Bristol Mercury - Saturday, April 13, 1895

Oscar Wilde and Alfred Taylor again appeared in the dock at Bow street, London, on Thursday. The Extradition Court was thronged when Sir John Bridge took his seat, Mr Gill again appeared for the Treasury; Sir Edward Clarke and Mr Travers Humphreys defended Wilde, and Mr Arthur Newton, solicitor, appeared for Taylor. Both prisoners had altered somewhat in appearance. Wilde was thinner and paler, and Taylor had lost that jaunty and contemptuous bearing with which he surveyed his surroundings on the last occasion.

Sir E. Clarke said he appeared to defend Mr Oscar Wilde. He did not propose to cross-examine the witnesses called on Saturday, and he should probably take the same course with the other witnesses. His desire was to shorten the proceeding in that court.

The Magistrate said it wae incumbent on all of them to get the matter over as speedily as possible.

Charles Parker, recalled, was cross-examined by Mr Newton. He admitted being arrested in August last in Fitzroy square, but denied that he was a friend of many of the men arrested there. Taylor might not have heard Wilde talk witness to go to the Savoy. Witness knew a man nmed Atkins, but was not aware that he was a notorious blackmailer.

Mr Gill said he did not know why this cross-exammination was being pursued.

Mr Newton replied that he was entitled to show that this witness was an associate of most notorious and degraded characters.

Parker, replying to further questions admitted receiving from two men £30, being part of a sum which had been obtained from a gentleman with an accusation of crime committed with witness himself. He denied being discharged from a situation as valet for being a thief.

Frederick Atkins, 20, who described himself as a comedian, detailed the circumstances under which, in November, 1892, he accompanied Wilde to Paris.

The next witness was Edward Shelley, who said he was formerly employed at a firm of publishers with whom the defendant Wilde had business. Witness made Wilde's acquaintance in February, 1892, and dined with him at the Albemarle hotel. After dinner they went to a private sitting room and had drink.

After evidence had been called as to Wilde's visits to Parker at different addresses, the proprietor of the Hotel Albemarle said he pressed Wilde for a small bill in consequence of something he had seen on the occasion of visits of young men to Wilde.

After a brief examination of Mr Mathews, publisher, former employer of the youth Shelley, Police Inspector Richards deposed to having on the 5th inst. visted the Cadogan hotel and apprehended Wilde. Testimony was afterwards adduced as to the arrest of Taylor.

Mr Gill announced that he did not propose to go further that day.

Sir J. Bridge thereupon remanded the prisoners until Friday next week, and again declined to accept bail.

Reynolds's Newspaper - Sunday, April 14, 1895

Oscar Wilde, of 16, Tite-street, Chelsea, and Alfred Taylor, of 30, Denbigh-street, Pimlico, were again brought up at Bow-street Police Court on Thursday, charged with certain offences under the Criminal Law Amendment Act.

Sir John Bridge took his seat on the bench at eleven o'clock.

The prisoners were immediately placed in the dock. As at the first hearing, Mr. C. F. Gill, instructed by Mr. Angus Lewis, prosecuted on behalf of the Treasury; Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., M.P., and Mr. Travers, instructed by Mr. C.O. Humphreys, defended Wilde; Mr. Arthur Newton appeared for Taylor.

On the charge-sheet Wilde was described as a gentleman and Taylor as of no occupation. The small extradition court in which the charge was heard was again densely crowded.

Wilde was dressed precisely as on the first examination, while Taylor had simply discarded his overcoat, and was then smartly and neatly attired in a dark morning suit. Wilde, who appeared much paler than on the previous occasion, bowed respectfully to the Magistrate as he entered the dock. Taylor appeared quite unconcerned, and smiled at the apparent interest his appearance excited.

Edward Clark, Q.C., M.P., rising at once, said he had had an opportunity of reading the depositions taken at the first hearing, and he had decided not to ask for the witnesses to be recalled for cross-examination, as probably no cross-examination could affect the result so far as this court was concerned, and, of course, it was desirable that the investigation should be conducted in as short a time as possible.

