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The hearing of the charge of criminal libel brought by Mr Oscar Wilde against the Marquis of Queensberry was begun at the Old Bailey, London, yesterday morning, before Mr Justice Collins. The Court was densely crowded. Mr Oscar Wilde occupied a seat at the solicitor's table.

On taking his place in the dock, Lord Queensberry answered the indictment by pleading first "not guilty," and secondly, that the libel was true and was published for the public benefit.

Sir E. Clarke, in opening for the prosecution, said very grave issues had been raised, because the defendant in the pleadings alleged that plaintiff had for some time solicited persons named to commit indecent offences. Certain letters addressed by the plaintiff to Lord A. Douglas were brought to him by a man who said he was in distress, and Mr Wilde gave him £15 or £20 to pay his passage to America. Another letter came to the plaintiff through Mr Tree, the actor. It was handed to that gentleman, who in turn gave it to the plaintiff. It was couched in extravagant term, but it did not bear the suggestion made in this case. Coming to Lord Queensbery's action the learned counsel said the jury might have doubts whether the defendant was responsible for his actions.

Plaintiff was examined by Sir Edward Clarke at length on the subject of the letters, which he said he did not regard as important. He described a stormy interview in his own house with Lord Queensberry, who accused him of a nameless offence. He told the defendant he did not know what the Queensberry rules were, but the Oscar Wilde rule was to shoot at sight. In ordering the defendant out of the house he described him as "the most infamous brute in London." There was no foundation for the suggestions in the pleadings.

Mr Carson cross-examined as to the teaching in "Dorien Gray and "Phrases and Philosophies." The plaitiff replied that he looked at these matters from the point of view of art. "The Priest and Acolyte" was twaddle, but he had not dissociated himself from the "Chameleon," in which it appeared. The man Wood was an unemployed clerk, the plaintiff said in further cross-examination, and he not only gave him £15 for his passage to America, but £5 more on the occasion of a champagne lunch before his departure. He denied misconduct with Wood. Lord A. Douglas had asked him to befriend the man when introducing him. Wood and plaintiff knew each other by their Christian names, A man named Allen also called on him with reference to the Douglas letters. He knew Allen as a blackmailer, and gave him 10s to show his contempt (laughter). After Allen came another person named Clyburne, and he was kind to Clyburne by giving him the same amount. To a bookseller's assistant he had given money on three occasions, but denied misconduct.

The court adjourned.

LONDON, 3rd April.

Every available inch in Old Bailey was occupied this morning when the hearing of the libel suit brought against the Marquis of Queensberry by Oscar Wilde was opened before Justice Collins. Wilde charges the Marquis with leaving, on February 28th, an uncovered card at the Albemarle Club, on which were written certain foul epithets. As a result Wilde, on March 2nd, caused the arrest of the Marquis, and the latter at the Marlborough Street Police Court was placed under £1,500 bail.

The court room was to-day crowded with lawyers. Admission was obtained by tickets only, and the Sheriff in charge exhibited a pile of applications a foot high, many being from well-known people.

Wild rumours were current in London yesterday that Wilde had suddenly left the city to avoid being present in court, and reports were also current that startling developments would arise to-day. But both those rumours were set at rest by the arrival in cout of the principals to the suit.

The Marquis, who wore a shabby overcoat, was placed in the dock and answered to the indictment by pleading first not guilty, and, secondly, that the libel was true and that it was published for the public good.

The Marquis seemed unconcerned, and, replying to the questions, spoke quietly and clearly.

Sir Edward Clarke, formerly Solicitor-General, in opening the case, said the card left at the Albemarle Club for Mr. Wilde was one of the visiting cards of the Marquis of Queensberry.

Continuing, counsel said the gravest issues had been raised, as the defendant in his pleadings alleged that the plaintiff had for some time solicited the persons named to commit indecent offences.

Certain letters addressed by the plaintiff to Lord Alfred Douglas, the second son of the Marquis of Queensberry, were brought to the plaintiff by a man who said he was in distress, and Wilde gave him £20 with which to pay his passage to America. Another letter was handed Beerbohm Tree, the actor, who gave it to the plaintiff.

Counsel then recounted the facts already known in the case, showing that Wilde, who had recently returned from Algiers, drove up to the Albemarle Club about 5 p.m. on February 28th, and, on entering, was handed an envelope by the hall porter, Sidney Wright, who said: “Lord Queensberry desired me, sir, to hand this to you when you came to the club.”

Inside the envelope the plaintiff found a card, on the back of which was the date “4:30 p.m.—18-2-’95,” and on the card were written certain foul epithets which formed the bases of the suit.

Oscar Wilde was then called. He languidly arose from the solicitors’ table, where he was seated and entered the witness box. The plaintiff was faultlessly dressed and carried gloves in his hand, showing fingers covered with rings. He was very pale, but seemingly composed.

Wilde spoke with his customary drawl, leaning his arms upon the rail of the witness box and replying distinctly to questions. The jury, which was composed of very intelligent men of elderly appearance, mainly prosperous tradesmen, eyes him with curiosity.

The witness said that upon arriving at his house a few months ago he found two gentlemen waiting in the library, One was the Marquis of Queensberry; the other was unknown to plaintiff. The former said, “Sit down.”

Wilde replied: "Lord Queensberry, I will not allow any one to talk that way in my house. I suppose you have come to apologize. Is it possible that you accuse me and your son of an unnatural crime?”

The Marquis replied: “"I don't say it, but you look like it, and appear like it.”

Counsel for plaintiff then […] the witness about the man to whom he gave £20 with which to pay his passage to America. The witness said: “The man told me he had been offered £60 for the letter, and I advised him to immediately accept it, but I finally gave him the money in order to relieve his distress, and he gave me the letter.”

