfvates to the front" and would hob ble up and salute. having but one leg and q dented helmet. This drill al- ways delighted the visitors from the east and Peg" Grendover, the enlist ed personnel of the McGinty club ar my. Was always the most popular mem Der of the club.
 The McGinty claims the honor or flri ing the first baTrage ever known, ad, hitting that they would not have reel ognized it by that name when it hap pened When they paraded the club always dressed in linen dusters, high silk hats and carried canes. They were supplied with roman candles from a supply wagon as they marched and would fire these along the street. One night a spark fell among the re- serve candles. touched them off and the entire supply was fired at the same time. This. the surviving Me Giniy club members claim, was the first barrage in history.