Sir John Bridge: It seems incumbent upon all of us to get the matter through as quickly as possible.

Mr Newton said he should be obliged to ask for the witnesses to be recalled in order that he might cross-examine them on behalf of Taylor.

The lad Charles Parker was first recalled. He is respectably dressed, in apparently new clothes. He denied that he was introduced to Taylor by a man named Harrington, and adhered to his statement that Taylor first accosted him in a restaurant. He recognized, he said, the peril of prosecution in which he himself stood, but he denied with an air very like that of honest indignation that he had been guilty of improprieties before he met Wilde. He declared that he knew nothing of it being Taylor's birthday on that occasion when he was first taken to dine with Wilde. He knew the man Atkins who was mentioned at the Old Bailey in connection with the blackmailing letters, but he knew him only as a comedian, and not as a notorious blackmailer who

LIVED BY ACCUSATIONS AGAINST GENTLEMEN.

He left his own employment as a valet because the gentleman could not afford to keep him. He was afterwards accused of stealing his master's clothes. He was arrested in the Fitzroy-square raid last year, but he declared he only knew one other man concerned in that little adventure. That was Taylor. Then Mr. Newton touched a more serious point.

"Just before that did you not get £30, in conjunction with two other persons, by threatening to accuse a gentleman of a crime?"

"I didn't. The others gave it to me."

They had extorted from a gentleman? - I think that is right.

They extorted more than the £30? - I think so.

That was your share? - Yes.

Had you been guilty of impropriety with that gentleman? - Yes.

Then it was hush money? - I don't know that.

Sir John Bridge: Isn't that substantially what it was? - I don't know what they gave it to me for. They didn't tell me that it was to keep my mouth shut. They only told me who it came from.

The quiet, assured tone in which he announced this literally stunned the astounded court. Wilde, leaning back in the corner of the dock, a dull, lifeless expression in his eyes, took no notice. Taylor pretended to be delighted.

William Parker was to have been recalled, but he had not been brought to the court.

Frederick Atkins, a pale-eyed lad of twenty, in a green cord waistcoat with pale blue spots, a blue oxford shirt and a jacket of rough brown tweed, deposed that he first knew the prisoner Taylor and the establishment at Little College-street. Taylor introduced him to Wilde in November, 1893, when all three and another man--one of the nameless men of the Old Bailey proceedings--dined together at the Florence Hotel in Soho. Wilde asked the witness if he would like to go to Paris with him

AS HIS PRIVATE SECRETARY.

He said "Yes," and they went two days later, by the Club Train from Victoria. Arrived in Paris, they went to 29, Boulevard des Capucines, a private hotel, where Wilde had a bed-sitting-room and witness a bedroom. The two rooms communicated. Next day they lunched at the Cafe Julien, and in the afternoon went to the Grand Hotel to have their hair cut. Wilde spoke in French to the barber, who began to curl witness's hair. It will be remembered that Wilde's version of this incident is that the lad wanted to have his hair curled, and he forbade him.

What kind of dinner was it? - The best I ever had in my life.

Everybody in court laughed. Taylor increased his grin. Even Wilde smiled.

After dinner Wilde gave him a louis, and permission to go out and amuse himself.

"To go to the Moulin Rouge?" suggested Mr. Gill.

"No," said the Witness. "He told me not to go there. But I went." He got back at half-past two a.m., and declares he found a third person, whose name he gave as Schwabe with Wilde. At half-past nine next morning Wilde came and sat on the edge of the witness's bed, and talked to him about women, warning him that they were the ruin of young men. "He told me not to have anything to do with them." The Witness gave no evidence of impropriety, although Wilde had made improper suggestions to him.

Wilde gave him the usual silver cigarette case and £3 when they got back to Victoria. Mr. Gill reverted to the dinner at the Florence, and the witness mentioned as part of Wilde's table manners that he kissed the waiter, and put his arms round the necks of witnesses and Lord Alfred Douglas.

