The Yorkshire Evening Post - Wednesday, April 10, 1895

In Truth, Mr. Labouchere, writing about Oscar Wilde, says:—"I have known him, off and on, for years. Clever and witty he unquestionably is, but I have always regarded him as somewhat wrong in the head, for his craving after notoriety seemed to me a positive craze. There was nothing that he would not do to attract attention."

OSCAR IN NEW YORK.

"When Wilde went over to New York he went about dressed in a bottle-green coat with a waist up to his shoulders. When be entered a restaurant people threw things at him. When he drove in the evening to deliver his lectures the windows of his carriage were broken, until a policeman rode on each side of it. Far from objecting to ail this, it filled him with delighted complacency. 'Insult me, throw mud at me, but only look at me,' seemed to be his creed."

HIS PASSION FOR NOTORIETY.

So strange aud wondrous is Wilde's mind when in an abnormal condition, that it would not surprise me (continues Truth) if he were deriving a keen enjoyment from a position which most people, whether really innocent or guilty, would prefer to die rather than occupy. He must have known in what a glass-house he lived when he challenged investigation in a court of justice. After he had done this he went abroad. Why did he not stay, abroad? The possibilities of a prison may not be pleasing to him, but I believe that the notoriety that has overtaken him has such a charm for him, that it outweighs everything else.

WHY WILDE TOOK TO AESTHETICISM.

In the early days of the cult of aestheticism some one asked Oscar Wilde how a man of his undoubted capacity could make such a fool of himself. He gave this explanation. He had written, he said, a book of poems, and he believed in their excellence. In vain he went from publisher to publisher asking them to bring them out; not one would even read them, for he was unknown. In order to find a publisher he felt that he must do something to become a personality. So he hit upon aestheticism. It succeeded. People talked about him; they invited him to their houses as a sort of lion. He then took his poems to a publisher, who—still without reading them—gladly accepted them.

EPIGRAMS FOR THE WARDERS?

Oscar Wilde, according to the prison authorities, neither eats, drinks, nor sleeps. He is extremely talkative, and gives vent to load denunciations of the manner in which he has been treated, of the discomfort of his special room, and of the manner in which he is watched night and day. He has been deprived of knife and fork, and the extra precaution has been taken of removing all glass vessels and even the looking-glass, from his room. A considerable supply of reading matter has been forwarded to him.

A POINT-BLANK REFUSAL.

It is understood that an application for bail-money made by a friend of Wilde's to a gentleman mixed up in one of his theatrical speculations was, on Friday night last, met by a point-blank refusal.

The Evening News - Tuesday, April 9, 1895

"B 24. Wilde, O. 40." This brief entry on the slate of a prison warder represents Oscar Wilde’s present status in prison life. He has become a capital letter with a number after it. Wilde has been seen by his friends and solicitor. The effect of his incarceration has not tended towards an improvement of an at no time attractive appearance. His hitherto elaborately-curled locks are dank and straight, and he has dropped all "pose" whatever, his sole anxiety being at the present moment with regard to bail, for which a most urgent and pressing demand is about to be made. The intense anxiety for bail has aroused much comment.

DOES NOT EAT OR SLEEP.

Wilde, according to the prison authorities, neither eats, drinks, nor sleeps. He is extremely talkative, and given vent to loud denunciations of the manner in which he has been treated, of the discomfort of his special room, and of the manner in which he is watched night and day. He has been deprived of knife and fork, and the extra precaution has been taken of removing all glass vessels, and even the looking-glass from his room. Those who know only the Savoy Restaurant and Willis’s Rooms side of the man would hardly recognise the limp-looking creature in the exercise-yard of Holloway.

READING MATTER SUPPLIED.

A considerably supply of reading matter has been forwarded to him, and though it has been remarked that the attention of his friends has fallen off woefully since Friday last, there are still several who announce their intention of doing all that is possible under the circumstances.

It has been pointed out the Wilde that inasmuch as he is able to see his solicitor whenever he wishes at Holloway, and in private, the absence of bail will in no way hinder the preparation of his defence, but he persistently exhibits his anxiety to be at liberty.

It is understood that an application for bail-money made by a friend of Wilde’s to a gentleman mixed up in one of his theatrical speculations was, on Friday night last, met by a point blank refusal.

TO THE EDITOR,

SIR—At the present moment it is pleasant to remark that it is not so long since Wilde ostentatiously announced that he was not an Englishman, and was glad of it. So is, yours faithfully ANOTHER ENGLISHMAN.

The Exchange Telegraph Company is informed on reliable authority that no further warrants have as yet been issued in connection with the Wilde prosecution. The same company is able to authoritatively contradict the rumours current that warrants will be issued for the arrest of any of the young men who have given evidence, or who may have to be called as witnesses for the prosecution. The statement that an application is to be made to a judge in chambers to compel Sir John Bridge to accept bail on behalf of Oscar Wilde is understood to be premature.

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