The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser - Saturday, May 11, 1895

The trial of Oscar Wilde and Taylor, his associate, was continued at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, to-day.

At the close of the evidence for the prosecution counsel for the Crown withdrew the charges of conspiracy. The charge on which the accused are being tried is that of misdemeanour.

The case for the defence was then entered upon. Oscar Wilde went into the witness-box and emphatically denied all the charges against him, alleging that he was the victim of blackmail.

Taylor swore that he was absolutely innocent of the crimes imputed to him.

Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., M.P., made an eloquent speech for the defence. He reviewed the evidence, and claimed an acquittal on the ground that the chief witnesses for the Crown were tainted.

MAY 2.

Mr. Justice Charles summed up to-day. The summing up was in favour of the accused. The Judge emphasised the fact that several of the witnesses for the Crown were undoubted blackmailers.

After a lengthy retirement the jury returned into court, and the foreman announced that they were unable to agree, and that there was no probability of their doing so.

The jury were then discharged. The accused will be tried again.

Oscar Wilde was released on bail on entering into his own recognisance of £2500, and finding two sureties for £1250 each.

The Boston Globe - Friday, April 26, 1895

LONDON, April 26 - The trial of Oscar Wilde and Alfred Taylor was begun in the central criminal court, Old Bailey, today.

Charles Parker and the other witnesses who testified at the preliminary hearings were called to the stand and repeated the stories they had previously told.

Wilde looked careworn and anxious and was much thinner than usual.

The fact that he had had his hair cut short added to his attenuated appearance. Taylor maintained his air of unconcern.

Both prisoners pleaded not guilty.

The opening speech of the counsel for the prosecution was a repetition of his previous arguments.

The evidence given by the young man Parker was vastly more disgusting than the testimony he gave at the hearings in the Bow st police court.

Upon cross examination he swore that Wood and Allen had received $2000 blackmail from a gentleman with whom they were guilty of misconduct in the gentleman's lodgings, and that he himself had received $150 from the same person for the same reason.

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