Mr Newton had not much to ask of this witness in cross-examination. "Don't mention any name," he said, "but were you not introduced to Taylor by the gentleman who was in Paris?" - Yes.

Did not that gentleman also introduce you to Mr. Wilde? - No.

Witness had been living for years past with a man named Burton, but denied having extorted money from gentlemen. He is--and was when he first met Wilde--a comedian and a bookmaker's clerk.

Sir John Bridge: Did you do any secretarial work for Wilde in Paris?

Witness: Yes, I wrote something about the "Woman of No Importance."

Among the few people of some importance who were among the crowd in court during the morning were Sir Augustus Harris and Mr. Jerome K. Jerome.

The next witness called was Edward Shelley, the youth whom Wilde met at his publishers, and whom Mr. Carson persisted in dubbing "office boy." Shelley is a tall dark, lanky, somewhat distinguished-looking young fellow. In trying to show what his position at Matthews's had been, Mr. Gill asked what his wages were. They were 15s a week at first, and were afterwards raised to £65 as a year.

Shelley then told of his meeting with Wilde on Wilde's calling about the republication of a volume of poems. Subsequently, he received a note asking him to call upon Wilde at the Albemarle hotel. Then they had dinner together, and afterwards went to Wilde's private sitting-room, where they talked and smoked till a late hour. Wilde then asked him to stay the night.

Here Shelley became exceedingly distressed, and only continued with the greatest difficulty.

He did not know the man, he said. He thought as it was far from home Wilde, who had been kind to him, called him clever, and flattered him, was going to put him up for the night. Next night they went to the Independent Theatre together, where they had a box, supped together at the Albemarle. He also went to

THE PRINCE OF WALES'S CLUB,

to Kettner's, and several other places, and received books from Wilde, the title-pages of which he subsequently tore out on account of the inscriptions written by Wilde upon them. Wilde had also booked him to go to Paris. Taylor was a stranger to him.

All this Wilde heard with an inscrutable countenance, the inevitable suede gloves hanging from his fingers and his eyes blankly fixed on the wall behind the Magistrate.

Mrs. Lucy Rumsby, a stout old lady in a plush mantle and a crape bonnet, is landlady of 50, Park-walk, Chelsea, and for a fortnight Charles Parker occupied a small room in her house. At the end of that time she gave him notice in consequence of a complaint made by another lodger. Mrs. Margery Bancroft, who lives in the house, added that Taylor, who at the time lived at 3, Chapel-street--which is just round the corner--sometimes called for Parker. On one occasion, late at night, a cab drew up at the door, and she saw Parker and Oscar Wilde alight.

Both prisoners were ordered to stand up, and Mrs. Bancroft stated positively that she

RECOGNISED THEM BOTH.

Wilde was impassive and superior, Taylor wearing his ceaseless grin.

Mrs. Bancroft added that she had her suspicions, and it was on her complaint that Parker was sent away. Park-walk was ten minutes' walk from Tite-street. But Wilde came in a cab.

Taylor's landlady from 3, Chapel-street, Park-walk, Mrs. Sophia Gray, related one of those little incidents which, overlooked by men at the time, rise up against them years after maybe. Taylor after being visited by his sister-in-law, Wilde, and several young men left, leaving some rent unpaid. He also left several things behind him, and most of these Mrs. Gray sold. But a hat-boxful of letters and papers would not sell and were handed over to the prosecution.

"Mary Applegate, the servant in the house where Atkins lodged,

IDENTIFIED WILDE AS A VISITOR

to Atkins. There was, she added, a picture of Wilde hanging on the wall in Atkins' room.

Thomas Price, a waiter from the private hotel, 10, St. James's-place, where Wilde had rooms from October, 1893 to April, 1894, spoke of the many young men visitors Wilde had. Among them were --

Ha! never mind names just now. Was Charles Parker among them? - Yes.

Taylor? - Yes; once.

Atkins? - Yes; several times--two or three.

