The Globe - Thursday, May 2, 1895

The trial of Oscar Wilde and Taylor was concluded today. After deliberating three and a half hours the jury returned to the court room and announced that they had failed to agree upon a verdict. They were thereupon discharged, and the prisoners were remanded for a new trial. Application was made for the admission of Wilde and Taylor to bail, but the Judge refused to accept bail for either of them.

The jury acquitted Wilde of the charges against him in connection with Atkins, and reported to the court that it was impossible for them to agree in regard to the other charges. They, however, acquitted him of the charges of conspiracy. Mr. Gill, for the prosecution, said the case would undoubtedly be tried at the next session.

The Sun - Thursday, May 2, 1895

LONDON, May 1. - The Old Bailey court room was crowded at the opening of the Wilde trial this morning. There was a good deal of speculation as to what course the Judge would pursue in his charge to the jury. Wilde looked careworn and anxious, but Taylor maintained the air of unconcerned which has characterized him throughout.

Justice Charles, in his charge, said the evidence had not sustained the charge of conspiracy, and he therefore directed the jury to acquit the prisoners of that charge. The Judge then proceeded to analyze the evidence, solely referring to Wilde, and begged the jury to dismiss from their minds all press comments and other outside expressions of opinion upon the case. It was a wholesome rule, he said, to refuse to accept the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice. He was of the opinion, however, that there was corroboration in the testimony of all the witnesses in the sense that the law required. It did not, it was true, amount to seeing the actual act, but it showed the relations and general conduct of the parties. The young men who had been called to the witness stand were not only accomplices, but Parker, Wood, and Atkins were properly described as Blackmailers. Furthermore, Atkins had told deliberate falsehoods within the hearing of the jury. And weighing the details of the evidence of these witnesses the jury could not overlook the fact that they were persons of the character which they themselves had asserted.

The Judge then proceeded to trace the history of the Queensberry trial. In regard to Wilde’s literature, he did not think that in a criminal case the jury ought to base an unfavorable inference upon Wilde’s authorship of "Dorian Grey." In regard to the story of "The Priest and Acolyte" in the Chameleon (magazine), he thought it would be absurd to impute blame to Wilde. The sonnets of Lord Alfred Douglas, which Wilde had approved, were much more material, as were also Wilde’s letters, which Mr. Carson, in the Queensberry trial, had described as horribly indecent. These letters were couched in the language of passionate love, but Wilde denied that there was anything in them to be ashamed of. The jury, he said, must exercise their own judgment in regard to the letters.

He then proceeded to deal at length with the case of Shelley, who, he said, was not tainted with blackmail. Shelley's letters showed that his mind had become excited. In regard to the evidence of the hotel servants and other persons in similar positions, the Judge said that what they saw was only seen when they answered a bell call from Wilde. An instance of this was shown in the testimony of the chambermaid who swore to having seen a boy in the room, but admitted that Wilde had asked the boy to come to the room and light the fire.

The Judge, in concluding his charge, said the case was one of great importance to the community. If the jury believed that the charges against the prisoners were true they should say so fearlessly.

The jury retired at 11:30. After deliberating three and a half hours, the jury returned to the court room and announced that they had failed to agree upon a verdict. They were thereupon discharged and the prisoners were remitted for a new trial.

The jury acquitted Wilde of the charges against him in connection with Atkins, and reported to the court that it was impossible for them to agree in regard to the other charges. They, however, acquitted him of the charges of conspiracy.

Sir Edward Clarke asked that Wilde and Taylor be admitted to bail, but the court refused the request.

Mr. Gill, for the prosecution, said that the case would undoubtedly be tried at the next sessions. Wilde and Taylor were returned to Holloway jail.

The disagreement of the jury in the Wilde case has caused much surprise in London. Several newspapers inclined to the opinion that Wilde’s speech, which elicited applause in the court room, may have saved him from a verdict of guilty. They quote as the most eloquent part of his effective plea the first ten or twelve sentences with which Wilde answered Mr. Gill’s question as to the meaning of his affection for Lord Douglas. These sentences were:

"It is such a great affection of the elder for the younger man's existed between David and Jonathan; such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy; such as we find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep spiritual affection which is as pure as it is perfect, and dictates great works of art like those of Shakespeare and Angelo and these two letters of mine, such as they are. This love is misunderstood in the present century - so misunderstood that on account of it I am placed where I now am. It is beautiful; it is fine; it is the noblest form of affection. It is intellectual, and has existed repeatedly between an elder and a younger man when the elder man has the intellect and the younger man has all the joy and hope and glamour of life. That it should be so, the world does not understand. The world mocks at it, and sometimes puts one in the pillory for it."

Highlighted DifferencesNot significantly similar