Spanish officials in Cuba have always denied the charge that they made war on women, and have insisted that the tales of persecution of the weaker sex that have reached this country were inventions of the insurgents, published to gain sympathy for their cause.  In direct contradiction to this claim is the story of Evangelina Cisneros, the niece of the president of the Cuban republic.  Her father, a Cuban patriot of prominence, was banished to the Isle of Pines, and she showed her filial devotion by leaving a luxurious home to share his exile.  While there, her beauty attracted the attention of a Spanish General, who tried by every means in his power to gain her favor.  It was natural that she should despise anyone who wore the hated uniform of Spain, and, because she rejected his advances, she was charged with conspiring against the government, and sent to a jail in Havana.

Her unhappy fate attracted the attention of Mr. W. R. Hearst, the proprietor of the New York Journal, and he, actuated no doubt by philanthropic motives, as well as the desire to advance the interests of his paper, determined to make an effort for her release.

How this was accomplished is best told by Mr. Karl Decker, who was Mr. Hearst’s representative in carrying out the plot.

“I have broken the bars of prison and have set free the beautiful captive of Monster Weyler, restoring her to her friends and relatives, and doing by strength, skill and strategy what could not be accomplished by petition and urgent request of the Pope.  Weyler could blind the Queen to the real character of Evangelina, but he could not build a jail that would hold against enterprise when properly set to work.

“To-night all Havana rings with the story.  It is the one topic of conversation.  Everything else pales into insignificance.  No one remembers that there has been a change in the Ministry.  What matters it if Weyler is to go?  Evangelina Cisneros has escaped from the jail, thought by everyone to be impregnable.  A plot has been hatched right in the heart of Havana—­a desperate plot—­as shown by the revolver found on the roof of the house through which the escape was effected, and as the result of this plot, put into effect under the very nose of Spanish guards, Evangelina is free.  How was it done?  How could it have been done?

Details of the escape.

“These are the questions asked to-night by the frequenters of the cafes throughout the city, where the people of Havana congregate.  It is conceded by all, by the officials of the palace included, to be the most daring coup in the history of the war, and the audacity of the deed is paralyzing.  No one knows where Evangelina is now, nor can know.

“To tell the story of the escape briefly, I came here three weeks ago, having been told to go to Cuba and rescue from her prison Miss Cisneros, a tenderly-reared girl, descended from one of the best families in the island, and herself a martyr to the unsatisfied desires of a beast in Spanish uniform.  I arrived at Cienfuegos late in September, telegraphed to a known and tried man in Santiago de Cuba to meet me in Havana, and then went to Santa Clara, where I picked up a second man, known to be as gritty as Sahara, and then proceeded to Havana.