A boy named Scarf? - Yes; several times.

A lad named Barford? - Yes.

What the names were Mr. Gill did not wish mentioned after suggesting this list was a point which raised considerable curiosity.

M. Alois Vogel, the proprietor of the Hotel Albemarle, detailed Wilde's visits to that hotel. It was, he said, Mr. Wilde's habit to finish his plays at the Albemarle, and to produce them from there. Wilde, he went on, had many young men calling upon him, and at first it was thought

THEY CAME FROM THE THEATRES.

But something raised suspicions, and M. Alois Vogel made up his mind that Wilde should no more be a guest at the hotel. His method of conveying this intention to Wilde was somewhat artful. Wilde had a small bill outstanding; Vogel instructed his solicitor to take advantage of that and sue him for it. But Wilde did not take the hint, and had to be sued for a second little account. Wilde always had a private sitting-room with a bedroom opening off it. To the witness's great annoyance, Wilde was admitted to the hotel in January last year, while witness was away.

Mrs Perkins, a slightly-built lady, who in 1893 filled the responsible position of housekeeper of the big Savoy Hotel, but is now retired to Southsea, gave evidence as to Wilde's stay at the hotel, and said a servant told her something concerning the condition of the sheets on Oscar Wilde bed.

Sir J. Bridge: What did you see on the sheets?

Witness: I refused to look at them.

Mr. C. Matthews, of the Bodley Head, deposed that both he and his partner, Mr. Lane, had their attention called to the friendship between young Shelly and Wilde, whose books they were at the time publishing. No action was taken by them, but Shelly left their employment.

THE ARREST OF WILDE

Detective-Inspector Charles Richards, who arrested Wilde at The Cadogan Hotel in Sloane-street, deposed that when told what he would he charged with, the prisoner asked, "Where shall I be taken?" Witness said, "You will have to go to Scotland Yard with me now, and then on to Bow-street." Wilde asked at once,

"CAN I HAVE BAIL?"

and the inspector replied, "I don't think you can." At Scotland Yard he was handed over to the Inspector Brockwell, who had a warrant. Later in the evening witness went to 25, Denbigh-place, Pimlico, the address given by Taylor when he was charged. He searched Taylor's rooms, and among other things found a brooch and eight pairs of trousers.

Mr. Gill: Was there anything peculiar about the trousers?

Yes; seven pairs of them had the sewing of the pocket cut on one side, so that anyone could pass their hands straight through. (Sensation.)

Inspector Brockwell deposed that when wild was handed over to his custody he read over the warrant to him. Wilde put out his hand and said, "Let me read it." The inspector said, "No; I can't do that. If there is anything you do not understand I will read it to you again." Wilde then asked what dates were mentioned, and the witness told him, "March 20, 1893, and divers other days." He was searched, and on him were found letters and memoranda and three writs. Among the papers were an envelope addressed "Sidney Mavor, Esq.," and a pencilled note, "Dear Sid,--I could not wait any longer. Come at once to see Oscar. 16, Tite-street, Chelsea. I am there. --Yours, ALF TAYLOR." Two of the writs were by jewellers for jewellery and cigarette cases. There was another

NOTE FROM TAYLOR

to Wilde, referring to Inspector Littlechild, the retired police officer, who prepared the evidence for the Marquis of Queensberry's case. The letter ran:--

Dear Oscar,--When I left home yesterday I left a note for Sidney Mavor. Littlechild called shortly afterwards and, saying he wished to write a note, got into my room. I found on getting back that the note to Mavor had been opened. In its place was one from Littlechild saying he wished to see me next morning.

Upon Wilde he also found twenty £5 notes and a cheque-book on the London and Westminster Bank.

When Taylor was arrested he seemed surprised, but not at the arrest. "Is that all?" he asked, on hearing the charge, and to Detective-sergeant Harris, when that officer tapped him on the shoulder, he said, smilingly, "Oh, I expected you last night." Harris was an old acquaintance of Taylor's. He watched Taylor in '93, got into the man's rooms, and now described how they were heavily scented and draped all over, ceiling and all.

