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The South Australian Chronicle - Saturday, April 6, 1895
The trial of the Marquis of Queensberry on a charge of criminally libelling Mr. Oscar Wilde, the celebrated dramatist and litterateur, was commenced before a jury to-day.
The Marquis pleaded that the alleged libel, which was contained in a postcard addressed to Mr. Oscar Wilde at the Albemarle Club, was justified, and was made for the public benefit.
The Evening Journal - Thursday, April 4, 1895
The trial of the Marquis of Queensberry for libelling Mr. Oscar Wilde, the well-known literateur and dramatist, was continued to-day.
Mr. Oscar Wilde, the plaintiff in the case, was submitted to a stringent cross-examination by counsel for the defence, with a view of showing that the book entitled "The Picture of Dorian Gray" - which was originally published in Leppincott's Magazine, and afterwards re-published in book form - and other articles in the same magazine which bore the nom-de-plume of "Chameleon," and which counsel for the defence connected together, inspired criminal practices.
The plaintiff, however, insisted that the true interpretation of the book and articles referred to were merely an expression of artistic faculty.
The letters to Lord Alfred Douglas which were produced, and the prose poems, of which it was alleged that he was the author, might perhaps be characterised as extraordinary, but they did not justify an immoral interpretation.
He admitted that he gave one alleged blackmailer a sum of money amounting to £21, and afterwards had lunch with him in his private room.
It was also elicited in cross-examination that the plaintiff had admitted to terms of intimacy with two lads who were not his social equals, and that he had given them expensive presents, and considerable amounts of money at various times. The plaintiff's plea was that he did so simply on the grounds that he liked them.
During the examination of Mr. Oscar Wilde, his extravagant gestures and postures, and his epigramic and paradoxical style of replying to counsel caused a vast amount of amusement in the Court.
At the end of the day the Court adjourned, the Judge granting bail to the defendant for his subsequent appearance.