The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-02-14
DE- LONE LETTER.
How the Insulting Missive Came to
Be Published.
STOLEN AT HAVANA's POsTOFFIOE

An Agent of the Cuban Party Tharo
Employed Secured the Original Let
ter and SEM the Envelope to senior
Canelajns stuffed w..l Blank PAPER.
Philadelphia, Feb. IA. THE Press
prints what II asserts to be a true YER
sion of the acquisition and publication
of the letter from Spanish Minister De
LONE to Senior C%anelajas. The author
ity cited for it's authenticity is "a Gu
ban of the highest standing in the
councils Of his party" who receives his
information from headquarters in New
York"
The story proceeds to say: The let
ter was not stolen from the United
States mails, but was secured by an
agent of the Cuban junta in the post
office at Havana. Don Jose Canelajas,
to whom the letter was addressed, new
er saw the original. He did not know
until eight days after the letter reached
Havana that such a letter from Spain's
representative in Washington had been
written him.
DE LONE wrote the letter in his pri-
vate residence in Washington instead of
o. III bBbAlAol lt6dAlbAls lt paper
however, was marked with the official
type and read in the corner, Legation
de Espana." The same inscription was
upon the lefthand upper corner of the
envelope.
"SenOr De LONE lie not mail the let
ter from his house. In fact. he had not
quite completed it upon the morning it
was written, and carried it to the lega-
ton, where it was first seen and no
ticed by a person who is in the employ
of the embassy. acting in a sub-oficial
capacity. The letter lay upon the desk
of the minister in his MINER office, the
outer office being his place of reception
to 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 he a seen
a letter from De LONE to Canelajas in
which President Mckinley was villihed
and autonomy called a scheme. Sew
eral of the Cuban leaders got together
and asked the emplOye Of the embassy
to secure the letter. They did not be-
lieve implicitly in his story, although
he urged them to come into 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 1t. The employee of
the legation was urged to use all means
in his power to secure the letter, al
though 1t was considered probable that
the letter was already in the mails
when the Cubans at the Hotel Raleigh
were informed of its existence.
1.-THE clerk in the employ of Minister
De LONE saw no more of the letter. His
memory written abstracts were for
warded to New York, n it was quick
ly agreed that could possession of the
letter be obtained and his statements
proven to be rue the letter would be
of incalculable value to the Cuban
cause as su~bstantiating what Cuban
leaders had maintained regarding au-
tonomy and the general Spanish policy,
in official circles, toward this country
and it's officers. Immediately words of
warning and urgings to be on the alert
were sent to every Cuban who might
be in a position to obtain track of or
intercept the much sought for mlssive.
1.-THE letter reached Havana five days
after its postmark in Washington. An
agent Of the Cuban party, who is an
employee of the Spanish postoffice, knew
that the letter was on its way, and
when 1t came into his hands it was car
ried from the postofice and a copy was
made of II. Word to this effect was
sent to the Cuban leader in Jackson
Vile, Fla, who at once asked the secret
Cuban junta in Havana to secure the
original letter-that a copy was not
what was desired. The Havana post
office clerk was not willing to do this
at first, but afterward consented. The
original was taken, several blank sheets
were substituted in place of the paper
upon which De LONE had written, and
the letter finally postmarked in the
Havana office and sent in its routine
way. Eight days from its arrival in the
Havana office the sealed envelope,
properly addressed to Senior Canelajas,
was delivered at the Hotel Inglaterra.
Senior Canelatas did not regard the mat
ter seriously at the time, although the
hotel boy who brought him the letter
and the p~ostofice employee who had last
charge of 1t were arrested. So, also,
was the hotel employee who went sew
eral times daily to the postotice for
the mails. All three were discharged
after the examination.
Senior Canelajas communicated al
most Immediately with Minister De
LONE, and for several weeks letters and
cablegrams passed between the two,
but no trace of the letter could be OBJ
tanned. Canelajas shortly thereafter
left Havana, going to Madrid.
at is not explained why the letter
was kept by the Cubans for several
weeks before 1t was given out for pub
LEGATION. An informant, other than the
person who gave the foregoing, but who
is on the inside in Cuban official circles,
declares that the delay vas occasioned
by a desire on the part of the junta to
be assured absolutely that the writing
was that of the Spanish minister, so
that he might not have any chance to
deny it's authorship, n thus cause a
reaction, which would undoubtedly
have been the result of the propagation