Mr Newton suggested in cross-examination that Taylor had been in [...] at the Old Bailey throughout the trial.

Wood, the lad who was given £30 by Wilde that he might go to America, was recalled, and denied that he had money from Taylor. He identified the letter he had written from America to Taylor--a letter that had no doubt been found in that old hatbox which would not sell. One sentence was, "Tell Oscar he can send me a draft for an Easter egg." A cheque was handed up to him. It was, he said, made out in his name, but he had never had the pleasure of seeing before.

A jeweller as to selling and engraving a cigarette case completed the evidence for the day. Counsel said he did not anticipate having to take up much time at the next hearing.

Strong applications for bail were made on behalf of both prisoners. Mr Newton urged that all the evidence against Taylor was that of discredited persons, and that he was a member of a thoroughly respectable family, who were willing to provide substantial bail.

Sir John Bridge refused to entertain the application in respect of either prisoner, and remanded both in custody till Friday.

WILDE HAS BEEN ILL.

The Exchange Telegraph Company says Oscar Wilde has been very ill in Holloway Gaol, and on Wednesday was seen by the prison doctor several times.

WILDE AS "B 24."

Oscar Wilde's physical system has survived, or his intellect has triumphed. The prison exercise, it may be, has done "B 24"-as Wilde is numbered at Holloway--much good. "I never walk," he told Mr. Carson in the Old Bailey. He walks now (with the others) daily, and is enjoying the novelty of rational exercise.

"You are starving me," he said to the warder on Tuesday, after consuming a large plate of chicken. "Tell them to send larger quantities."

Wilde wrote out his own menu. This is his menu for Wednesday: Breakfast: Four boiled eggs, toast, bread and butter, coffee &c. Luncheon: Rump-steak, potatoes, tomatoes, bread, cheese, half-pint claret. (More claret persistently ordered, but always struck out by the prison officials.) Dinner: Roast fowl, grilled sole, potatoes, rice pudding, claret. (Claret disallowed, tea substituted.) Wilde is denied the privilege of a table-cloth, and is not permitted the luxury of a claret-glass. Still, one can drink claret out of a prison tin, so he doesn't raise objection to the tin, though he deplores the scarcity of the claret. He has repeated his request for a cigarette in vain. His only visitors are his solicitor and Lord Alfred Douglas, who has seen him daily and conducted what monetary affairs have been needful.

WHO TAYLOR IS.

From the charge, and some of the evidence given against him, it may be thought that Taylor is, like some of the witnesses, merely a lacquey and a procurer. He certainly is well connected, and had an income of £3,000 to £4,000 a year. His family form one of the oldest and most respected commercial houses in England. The name, the commodity for which they are chiefly known, and its title are household words throughout the land. The blow to them must be hard and terrible enough without their identity being disclosed. Taylor was the second son.

SEQUEL TO THE OSCAR WILDE CASE.

On Friday a case of some topical interest came before the eighth Correctional Tribunal at Paris. Mr. Robert Sherard, a journalist, had entered an action for criminal libel against Mr. Macarthy, of the British Consulate in Paris, who it is alleged on sundry public occasions accused the plaintiff of being not only an associate of the prisoner Oscar Wilde, but guilty of offences with which the latter stands charged. Maitre Barzelay, counsel for the plaintiff, asked that the case might be heard at once, as the witnesses were obliged to leave Paris for England. Maitre Burean, the defendant's counsel, made no objection, but President Lecouturier decided that in consequence of other cases it was advisable to adjourn the proceedings until after the Easter recess, when the new Judge on the roll would be able to deal with the evidence from beginning to end. The court and precincts were crowded with English residents in Paris, the witnesses on both sides being numerous.

The crusade against Oscar Wilde is spreading in America. The Committees of the St. Louis Free Library and the Newark (New Jersey) Free Library have decided to withdraw from circulation and to destroy all works in their catalogues bearing his name.

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