The document referred to was here produced in court, and was handed to Justice Collins. The letter referred to the “rose-red lips" of Lord Alfred Douglas, and the writer addressed him as “My own boy," and asked, “Why are you alone in London?” The letter was signed ”With undying love, Oscar Wilde.”

Other expressions in the letter were, “Your slim, gilt soul walks between poetry and passion;” “I know that Hysionthus, who was loved by Apollo, was you in the Greek days.”

Council, in explaining this letter, said it might seem extravagant to those in the habit of writing letters. But he added, “It was mere poetry.” (Laughter.)

Interest in the case was increased when Sir Edward Clarke, upon finishing the direct examination, turned the witness over to E. H. Carson, Q.C., M.P., counsel for the Marquis of Queensberry, for cross-examination.

Carson began the presentation of the case for the Marquis by reading passages from “Dorian Gray,” one of Oscar Wilde’s novels of modern life, to show that the author upheld the offence alleged, the plaintiff following counsel with a copy of the book and laughing at Carson’s insinuations.

Carson, addressing the plaintiff asked: “Do you think the description of Dorian Gray, given on page 6, is a moral one?”

“Yes, replied Wilde, “Just what an artist would notice in a beautiful personality.”

“Did you ever adore as madly as described in “Dorian Gray” any person of the male sex younger than yourself?” was the next question.

In reply Wilde said: “I took the idea from Shakespeare’s sonnets.”

During this portion of the proceedings the Marquis of Queensberry followed his counsel with a copy of “Dorian Gray” in his hands with seeming enjoyment.

Wilde testified that the man to whom he gave £20 on receipt of the letter in which he referred to the “rose-red lips” of Lord Douglass, which amount was used to pay his passage to America, was named Wood.

Replying to questions by Mr. Carson, Wilde said the letter to Lord Alfred was merely “poetical,” and he added that he had an “undying love” for Lord Alfred, who, he claimed, was his best friend. Witness denied having misconducted himself with Wood. The latter, he added, was introduced to himself by Lord Alfred, who asked him to befriend the man.

Wilde and Wood, it was shown also by cross-examination, addressed each other by their Christian names. It was also developed that in writing he did not concern himself to produce morality or immorality. He had no purpose, and was concerned merely with literature, beauty, wit, and emotion. He rarely thought of anything he wrote as true; indeed, he might say never in reference to “Dorian Gray.”

Sir Edward Clarke objected to Carson crossexamining his client on that novel as it appeared in Lippincott’s Magazine and not as it was published in England.

Wilde thereupon stepped from the witness box and whispered a few words to his counsel, after which Sir Edward Clarke withdrew his objection.

The cross-examination was very severe and brought out the great differences in the ages of Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas (the former was born in 1856, the latter in 1870); how the two had visited various towns together and bad been much in one another’s company.

Carson then drew out Wilde’s opinion regarding literature in general, to which line of cross-examination the witness made many smart responses in the same line as in his plays.

“The interpretation of my works does not concern me” said Wilde. “I do not care ‘tuppence’ for what Philistines think of me.”

Carson severely repressed the levity of the witness and began a more serious phase of cross-examination by questioning Wilde about his intimacy with a newsboy 18 years of age, and brought out the fact that Wilde took the boy to the hotel Brighton.

“Why did you seek the boy’s society?” asked Carson. “Was it for an intellectual treat?”

“Oh, he was a bright, careless, amusing creature,” replied the witness.

Carson here produced a silver cigarette case, a a handsome cane and a book which Wilde admitted he had given the newsboy.

Cross-examination then touched upon Wilde’s relations with various boys and men, and the questions were so pointed as to be unprintable. Wilde, however, emphatically denied that he did anything improper, but he was troubled and confused under the terrible cross-examination to which he was subjected, and frequently drank water. In fact he seemed ready to faint, and a chair was placed inside the witness stand for his use. Throughout the questioning of the plaintiff the Marquis of Queensberry stood facing him, and did not take his eyes off the man.

The cross-examination of Wilde was not finished when the court adjourned at 5 p.m. A large crowd has assembled about the Old Bailey to see Wilde leave.

PEN PICTURE OF OSCAR WILDE.

In “Live Topics About Town” a writer in the New York Sun recently gave this graphic pen picture of Oscar Wilde, showing that the aesthetic playwright is not always fair to look upon:—

“Opinions concerning Oscar Wilde are so numerous that it will do no harm to add one more to the number. Mr. Wilde is still spoken of as a thing of beauty and a person of engaging appearance. The writer met him in London last summer and had an extended conversation with the ex-esthete upon a business matter, which was subsequently settled to the satisfaction of all parties concerned.

“Mr. Wilde was at that time addicted to wearing cork-soled boots of a very large and cumbersome make, and he wore flapping trousers that bagged at the knees. His rather shapeless body was incased in a frock coat which might have been made by an obscure tailor in Newark, so awkward and ill-fitting were its outlines, and it would be the widest possible departure from the truth to assert that his general appearance and expression were anything but repellant. The front of his coat was stained with grease. His teeth were discoloured and the fat hung in heavy masses over his jaw bones.

“Along with his unwieldy bulk and general ungainliness of movement there was a manner of assumed femininity that aroused ridicule if not disgust. Mr. Wilde sat humped up in a chair, with his eyes turned upward, and his voice was pitched like a woman’s. He twisted his rings nervously, and occasionally pressed a handkerchief with a narrow lace border to his lips as he talked. There were two prominent Americans present at the interview, and they must read with interest the assertion made in some of the dispatches that Mr. Wilde is a man of magnificent physique, with engaging manners, and a generally magnetic presence.”