Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-02-19
Mistellaneous 8sading.
DE LOME'S LETTER.

DE LOME'S LETTER.
The Philadelphia Press prints what
it asserts to be the true version Of
the acquisition and publication Of
the letter from Mr.. De LONE to Senol
Canalejas. The authority cited for its
authenticity is "a Cuban of the high.
est standing in the councils of his
party" who received his information
from headquarters in New York. VI
The story proceeds to say:
"The letter was not stolen from the
United States mail, but was secured by
an agent of the Cuban Junta in the
postoffice at Havana. Don Jose Can.
alejas, to whom the letter was address.
ed, never saw the original. He did
not know until eight days after the
letter reached Havana that such let.
ter from Spain's representative al
Washington had been written him.
"De Lone wrote the letter in his pri.
vate .sidence in Washington, instead
of at the Spanish Legation. The pa,
per, however, was marked with the
official type, and read in the corner
Legation de Espana.' The same in
scription was upon the left hand upper
corner of the envelope.
"Senor De LONE did not mail the
letter from his house. 1t fact, he had
not quite completed it upon the morn
ing it was written, and carried it to
the Legation, where it was first seen,
and noticed by person who is in the
employ of the embassy, acting in o
sub-official capacity. The letter lay
upon the desk of the minister in bis
inner office, the outer Office being his
place of reception 10 visitors. During
an absence of half an hour from the
inner Office of De LONE, the clerk in
question saw the open letter and read
some of it.
"The next day this same person sent
word to his Cuban associates in Wash
ington to the effect that be had seen a
letter from De Lone to Canalejas, in
which President Mckinley was viliied
and autonomy called scheme. Sew
eral of the Cuban leaders got together
and asked the employees of the embas
sy to secure the letter. They did not
believe implicitly in his story, al
though he urged them to come into
the public print and make charges
against De LONE. Because they did
not have the letter in their possession
the leaders refused TO say anything
about it. The employe of the legation
was urged to use all means in his pow
er to secure the letter, although it was
considered probable that the letter was
already in the mails when the Cubans
at the Hotel Raleigh were informed OF
its existence.
"The clerk in the employ of Minis
ter De LONE saw no more of the let
ter. His memory-written abstracts
were forwarded to New York, and it
was quickly agreed that, could posses
sion of the letter be obtained and his
statements proven to be true, the
letter would be of incalculable value
to the Cuban cause as substantiating
what Cuban leaders had maintained
regarding autonomy and the general
Spanish policy in official circles toward
this country and its officers. 1mme-
diately words of warning and urgings
to be on the alert were sent to every
Cuban who might be in position to
obtain track of or intercept the much
missive.
"The letter reached Havana five
days after its postmark in Washing
ton. An agent of the Cuban party,
who is an employe of the Spanish
postoffice, knew that the letter was on
the way, and when it came into his
hands it was carried from the post
office and a copy was made of it.
Word to this effect was sent to a Gu
ban leader in Jacksonville, Fla, who
at once asked the secret Cuban Junta
in Havana to secure the original letter
that a copy was not what was de-
sired. The Havana postoffice clerk
was not willing to do this at first; but
afterward consented, as he was OBJ
liged to account for a certain number
of letters to other employees of the de-
partment. The original was then