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.
"Here I remained in almost absolute concealment, so as to avoid the spies that dog one's steps wherever one may go, and make impossible any clever work of this kind. Both the men who accompanied me, Joseph Hernandon and Harrison Mallory, pursued the same course, and remained quiet until all plans had been completed.
"The fact that Miss Cisneros was incommunicado made the attempt seem at first beyond the possibility of success, but we finally, through Hernandon, who was born on the island, and speaks Spanish like a native, succeeded in sending a note to her through an old negress, who called upon one of her friends in the prison. A keeper got this note through two hands to Miss Cisneros, and three keepers later got to her a package of drugged sweets. Having established communication with her, we began work without losing a day."